AFL-CIO: Stronger Financial Reform Would Have Saved Jobs

[Jefferson23]

By Simon Johnson

The Brown-Kaufman SAFE Banking Amendment proposed a hard size cap on our largest banks, limiting their assets to a very small fraction of the size of our economy. The premise was simple – and could fit on a bumper sticker (or in a campaign flyer for November) – “too big to fail” is too big to exist.

But this proposal to modify the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill failed in the Senate in early May, by a vote of 33-61, with 27 Democrats voting against the idea. Since that time, Democratic supporters have been asking their representatives the obvious question: Why did you vote against Brown-Kaufman?

Interestingly, no senators yet have replied – at least on the record – that the power of the megabanks was too great to be overcome. Instead, there are three main arguments going the rounds.

First, some argue that the Brown-Kaufman would by itself not have completely solved all the problems that can cause our financial system to meltdown. As one senator put it in a recent letter, “ would not solve the problem of systemic risk and systemically important institutions in a comprehensive manner.”

in full: http://baselinescenario.com/2010/08/19/afl-cio-stronger-financial-reform-would-have-saved-jobs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BaselineScenario+%28The+Baseline+Scenario%29

[w4rma]

1. Yup. (nt)

[vi5]

2. But that would have required hard work....

Democrats would have had to say mean things about Republicans.

The president and house and Senate leaders might have had to twist arms and threaten to take away leadership positions and committee chairs of dems who obstructed or threatened to vote against the legislation.

It would have been so messy and unpleasant, and if they did it then Democrats might not have gotten all those republican votes they're going to get because they played nice.

Oh wait....

[Jefferson23]

4. Exactly right. n/t

[Demeter]

3. But Saving Jobs Wasn't the Point, Was It?

The point was stripping all the little people to their bare flesh, and then eating that flesh and cracking the bones and making lampshades of the skin and soap of the fat.

Such monsters rule our nation that the rest of the world is appalled. Those people who are not equally oppressed by their bankers and corporations, or for less developed nations, their unincorporated looters and pillagers, that is.