Somebody (In Congress) Saw This Coming and that Somebody Is Trying To Do Something About It

[omega minimo]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#29886298
transcript: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29894735/


MADDOW: For a country pretty much unanimously focused on a single subject, it‘s amazing that stuff we are forgetting, they were just not factoring into the equation about why we ended up with this chicken fried, petrified, run-and-hide economy. Apparently, we are supposed to think that nobody could have seen this coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, FMR. U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think some of the best financial minds in the country didn‘t see it coming.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: No, we didn‘t see it coming.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, ® ARIZONA: But I don‘t really know of hardly anybody who exceptionally had said, “Wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand.”
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: Who could have possibly seen this coming? Nobody could have seen it. It was totally unforeseeable force majeure.

Join me now on a trip through the time machine, going back to 1999. All right, 10 years ago. The year the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was born. This bill was introduced by three Republicans: Gramm, Leach, Bliley, duh. And it removed a Great Depression era regulation that had said that banks, and investments banks and insurance companies all had to be separate.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley cleared the way for big financial companies to be all of those things wrapped into one. Big companies with huge internal incentives to take risks, companies that were so complicated they couldn‘t really be regulated, and companies that were so big that the government felt that they could not be allowed to fail.

At the time, in 1999, when this was being debated, Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan from North Dakota saw it coming, like he should have a psychic show in Vegas-level saw it coming. On May 6th, 1999, on the Senate floor, Mr. Dorgan said, quote, “This bill will, in my judgment, raise the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bailouts.” $1 trillion is massive, right?

Well, to the “New York Times” on November 5th, 1999, Senator Dorgan said, quote “I think we will look back in 10 years‘ time and say, we should not have done this, but we did because we forgot the lesson of the past, and that which is true in the 1930s is also true in 2010.”
:think:
DORGAN: Well, I‘m not—I‘m not necessarily sure I saw this big a crisis. But I said at the time, the banks—I said, if you want to gamble go to Las Vegas. I mean, this was not about a crystal ball. It was just common sense at that time.

You know, in the 1930s, we saw banks merge with, you know, real estate and security risks and the whole thing collapsed, ‘20s and ‘30s, and—so, we put in place, I wasn‘t here, but they put in place laws like Glass-Steagall to prevent all of that. And then, 1999, we were told, that‘s so old fashioned. Let‘s strip that away and allow big financial holding companies, one stop financial shopping.

And I thought it was nuts. I mean, how on earth could we forget the lessons that were so important that we learned so well and with such pain about seven decades prior?
:applause:
DORGAN: Well, I sat across the table from him at the White House two days ago. You know, there is a culture. And the culture is that Wall Street knows best. You know, there were only eight of us in the United States Senate that voted no. This was a huge deal to repeal the protections that were put in place after the Great Depression, a huge deal. Eight of us voted no.
:applause:
DORGAN: Well, and the other thing, immediately after this legislation passed, it stripped away all those protections and allowed all the big banks to marry up and decide that they loved each other and want to get together and merge, immediately after that, George W. Bush came to town as a new president and he hired regulators who were willing to boast about being willfully blind. They didn‘t want to regulate...

And the result is, we saw, you know, all of these credit default swaps and CDOs, all these exotic financial instruments, these derivatives—you know, in 1996, I wrote the cover story for “Washington Monthly” magazine on the subject of derivatives and pointed out there were tens of trillions of dollars of derivatives out there. The title of my cover story for the “Washington Monthly” magazine was, “Very Risky Business.”
:applause:
DORGAN: I‘d be happy to. But let me tell you what else we need, we need a select committee in the United States Senate with subpoena power that gives us the narrative of what happens so that everybody understands what happened. We need a financial crimes prosecution task force down at the Justice Department right now, working on these issues, and we need to restore a portion of the Glass-Steagall Act to say to banks: You‘re over here and the riskier things are over here and we are not going to bring you together again—never again.

http://dorgan.senate.gov/
DORGAN LAUNCHES YOUTUBE SITE http://www.youtube.com/senatordorgan
Dorgan Presses for Action to Address the Financial Crisis http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/economy/financialcrisis/index.cfm
Dorgan's Taxpayer Protection Act http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/economy/taxpayer-protection-act/index.cfm
Stopping the Outsourcing of Jobs http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/economy/financialcrisis/index.cfm
http://dorgan.senate.gov/issues/economy/outsourcedjobs/index.cfm


Edit for shouty: "AND I THOUGHT IT WAS NUTS. I MEAN, HOW ON EARTH COULD WE FORGET THE LESSONS THAT WERE SO IMPORTANT THAT WE LEARNED SO WELL AND WITH SUCH PAIN ABOUT SEVEN DECADES PRIOR?"

Yeah, what's up with THAT?

[Laelth]

1. K&R for Wisdom and Sanity.

(from the Left, as usual)

:dem:

-Laelth

[omega minimo]

5. worth watching and seeing the words spoken - SO common sense and low key and like all heroes, humble

altho if anyone wants to tell me why the YouTube and MSNBC links to her show will not STFU once started, I would appreciate it. I had to force quit while putting this together cuz the damn video won't pause!!!!

:toast:

[xchrom]

2. recommend -- that this segment be sent to every member of the senate. nt

[omega minimo]

6. What if we start putting up what Congress IS trying to do? He calls for a Special Select Committee

:hi: :bounce: Where are the damn REAL investigations?

[xchrom]

12. where are they is right. nt

[omega minimo]

16. put em on the TV!!!!!!!

[xchrom]

13. where are they is right. nt

[Canuckistanian]

3. Dorgan, yay. Dodd, boo?

Is this the consensus?

[omega minimo]

7. Please share the Dodd boo and DO to DU what you will. YOU define the "consensus."

:thumbsup:

p.s. I have no idea what you're talking about so others would probably appreciate you cobbling an OP too. Thanks from Down Under :hi:

[Canuckistanian]

11. Well...

Dodd actually apologized for approving the AIG bonuses (remember them?).

And he's rightfully criticized for being too close and taking major donations from big Wall St. players.

And on a personal note, I didn't realize you were an Aussie! Greeting from a fellow Commonwealther!

[omega minimo]

14. OOOOOooooooops!!

I meant "Down Under" Canada :spray: :blush:

And good on Dodd for whatever.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Cheers, mate

And throw a shrimp on the barbie for me - wherever you are!

[omega minimo]

17. Cheers, then. Enough UK and scoundrel genes to be an honorary Of The Realm

:toast:

[bridgit]

4. ^rec5

[omega minimo]

8. Thanks bridgit.

:yourock:

[scheming daemons]

9. 90 senators voted yes. Clinton signed it.

Democratic hands are not clean here.


That said.... it was the brainchild of Phil Gramm. It was his baby.

[omega minimo]

10. If you have any current info on good efforts/bills trying to fix this, please link, TY

:hi:

[omega minimo]

20. Barney Frank Financial Services Comm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/08/frank-wants-expanded-powe_n_184841.html

[omega minimo]

27. .

[slipslidingaway]

28. H.R. 1207 - Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207

"To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes."


From the comments section at your link above...

"Pass this through committee HR 1207

Already has 58 Co-Sponsors (11 of which are Democrats)

He jumped on Ron Pauls Industrial Hemp bill recently, shouldn't be much holding him back from supporting this bill by Ron Paul."

[TankLV]

18. Yes - I for one, remember it extremely well, so much so that I was spitting BLOOD...

but what the hell - now they're trying - rather SUCCESSFULLY - to pin all this on the DEMOCRATS...

[omega minimo]

19. your outrage is appreciated

:kick:

[FredStembottom]

30. Thank you, thank you, thank you. TankLV!

Me too. I remember yelling at the radio in my delivery truck when I first heard that 6th grade nonsense about Government's not a solution Financial Freedom Fries are!

It's been such a loooooooong nightmare..............:hangover:

[slipslidingaway]

21. S. Res. 62 .........

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=sr111-62

"A resolution establishing a select committee of the Senate to make a thorough and complete study and investigation of the facts and circumstances giving rise to the economic crisis facing the United States and to make recommendations to prevent a future recurrence of such a crisis."

[omega minimo]

22. thank you.

[slipslidingaway]

23. YW, I put a thread in the Congress forum....

so it is easy to find the bill and add to the thread if anything develops.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=308&topic_id=906&mesg_id=906

[omega minimo]

24. very good. Rec'd

[slipslidingaway]

25. Thanks, many people probably do not even realize that this

bill has been introduced.

[omega minimo]

26. aye

[formercia]

29. They knew

Their grandfathers and great-grandfathers ran the scam that brought on the Great depression. They knew what a ton of money could be made without all of those pesky laws that might cause them to be held accountable. They knew.
That big equity pie was just sitting there waiting for them to dig in like the pigs they are and leave nothing but shit for the rest of us to clean up.

[Mnpaul]

31. Barney Frank

voted against this mess. So did:
Tammy Baldwin, Thomas Barrett, Robert Brady, Michael Capuano, William Clay, Gary Condit, John Conyers, Jerry Costello, William Coyne, Danny Davis, Peter DeFazio, Rosa DeLauro, John Dingell, Julian Dixon, Chet Edwards, Lane Evans, Chaka Fattah, Bob Filner, Samuel Gejdenson, Luis Gutierrez, Alcee Hastings, Maurice Hinchey, Jay Inslee, Jesse Jackson, Marcy Kaptur, Dale Kildee, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, John Lewis, William Lipinski, Bill Luther, Edward Markey, Jim McDermott, Cynthia McKinney, Carrie Meek, George Miller, David Obey, David Phelps, Lynn Rivers, Ciro Rodriguez, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Bobby Rush, Jan Schakowsky, Jose Serrano, Gene Taylor, Karen Thurman, John Tierney, Maxine Waters, Henry Waxman, Lynn Woolsey
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/106/house/1/votes/570/

and in the Senate
Barbara Boxer, Richard Bryan, Byron Dorgan, Russell Feingold, Tom Harkin, Barbara Mikulski, Paul Wellstone
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/106/senate/1/votes/354/

[omega minimo]

32. Thank you Mnpaul - and link in #20 to Frank

Congress is working with the Government accountability Office to increase its power to investigate the action the Federal Reserve has taken in response to the financial crisis, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said during an online chat Wednesday at the blog Crooksandliars.com.

Frank added that the Financial Services Committee, which he chairs, will hold a hearing to examine the recommendations of TARP watchdog Elizabeth Warren, whose oversight panel recently called for bank executives to be fired and insolvent banks liquidated amid a more aggressive approach to cleaning up the financial system.

"e are working with the GAO to increase their legal right to inquire into the workings of the Federal Reserve where they are involved in the TARP program. In line with this we will be working to support the transparency and oversight recommendations of the oversight panel and that will include holding a hearing," offered Frank.

First, though, said Frank, his committee would take up legislation dealing with abusive credit card company practices and a bill to rein in subprime lending.

"We will be able to take up the oversight panel's recommendations sometime in the first part of May, once we have completed work in Committee on these two important bills," he wrote.

[joeunderdog]

75. But not Bubba, and that was a big one. Clinton signed it. nt

[mdmc]

80. thanks for the links and data

[Soylent Brice]

33. K&R

Gramm-Leach-Bliley

trifecta of stupidity.

[walldude]

34. Dorgan wasn't the only one...

Hell I saw economists on TV literally getting laughed out of the studio and called lunatics because they saw this coming. Too bad the freeper mind has only a 10 second attention span and even less of a memory...

[No More Bushbots]

35. It was the natural progression of the Raygun Revolution

How could it be bad?
* extreme sarcasm *

[omega minimo]

41. yup

What's been really bizarre is watching the economic talking heads come on News Hour the last few weeks and blow hot air about how the valueless assets must be revalued and retained as vital to the economy. Fascinating listen to people meaninglessly pontificate about invisible nothings and how valuable they are :crazy:

[mdmc]

36. “This bill will, in my judgment, raise the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bailouts.”

r:kick:

[indimuse]

37. Truly WONDERFUL post!

Thank you. KNR! :hi: :kick:

[omega minimo]

40. even better hearing/watching him say these common sense statements (that many of us "saw coming" )

:toast:

[mdmc]

38. Can anyone give me a list of the 10 senators that voted against it?

peace.

[omega minimo]

39. yes, thanks to Mnpaul in #31

:hi:

[mdmc]

79. thanks for the hook up peace and low stress

peace mnpaul too

[Beam Me Up]

42. Of course they knew!

They knew they were lying when they said "no one could have forseen..." just the same as when they said it in regard to 9/11 -- and just like when they were lying about WMD and when they said "we don't torture" on and on and on.

They lied about EVERYTHING. Why anyone would believe any of it is what is beyond me! And don't give me the "incompetence theory" -- total BS. When you are incompetent you fail. These rat bastards "look" like failure only because the outcomes don't match the stated intentions. However, what we see is that EVERY TIME this gang of thieves appears to "fail" they literally make out like murdering bandits. CRIME PAYS FOR THEM and everyone else is left wondering WTF? How could this have happened? How can they get away with it? How come no one is held to account??

Well DUH! Because at a very basic level criminals in suits are in control of our government. Obama is the president but do you REALLY think he could go up against this pervasive criminality embedded to various degrees in every branch of government (not to mention military and the private sector) -- including all the alphabet agencies -- and survive?? Apparently, using Paul Wellstone as an example, planes just fall out of the sky. No one with any brains in Washington is unaware that politics in this country, especially at the deep political level, is a dirty and dangerous business. There are just some questions you learn NOT TO ASK. Some positions you learn NOT TO TAKE. That is the reality. What is more WE DO NOT HAVE THE FACTS. We get some, mostly carefully controlled, information from MSM but there is so much we do not know because it either is not reported or is reported in a distorted way or is actively covered up. This is especially evident when one gets close to anything having to do with "national security."

When one begins to understand that there is what is reported via corporate media and there is what is actually going on under that cover, it all begins to make far more sense. We live in an imperial criminal culture masquerading as a Republic and elected representatives have very narrow ranges of options within which to get anything done that is for US -- we the people. The majority of the economic pie gets scarfed up by the fat cats and if they have to change the law to accomplish that or break the law to accomplish that, they can and do.

The main point is this: If you want to turn this situation around you FIRST have to have a more accurate comprehension of what is really going on. ONLY looking at politics as something between two parties gives a predictable result: Outrage that those we allegedly voted into power do not make decisions that "make sense" to us OR are in OUR best interest. You can spend your whole life dedicated to virtuous campaigns "end war" "stop torture" "healthcare for all" "schools not bombs" "earth first!" or what have you -- but until you begin to see how these aims are virtually impossible to achieve absent a DEEP CHANGE in the structures of hidden power, anything you achieve will be a drop in the bucket. Why, for example, don't they want to develop sustainable energy resources? BECAUSE it is more difficult to monolithically control a widely distributed sustainable energy market. H E L L O !

You want to end the war on terror? Fine! First we have to figure out who the real terrorists are -- and to do that we have to look MUCH closer to home than Afghanistan or Iraq. Who are the people terrifying us every day by what they say and the policy decisions they make? We have to understand the connections and relationships between the real power players, how it is that they remain sufficiently invisible and unaccountable and what we need to do, step by step, to begin to reverse the situation. The absolutely necessary FIRST STEP is to have a better understanding of what "real politic" and "deep politics" means. Once we understand that there are "levels" to the structures of power we can begin to adjust our thinking and apply strategies accordingly.

Edit grammar.

[Citizen Worker]

43. Repeal of Glass-Steagall in GATT

I listened to an all too short interview of Lori Wallach of
Public Citizen a few days ago and she said that the repeal of
Glass-Steagall appears in the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade as a footnote.

We all know that trade agreements are negotiated by and for
global corporate interests and not in the interests of
workers.  "Free trade" a gift to the global
oligarchy.  Not only are we shedding jobs at an increased rate
now we get the privilege of paying for it!!!

[truedelphi]

44. So very true. And so very sad. Also

Welcome to DU.

[malaise]

45. I'm very surprised that Dorgan and the other seven

Senators don't get lots of coverage on GEM$NBC on this subject. Hmmmmmmmmmmm I take that back - no surprise.

[omega minimo]

46. Any other legislation we can link here folks? Good opportunity to spread the word

:toast:

[berni_mccoy]

47. Excellent Post. K&R.

[omega minimo]

49. much obliged

:toast:

[slipslidingaway]

48. Link to the PV thread with a variety of links, including the GAO

report from 1994.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=289053&mesg_id=289053

[omega minimo]

51. EXCELLENT resource. Thanks!

[slipslidingaway]

55. YW n/t

[slipslidingaway]

50. Very Risky Business by Senator Dorgan

Very risky business - derivatives - Cover Story
Washington Monthly , Oct, 1994 by Byron L. Dorgan

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n10_v26/ai_15818783/


And...

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/derivatives_echo_chamber.php?page=all

"...We can’t answer that question in its entirety—especially not in one post—but we can offer an example for your consideration: the press’s supremely insufficient response to an important 1994 report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, warning about the dangers of derivatives—those largely unregulated financial instruments that have played such a central role in the current collapse...


The report does not entirely condemn derivatives, but it is full of flashing danger lights...

But that’s not all:

Although the federal government would not necessarily intervene just to keep a major OTC derivatives dealer from failing, the federal government would be likely to intervene to keep the financial system functioning in cases of severe financial stress. While federal regulators have often been able to keep financial disruptions from becoming crises, in some cases intervention has and could result in industry loans or a financial bailout paid for by taxpayers.

Bailout. Paid. For. By. Taxpayers. The GAO didn’t have a crystal ball. It just did its job, which was to look at the facts. And after two years analyzing the situation, the GAO had earned the right to offer warnings. But the resulting work was unfairly dismissed—to all of our detriments.

Speaking of dismissal, that phrase “financial bailout paid for by taxpayers” was later derided in the press as a scare tactic..."

[omega minimo]

52. "intervention has and could result in industry loans or a financial bailout paid for by taxpayers."

:yourock:

[slipslidingaway]

54. Guess anyone who suggested such things was crazy....

thanks :) and thank you for keeping the issue alive.

[omega minimo]

60. foresight is so unfashionable -- even when it's historic HINDSIGHT!!

:eyes: :bounce:

[AzDar]

53. Kickety.

:kick:

[geckosfeet]

56. Send this to Giethner, Summers and yes, O his-self. They need to know that we know.

[omega minimo]

58. Every day.

[slipslidingaway]

61. "They need to know that we know"..........

that Summers pushed for deregulation of the banking industry and dismissed regulation of derivatives.

:)

[omega minimo]

63. I got yer "derivatives" right here

:evilfrown:

[omega minimo]

64. Here's another piece they shouldn't miss

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5434687

[omega minimo]

57. CHECK OUT www.youtube.com/senatordorgan

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=dorgan&aq=f

http://www.youtube.com/senatordorgan

investigating the Financial Committee (1 month ago)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX-kdloaH2E&feature=channel_page

[slipslidingaway]

59. Interesting that McCain signed onto the bill with Senator Dorgan

to investigate the financial crisis, there are no other cosponsors.

:shrug:

Hopefully people will contact their Senators and ask them to sign on as a cosponsor, also the bill sits in the Senate Rules Committee and here is a link to the members of that committee.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/committee.xpd?id=SSRA

[omega minimo]

62. thanks, good to know it's current, video in link above with BD & McC is from a month ago

[slipslidingaway]

65. But where's the rest of our Party??? n/t

[omega minimo]

67. they need us to lead them

:thumbsup:

[RedCloud]

66. Maybe this should be a 2010 election reminder.

Which party unlocked Pandora's box of government regulation? Which party foretold the ominous future which lay ahead?

Especially run out those repugs who voted for that act.

[jazzjunkysue]

68. This kind of exposure is why the whilte male fears the unmarried female: The Truth.

Rachel will say what she knows and even draw the conclusion for us that they knew exactly what they were doing.

No doubt they're working on some way of getting her off the air.

I hope she has security services.

[omega minimo]

69. Interesting. Her style has a bit of the Jon Stewart charm, doesn't it? The clownishness?

The jester who gets to speak the forbidden?

I wish her well. Thanks for checkin in, JJS

[omega minimo]

70. link to bills re: FINANCIAL searchable update and action info

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issuesaction/billlist/?keyword=financial&submit.x=11&submit.y=9&submit=go

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_three_sections_with_teasers/active_leg_page.htm

http://www.senate.gov/general/search/search_cfm.cfm?q=financial&x=12&y=7&site=default_collection&num=10&filter=0





?
http://www.financialcrisisupdate.com/2009/03/senate-bill-strengthening-securities-fraud-and-financial-fraud-enforcement-clears-judiciary-committee.html

[omega minimo]

71. Sen. Dodd "Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System" - link to video

Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System
http://dodd.senate.gov/?q=node/4752

Remarks as Prepared: Today we continue the Committee’s examination of how to modernize our outdated financial regulatory system.  We undertake this examination in the midst of a deepening recession and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.  We must chart a course forward to restore confidence in our nation’s financial system, upon which our economy relies

[omega minimo]

72. Would DU you support a more prominent Congress forum? Timely leg. info, etc?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5451623

[slipslidingaway]

73. Let's see what you get :)) n/t

[McCamy Taylor]

74. Great post! As one who also say it coming, I know that Wall Street knew, too.

Because when economic illiterates can read the writing on the wall, you know that the MBAs can, too. They just all thought they would make their fortunes during Bush/Cheney and then leave the country once their dirty work was done.

[omega minimo]

77. EX ACK LY!!!!11

"Because when economic illiterates can read the writing on the wall, you know that the MBAs can, too."

:yourock:

After reading it for 30 years, ya get better at it............

[paparush]

76. K&R!

[omega minimo]

78. thanks paparush

:hi: