If Tim Johnson Heads The Banking Committee, How Will We Ever Get Reform?
We're going to have to watch this corporatist tool like a hawk. Not as if we didn't have to watch Dodd, mind you, but still:
If Senator Tim Johnson ascends to the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee, the biggest winners will be Wall Street, pay-day lenders and credit card companies. The biggest losers: widows and orphans.
No, really.
In late 2006, the South Dakotan spoke out against an effort by his fellow Democrats to cap the interest rates that members of the military pay for short-term loans. "This time it's military. Who's to say it isn't going to be widows and orphans or other sympathetic groups in the future?" he griped in an interview with the American Banker.
That's the man who's next in line to lead the Banking Committee if the current chair, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), as expected, vacates the position to take the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chair left empty by the death of Ted Kennedy.
Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping to push through the most sweeping financial regulations in a generation, including the creation of a government panel that would regulate financial products with an eye toward consumer protection. All of that will have to go through the Banking Committee.
Consumer advocates and backers of a regulation overhaul are deeply concerned that handing the committee to Johnson would be a death sentence for reform.
"He's got a long track record of supporting small predatory loan companies, pay-day loan companies," said one longtime consumer advocate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he would have to work with Johnson as banking chair.
In 2003 and again in 2005, Johnson intervened with federal regulators on behalf of pay-day lenders, sending a letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
that's the new economy strategy........separate people from their money at all costs.
Isn't SD the hq or base of operations for lots of CC companies? I'm sure a close review of his campaign donor list would be enlightening.
read the article....
you are correct, and SD's actions set the stage for other states to follow suit (ie, deleware, utah, etc)
...opportunistic lawmakers in South Dakota tossed their usury law out the window and invited Citibank to move its credit card operations -- and thousands of taxpaying workers -- to the state.
Citi was only too happy to oblige, and this is how the bank gets away with charging California customers 30% if you miss a single payment. South Dakota is now also home to some of Wells Fargo & Co.'s credit card operations.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/18/busin...
seems that the only differnece btwn loan sharks and the credit card interests is that the loan sharks haven't donated enough money to the "political process"
Remember when there were two political parties.
Oh..nostalgia always makes me so misty.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
... make promises about change, then appoint a bunch of compromised, corrupt obstructionists who will work against you at every turn.
Nothing changes, but at least it's not your fault. It's because Those Other People wouldn't work with you.
I read and article be Simon Johnson earlier this year called "The Quiet Coup" http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200905/i.... I also heard him interviewed promoting the piece. I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter who gets nominated, we won't get the reforms we need anyway. Tim Johnson's nomination is proof that what Simon Johnson wrote about is completely true.
or not, other than some sort of abstruse 'humatitarianism.'
Even without being an official Blue-dawg, Johnson's never been better than worthless as tits on a boar...
Remember when there were two political parties.
Oh..nostalgia always makes me so misty.
Actually, no, I don't. Vidal's famous observation about there being but ONE "party" with two 'right' wings: one 'right' wing and one VERY right wing, dates from the '70s.
... being named. Way too much focus has been given to loudmouth "Republican" conservatives. We have already defeated them - soundly. Yet these near powerless bogeymen are still given platforms (even by many progressive sites) so they can be portrayed as the bad guys while the corporate whores running the Democratic Party are given a free pass.
Thank you.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
but wouldn't it be prudent to wait and see what happens and then act on it? I'm not all that in favor of Dodd taking over Kennedy's position.
If Dodd stays where he is, who is next in line to take over Sen Kennedy's position?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... but I think Tom Harkin would be next in seniority.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Then if that's the case why not let Harkin take it and keep Dodd in place to handle things where he is? This guy Johnson sounds too snake-ie to have such a powerful position.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
... to God's eyes.
Unfortunately, Todays Dems seem to love giving the snakes more power.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
The time to wait for our elected leaders to do the right thing is long past. Direct public action that sends shudders through the banking and credit card industry are the way to motivate true reform. Every consumer should take a holiday from making any credit card payments starting this January and continue the boycott until real banking reform and federal maximum lending rates are re-established.
Representative government only works when the public interest is served. Today's business and political leaders need a wake up call. The power of this nation is derived from the sweat of the people.
If Baccus is chair of th Finance Committee, then how can the other senator from the same state also head the other big financial committee (Banking)? That does not seem right on its face.
Hum
Comments are closed on this entry