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| How 'Dodd-Frank' is becoming the new 'Obamacare' |
| 2014-11-01 |
| [Washington Post] If you don't know what the Dodd-Frank Act is, Rep. Paul Ryan ...U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies... (R-Wis.) told an audience last weekend, "it's Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... for banks." Ryan, outgoing chairman of the House Budget Committee, was echoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who's been using that expression since at least April (and he used it again Wednesday night). Expect to hear the expression more, particularly once a new, probably-Republican-led Senate takes over on Capitol Hill in January. Dodd-Frank, a set of financial regulations passed in the wake of the financial crisis, has been cited by financial news hounds, liberal publications, and (most importantly) Republican senators as a likely target for overhaul if the Senate changes hands. In particular, Dodd-Frank's "Volcker Rule," which limits speculative trading by banks, has been a Republican punching bag since its passage in 2010. The origin of the newly in-vogue phrase appears to be a April 2012 Weekly Standard piece by Peter Wallison. "The best way to understand the Dodd-Frank Act," Wallison wrote, "is to think of it as Obamacare for the financial industry. Like its health care counterpart, it leaves the members of the massive financial services industry as privately-owned firms, but blankets them with so much regulation that they are no longer really independent operators." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 Dodd-Frank is just as bad as Obamacare, and it's crippling a lot of companies, not just banks. It's one of several reasons there aren't more jobs. Even more important, it does nothing to prevent the problems of underwater mortgages that caused the problem it's supposed to address. It's not glamorous, but it's one of a hundred things the Rethugs need to work on to get the boot of government off the people and industry. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2014-11-01 17:58 |
| #6 Remember 2008? The banks screwed us all by violating the first principle of mortgage lending - verify the borrowers' ability to repay. The banks brought Dodd-Frank on themselves. No sympathy. |
| Posted by: One Bandersnatch 2014-11-01 15:34 |
| #5 Dodd-Frank is an Elizibeth Warren project. If they can easily state why Joe Credit Card now has minimum purchase amounts at some stores, but OS is right in that they will need a counter to the Free The Banks counter. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2014-11-01 14:15 |
| #4 Most voters probably don't know what Dodd-Frank is. At the worst they might think it was one of Barney's trysts; at best they might think it is one of those obscure pieces among thousands of legislation that is spewed out of Washington. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-11-01 10:40 |
| #3 For the most part, the 'Pubs aren't saying much or running on any sort of positive platforms. At least they're not shooting themselves in the foot and letting Obama run his mouth instead ("my policies are on the ballot"). Not pleased about it, but I'll take it. |
| Posted by: Raj 2014-11-01 10:37 |
| #2 What an idiotic issue to run on. If you want win run on an issue that ressonates. How about a ban on red light cameras on federally funded highways? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-11-01 08:19 |
| #1 Is this really the signature issue that the GOP grass roots are pushing for action? Or is this simply more of the beltway myopia that infests the Rove-McConnel-Boehner leadership of the GOP? Clearly the latter. TEA Party is whats providing the big push in the base, and dissatisfaction with big government and its impact is whats making this into a "wave", and these idiots want to push "Free The Banks". Incredible. The GOP is dead from the neck up. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-11-01 06:28 |