Just when you thought you understood it all, the veil of secrecy is lifted and you realize the true meaning of the event.
The close vote in the House, to ostensibly keep the Government open, was actually a vote on the expansion of the derivative market and who guarantees the losses.
“To boldly go where no man has gone before”.
Simply put, Jamie Dimon, President & CEO of JP Morgan Chase, lobbied hard for a partial repeal of the Dodd Frank’s Financial Reform Law. He got it.
Citicorp wrote the legislation to be used. They got it.
Three hundred trillion dollars worth, and rising, of financial derivatives is now the sole responsibility of the
It will – remember ‘o8? That was just the warm-up!
President Andrew Jackson once explained how when the banks win the bankers win but when the bank loses it is the people who lose.
Apparently, the bought and paid for Congressmen found the lobbying of Jamie Dimon more compelling than the warnings of Andrew Jackson.
The bankers have implored, as someone from Citicorp so eloquently wrote, that government back-up must be applied when the derivative market is viewed as a “hedge”.
Herein lies the problem. As one man’s junk is another man’s treasure so too is one man’s hedge another man’s gamble.
Taking a page from Bill Clinton who needed a definition of “what is, is”, Republicans and Democrats have convinced themselves that the definition of a Wall Street Hedge is a big reward with no risk.
Receiving a Jamie Dimon phone call and the hint of a re-election check has convinced our legislators that Wall Street’s definition of risk/reward is the correct one. Just in case some kind of outside force disrupts this Pollyanna thinking (not the banker’s fault, of course) then, the American taxpayer must cover the loss.
Mainstream media simply focused on the potential shut down of the Federal Government. A shut down that no one really wanted.
Then we learned from the OMB of all the monies being spent on worn out, unsuccessful programs. In addition we are told that the bills will be paid exactly how Carter, Reagan and Bush said they would be – control waste and close loopholes.
Now the reality hits home. The Bill is really about derivatives, bankers, the 1% and the expansion of the riskiest financial instrument in history.
The 113th United States Congress’s legacy has been written by Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry.
“To boldly go where no man has gone before”.
BILL
Next up: The worst Bill since Smoot-Hawley and repeal of Glass-Steagall.
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