Some of the Republican wall of opposition has been taken down. Senate Republicans have agreed to debate the financial reform package on the Senate floor. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he wanted Democrats to stop the "the partisan gamesmanship" over financial reform. Like the partisan gamesmanship where he went and met with Big Wall Street and all of a sudden began blasting away at the financial reform bill like the Death Star blasting at Alderaan.
The Republican all out opposition began to collapse from within after some moderate GOP senators began feeling the heat of the bills continued blocking after the contemptuous and vanity filled appearance of Goldman Sachs executive before a Senate committee earlier this week.
What's next for the bill? Probably a bunch of good and frivolous amendments, but will it really be good for main street or just another smoke in mirrors thing designed to benefit Big Wall Street.
One main complaint Republicans have is a provision in the bill that provides for a $50 billion dollar "bailout fund." By the way, that is a patently false accusation that the fund is for bailouts. A more appropriate term would be a wind down fund, you know like the FDIC. Money for the fund would come from fees on banks, like the FDIC. This would give the government money in case it has to seize and dismantle a Big Wall Street of Big Finance firm that faces bankruptcy or insolvency. This would be much like the FDIC since that organization recovers deposited assets for consumers and shuts the door on failing banks. Plus, why complain about the government bailing out corporations since we have history of big bailouts for
Big Corporatism.
Republicans also have a problem with a proposed consumer protection and regulation agency. Senator
Richard Shelby of Alabama said the agency would be "a massive new bureaucracy" with "unchecked authority to regulate whatever it wants, whenever it wants, however it wants." It wouldn't really be unchecked since Congress, ya know, can hold hearings and issue subpoenas. Maybe the good Senator forgot that. Plus, I didn't hear a lot of GOPers whine when George W. Bush instituted the largest most "massive new bureaucracy" this side of World War Two in the form of a Department of Homeland Security. However, I must say that why get a new regulatory agency when other ones
already fail us.
What really stinks here, is that no matter what happens, the little guy, the unemployed guy, the unpaid blogger, the cop down the street, the cashier at Walgreens, the nurse, the teacher, et cetera will continue to get screwed because the Senators don't work for us.
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