The Daily Dodd

Dodd “I don’t want to be in a position where we wind up doing nothing because we tried to do too much”

This is what happened to the senate health bill and why it is not liked. Too many give aways to lobby’s.

The senate democrats need to do what the President said today and go talk to constituents. The republicans will kill them on this if they do not pass tough regulations.

Mr. Dodd republicans are not going to vote for this anyhow, see what Luntz says.

…then walk over to Congress, his office, the restroom, or wherever he is and ask him already.

Nothing to be confused about. Business as usual.

DEcon–

Actually, I was intending to do that tomorrow, when I’m past deadline for my print column.

My comment yesterday:
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“2 major corrections on the same issue from about the two most prominent members on the Committee. What bugs me is I’m not sure who screw it up – you guys, the original source, the two Senators communications staff, or did the Senators actually mean the original report and all of a sudden had to backpedal when word leaked that they might be softer on the banks than desired”
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Sounds like, for Dodd at least, it was the latter.

If Dodd and the Rethugs are going to water down this bill until it dissolves, then Obama should just threaten to veto it, pure and simple. Enough is enough. These old, white dudes who have literally been sculpted into the Senate (they’ve been there so long), pretty much like Mount Rushmore only without the historical significance or courage, are playing with fire here. This wreckless, unfettered financial system is what almost sunk this country and pretty much the rest of the world. If Dodd-dud and Co. think that a superficial make-up job is going to do the trick, then they are trivializing the future of the country. The system needs real, relevant, far-reaching regulation, pure and simple. The idiots who run it are hopelessly alienated and think they have done nothing wrong. Worse, they’re sure, given the corruption of the political system (as seen by Dodd), that they’ll be able to continue with business as usual, unfettered. This would be a disaster, politically, economically, and historically. These financial market guys are like spoiled bullies who dominate their parents. They need a good spanking and some pretty tough punishment in order to fall into line. Veto the Dodd-dud bill, Mr. President, for your sake and the country’s sake.

“”I don’t want to be in a position where we wind up doing nothing because we tried to do too much”

Yeah, gutless legislating like this is what gets us stalled health care reform and a 41 seat “majority” ruling in the senate. One of these days I hope that one of these guys learns that people would respond positively to a politician that shows some grit.

“This aligns with what was reported two days ago, but disputed by Dodd’s staff yesterday. I’m confused.”

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Say it isn’t so, Joe. Confused?
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Let me clear it all up for you. Senator Chris (Let’s Make a Mortgage Deal) Dodd (D-CT) with his partner in crime Barney (the little boy rapist) Frank, (D-MA) have consistently and very aggressively played Banks for all they are worth. Both have set up sweetheart deals for their various lobbyist groups to make “affordable loans” to those people who should never be granted loans in the first place and then have those bundled loans sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. A Democrat controlled buyer of bogus loans. Regulations and threats from Dodd and Frank have created the mortgage mess that caused the world-wide financial melt-down.
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The country imploded on those debts, now Frank and Dodd are scrambling to save their souls. Backed by Obama they are winding their way down a treacherous road by attempting to cement over their tracks. The only thing that Dodd and Frank will do is screw things up even worse than they already are with the housing bubble.
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Predictions are that more loans will be defaulting in the up-coming months. More pressure will be put on the already weak banking system and money will once again dry up. Small businesses will forgo any hiring and the unemployment rate will continue to rise.
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Do us all a favor and ask Dodd to leave his crusty paws off of the banking system. Tell him to back off and allow the market to correct itself before it all implodes and we all go down.

“And the banks…they frankly own the place.”
– Sen. Dick Durbin

The first line of the Times article says it all.
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The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee warned on Tuesday that the Obama administration’s new proposals to rein in Wall Street firms ran the risk of derailing months of delicate negotiations over overhauling financial regulations.
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The negotiations have been far too delicate. I recommend a 2 x 4 for future negotiations with corporatist pawns. Obviously, it will require someone besides Dodd to wield it.

Rusty, please allow me to help you so you don’t look like a complete clown.
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Your description of the financial crisis bears no relationship to reality. When you make claims, please try to have them make some sense.
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For example, there is NO LAW OR REGULATION that forced banks to lend to anyone who was not credit-worthy and you cannot point to any. It is simply a lie that Big Government held banks down and made them lend people money that should not have been lent.
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How do we know that your claims are nonsense? Simple. If banks were under government duress, there would be tons of evidence for it. For example, during the housing boom:
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- banks would have been warning of an imminent collapse due to the increased risk. Instead they predicted that the housing market could not go down.
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- banks would have been tightening lending standards. Instead they progressively lowered lending standards, to the point where they made “liar’s loans” and refused to check patently bogus mortgage applications.
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- the mortgage-backed securities market would have dropped, as crappy mortgages flooded the market. Even if some imaginary regulation forced, say, WAMU to lend to bad-risk borrowers, there was no reason why, say, Bear Stearns would have bought the mortgages to bundle them into securities. There is no reason why investment banks could have gotten affordable credit default swaps to “insure” the securities. There is no reason why ratings agencies would have issued positive ratings for the mortgage-backed securities. There is no reason why foreign banks, pension funds, and municipal funds would have bought the securities.
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-the banks would have screamed to the high heavens. Instead they never complained as the bankers made billions of dollars in commissions through the system. Hell, we can’t get meaningful reform in now, post-collapse. Post-bailout. You think that banks couldn’t have snapped their fingers in 2004-2007 and gotten any unfavorable law or regulation repealed instantaneously?

Joe, Dodd has been running away from banking reform almost from the time he declared he was not running for reelection. I am surprised you haven’t noticed this.
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/art-possible-banking-reform-will-have
When you talk to Dodd or one of his aides, ask him/her what his plans are after leaving the Senate. Do they involve K Street or anyother connection to banking? The response will be, of course, he has not made any decisions. Joe you then look into and report the money he has taken from banking sources (easy to find out), the influence of banking in his and Liebermanns state, do some digging and find out what his true motives are. Thank you.

Financial reforms are long overdue. And the mega-banks had to be stabilized, they are too interconnected in the financial system we are all dependent on. After they are well, they should be broken up into smaller pieces so this cannot happen again — saw a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth