Another Classic Rant From Sen. Sanders

It's a pity no one was there to hear him.

Rep. Alan Grayson On Financial Reform: Too Big To Fail Means Too Big To Exist

Grayson thinks the Senate finance reform bill is too weak.

Senate Passes Financial Reform Bill

By a partisan vote of 59-39, the Senate has passed its sweeping financial reform bill.

The legislation aims to prevent a recurrence of the near-meltdown of big Wall Street investment banks and the resulting costly bailouts. It calls for new ways to watch for risks in the financial system and makes it easier to liquidate large failing financial firms. It also writes new rules for complex securities blamed for helping precipitate the 2008 economic crisis, and it creates a new consumer protection agency. It would impose new restraints on the largest, most interconnected banks and demand proof that borrowers could pay for the simplest of mortgages.

"Our goal is not to punish the banks but to protect the larger economy and the American people from the kind of upheavals that we've seen in the past few years," Obama said earlier Thursday after the Senate cleared a key 60-vote hurdle blocking final action. The financial industry, Obama said, had tried to stop the new regulations "with hordes of lobbyists and millions of dollars in ads." Two Democrats, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), voted against the bill. Four Republicans, Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), voted in favor of the bill.

A House version of the bill passed in December and now must be reconciled with the Senate version.

$100M Bonus For Goldman Sachs CEO?

Goldman Sachs, favorite whipping boy of the teabaggers (and just about everybody else), is said to be considering a bonus for its CEO Lloyd Blankfein that may reach $100M.

Goldman Sachs, the world’s richest investment bank, is facing a potential political storm over how much it pays its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein. Bankers in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) told The Times they understood that Mr Blankfein and other top Goldman bankers outside Britain were set to receive some of the bank’s biggest-ever payouts, in defiance of President Obama’s attempt to shame banks into cutting bonuses. “This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama,” said a banker at one of Goldman’s rivals. Mr Blankfein took home his biggest bonus so far in 2007, when he was paid $67.9 million. Goldman’s profits last year were $1.8 billion higher than in 2007. This leaves the bank with a justification to pay him even more although payouts will be made in shares rather than cash to make them more politically palatable. Some rival bankers claim Mr Blankfein could receive up to $100 million, though even a much lower figure could prove politically explosive.

Goldman Sachs was one of the first banks to pay back its bailout money.

TIME Names Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Person Of The Year

Via Los Angeles Times:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine today for leading the "most-powerful, least-understood government force shaping our lives," Managing Editor Richard Stengel said. Bernanke, 56, was picked for his efforts to shepherd the U.S. out of the biggest economic slump since the Great Depression, Stengel said while announcing the choice on NBC's "Today" show. "He was the great scholar of the Depression, and he saw what looked like another depression coming and he decided he would do whatever it takes to forestall that," Stengel said. "And I think he did. It could have been a lot worse; there were things he could have done better. One of his responsibilities is to put full employment in society and he hasn't really stepped up on that. But in terms of influence and how the economy went this year, Bernanke was the guy."

The finalists for Person Of 2009 were: "President Obama; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.'s co-founder and chief executive officer; the Chinese worker, an 'increasingly influential group'; General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan; and Jamaican sprinter and Olympic gold-medalist Usain Bolt."

Catfight: Barney Frank Vs. Ed Shultz

Barney Frank On Wall Street Pay Limits

Get Rich Cheating

(Via - Americablog)

Notorious A-I-G

Barney Frank grilled AIG CEO Bill Liddy today and asked for a list of the names of AIG executives that have received post-bailout bonuses. Liddy says he'll only release the names if Frank guarantees their anonymity. Liddy then goes on to read from a list of death threats made against AIG personnel. Frank refused to promise to shield the names and threatened to subpoena Liddy if he had to. Frank did allow that he'll consult with law enforcement first and determine if any of the threats merit investigation. It all starts at the 5:00 mark.

Resign Or Commit Suicide

Wow, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) didn't pull any punches when it comes to the AIG execs taking responsibility for the company's woes.

"I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed," Grassley said. "But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide. And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology."

Grassley's poor spokesperson is telling the press that the Senator doesn't really want anybody to commit suicide. Not really! Kidding!

"It's The Stupidest Tea Party I Was Ever At In My Life!" Said Alice

Wingnuts around the nation will gather today for symbolic "Boston tea parties" to protest the banking bailout and Obama's stimulus plan. Protesters will appear at various city landmarks and waterfronts around the nation to lower a ceremonial teabag into the ceremonial mouth of the government. Except in Iowa, where the state says you need an environmental impact study before you can dump anything in the Cedar River. :::shakes fist with impotent rage at fascist overlords:::

Congress Folds On Salary Caps

It looks like the top executives at bailed out firms won't have to give up that house in the Hamptons after all.

Congressional efforts to impose stringent restrictions on executive compensation appeared to be evaporating yesterday as House and Senate negotiators worked to fine-tune the compromise stimulus bill. Provisions to impose a penalty on banks that paid hefty bonuses and to cap pay at $400,000 for all employees at firms applying for additional government funds did not survive the compromise, sources said. The situation was in flux last night, but provisions in the Senate bill that called for a ban on bonuses for all companies receiving government funds also appeared to be headed to the chopping block, congressional sources said.

Even if you completely fuck things up and the government has to come to the rescue, you still get your millions.

$500K Salary Cap For Bailout Firms

The Obama administration is planning to impose a $500K annual salary limit for the executives of companies receiving federal bailout money.

Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends. President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plan to announce the executive compensation plan on Wednesday morning at the White House. The new rules would be far tougher than any restrictions imposed during the Bush administration, and they could force executives to accept deep reductions in their current pay. They come amid rising public fury about huge pay packages for executives at financial companies being propped up by federal tax dollars. Executives at companies that have already received money from the Treasury Department would not have to make any changes. But analysts and administration officials are bracing for a huge wave of new losses, largely because of the deepening recession, and many companies that have already received federal money may well be coming back.

That's a pretty dramatic pay cut for these guys and I wonder if some of these companies will be able to hold onto their leaders when non-bailed out firms are offering much more.

Bailout Priorities

Also of note: the insurer of the ditched plane is AIG.

(Photo Via - Dealbreaker)

Another $20B For Bank Of America

Un-fucking-real.

After a marathon negotiating session, the Bush administration agreed early Friday to give Bank of America an additional $20 billion worth of fresh capital to help it stomach the losses at Merrill Lynch, which the company acquired Jan. 1. The funds are in addition to $25 billion in TARP rescue funds Bank of America has already received. The new infusion means Bank of America has now taken $45 billion of government aid, the same amount as Citigroup Inc. In connection with the package, Bank of America slashed its quarterly dividend to a mere penny from 32 cents, agreed to further limit executive pay and and work more intensively to modify the mortgages of distressed homeowners. The government's agreement with Bank of America mentions "enhanced executive compensation restrictions" but doesn't elaborate. However, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who heads the House Financial Services Committee, last week issued an outline of his proposal to attach strings to spending the rest of the bailout money. It would slap strict limits on executive compensation _ both for companies receiving new federal money and those that already have _ including a ban on any bonuses for the 25 highest paid executives.

And Citigroup, which also got $45B, is breaking apart.

Citigroup said Friday it is splitting into two businesses as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $8.29 billion - its fifth straight quarterly loss. In Citigroup's reorganization, one business, Citicorp, will focus on traditional banking around the world, while the other, Citi Holdings, will hold the company's riskier assets. CEO Vikram Pandit's move will allow Citigroup to sell or spin off the Citi Holdings assets to raise cash. It also reveals the company's growing focus on back-to-basics lending and deposit-gathering, and dismantles the "financial supermarket" created a decade ago.

Dubya's Legacy

We Broke The National Debt Clock

59% Would Boot Entire Congress

From the Rasmussen Reports:

Congress was front and center in the national news last week and the American people were far from impressed. If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 59% of voters would like to throw them all out and start over again. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 17% would vote to keep the current legislators in office. Today, just 23% have even a little confidence in the ability of Congress to deal with the nation’s economic problems and only 24% believe most Members of Congress understand legislation before they vote on it.

Some historical context, also from the above:

When the Constitution was written, the nation’s founders expected that there would be a 50% turnover in the House of Representatives every election cycle. That was the experience they witnessed in state legislatures at the time (and most of the state legislatures offered just one-year terms). For well over 100 years after the Constitution was adopted, the turnover averaged in the 50% range as expected.

In the twentieth century, turnover began to decline. As power and prestige flowed to Washington during the New Deal era, fewer and fewer Members of Congress wanted to leave. In 1968, Congressional turnover fell to single digits for the first time ever and it has remained very low ever since.

House Approves Bailout 263-171

And Bush has already signed. Democrats: Yes - 172, No - 63. Republicans: Yes - 91, No -108.

The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history. At 1:21 p.m., applause and cheers echoed through the House chamber as the number of “aye” votes crossed the threshold needed for passage with just seconds remaining in the official 15-minute voting period. The vote was 263 to 171.

And in a sign of the urgency surrounding the package, Congressional staff rushed the newly printed legislation into a news conference where Democratic leaders gathered after the vote and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, signed it, at exactly 2 p.m.

Within an hour, the legislation had been conveyed to the White House and signed by President Bush. Standing in the Rose Garden shortly before signing the document, the president thanked Congressional leaders of both parties by name and said they had achieved something “essential to helping America’s economy weather the financial crisis.”

The stock market is still -144, two hours after the vote.

Banksy On Wall Street

I'm not all that wild about street artist Banksy, but this billboard-sized bit about Wall Street (put up in Soho, I think) made me laugh. Note that "real" graffiti artists have already tagged it with "damn rats."

(Via - Gothamist/Jake Dobkin)