A "Jobs Bill" Wall Street Loves Passes Congress With President Obama's Support

[Better Believe It]

March 29, 2012
That Peculiar Odor...
A Jobs Bill for Wall Street
by ROBERT HUNZIKER

It’s about time Congress focuses attention on jobs for Wall Street, and it appears they are going overboard to help in the new JOBS Act that recently passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 380-to-41. After all, last year Wall Street cash bonuses fell 14% to $19.7 billion or $121,150 per employee, and the industry suffered thousands of job cuts.

Before celebrating this new bill too much, and in fairness to balanced opinion, this from the Council of Institutional Investors about the JOBS Act: “We are disappointed that the Senate failed to include investor protections in a bill that would make it easier for companies to raise money… While it’s not at all clear that the legislation will create jobs, it will create greater risks for investors… The bill dismantles many investor protections Congress put in place a decade ago after accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom….”

The brand spanking new JOBS Act, an acronym for Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act sped through Congress at break-neck speed with huge bipartisan support in large measure because the IPO (Initial Public Offerings) Task Force convinced members of Congress that 90% of job creation comes after companies go public.

According to the messiah of capitalism, Forbes Magazine, “With the JOBS Act, Congress Throws Open the Door for Private Stock Offerings” (March 28, 2012) “… the JOBS Act turns its back on several decades of established securities law practice, which has led to significant restraints on how equity can be raised in private markets. Whether the boost to economic growth will outweigh the risk of defrauded investors remains to be seen.”

Read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/29/a-job-bill-for-wall-street/


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Obama Administration takes credit for pro-fraud legislation calling it a "bipartisan jobs measure" BBI

Democrats Realize Pro-Fraud Legislation Not in Their Interests
By: David Dayen
March 27, 2012

After both houses of Congress passed it, the White House is finally recognizing that the deregulatory bill they proposed and pushed is distasteful to liberals who have actually looked at it for longer than two seconds:

There are only two ways to look at the JOBS Act. Either you agree with the Republican critique that regulations are a boot stamping on a human face forever, something the White House has rejected over and over again, or you think the economy will be served by a pro-fraud bill, a bill that makes it easier for companies to bilk investors and for Wall Street financiers to facilitate it. Neither makes the White House come off looking good.

The Administration took credit for the JOBS Act last week, and this article fleshes out more details about its origin. Apparently it’s a holdover from the dark Bill Daley days.

As Bill Black writes, most pro-fraud legislation ends up being bipartisan. Republicans are down for whatever pro-fraud bits they can get for their constituency. So when Democrats support something, it’s sure to get votes. And since Washington chases bipartisanship like a tiger chases its tail, you end up with legislation like this, that can be called a “bipartisan jobs measure” if you stretch the definition to its very limits.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/03/27/democrats-realize-pro-fraud-legislation-not-in-their-interests/