Ah, Great. Another Closed-Door Meeting Between Obama Admin and Top Bankers

[MannyGoldstein]

From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/business/22banks.html?ref=global-home">today's NY Times:

"More than 40 chief executives of the largest financial institutions were scheduled to hear from Mr. Geithner on Tuesday at a closed-door forum of the Financial Services Roundtable."

I thought this was all going to be transparent?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. Ah, shit.

Geitner in a room with a bunch of Wall Street whores -- nothing, but nothing good is gonna come out of that.

[gateley]

3. Makes my blood boil. nt

[Smashcut]

7. That's not true.

I'm sure the danish will be top-notch. Wanna make sure they're well-fed whilst divvying up the country's wealth amongst themselves.

[DrDan]

2. I am comfortable with this . . . I am sure the citizens will benefit . . . .

:puke:

[Captain Hilts]

4. Not cool. nt

[truedelphi]

5. We are handed so much change that we can believe in, that

I can no longer even locate "Hope."

(I'm sure there is a pony in here somewhere, we have to keep on shovelling.)

[jefferson_dem]

6. Unrec.

Bullshit cherry-picked, out-of-context piece in the OP. Typical. Read the rest of the NYT report, folks.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. WIth Obama, Words Don't Count - Only Actions nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

8. Nice selective reading there.

The article details strong changes Obama is proposing and also mentions that shares of the big banks fell on the news, but you decide to take one sentence out of a very long article to push your agenda.

(snip)

The changes would prohibit bank holding companies from owning, investing, or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds and from engaging in proprietary trading — what Mr. Obama called the Volcker Rule, in recognition of the former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul A. Volcker, who has championed the restriction.

In addition, Mr. Obama will seek to limit consolidation in the financial sector, by placing curbs on the growth of the market share of liabilities at the biggest firms. An existing cap, put in place in 1994, put a limit of 10 percent on the share of insured deposits that can be held by any one bank. That cap would be expanded, officials said, to include liabilities other than deposits.

(snip)

Investors, nervous about the impact the proposed rules could have, sent bank shares down on Wall Street, even with the record earnings reported Thursday by Goldman Sachs.

In late morning trading, Morgan Stanley fell 5.45 percent, to $28.93; JPMorgan Chase dropped 5.2 percent, to $41.16; Bank of America. 5.52 percent, to $15.58; Goldman Sachs 4.6 percent, to $160.19; and Citigroup 3.8 percent, to $3.32.

Wells Fargo, a consumer banking giant that lacks a big trading unit, fell 1.5 percent, to $27.41.

[Jennicut]

9. A bit misleading:

"The proposals go farther than a package of reforms approved by the House last month on a vote of 223-202. That overhaul would consolidate some oversight, require stronger capital cushions for the largest banks and Wall Street firms and impose regulation of some derivatives. It would also require financial institutions to pay as much as $150 billion into an emergency fund that could be tapped when a giant firm needs to be taken over and dissolved. And it would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate products like credit cards and mortgages.

Bank executives appeared to be caught off-guard by the proposal, and were still digesting its impact. More than 40 chief executives of the largest financial institutions were scheduled to hear from Mr. Geithner on Tuesday at a closed-door forum of the Financial Services Roundtable."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/business/22banks.html?ref=global-home

[KansDem]

10. "Troubled Assholes Relief Program"

Taxpayers were “forced to rescue financial firms facing a crisis largely of their own creation,” he said.

Mr. Obama said of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the 2008 bank bailout: “That rescue, undertaken by the previous administration, was deeply offensive, but it was the necessary thing to do.” But he said the financial system was “still operating under the same rules that led to its near-collapse,” and vowed: “Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail.”

Under existing rules, he said, the banks “concealed their exposure to debt” through complex financial maneuvers, made “speculative investments,” and took on “risks so vast that they posed threats to the entire system,” Mr. Obama said.

Isn't anyone going to be held accountable for this crime?

[xchrom]

12. Obama talked a good game on health care - and he's talking a good game now. Nt

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jefferson_dem]

14. +1.

n/t

[Cha]

15. +Fucking Million