I was sitting here at my desk when my desk began to shake very noticeably. Thank goodness for the internet as I googled 'seismic activity bc' and learned that there was a 4.8 earthquake just north of Victoria at about 23:40, the time my desk began shaking. My little girl was asleep under my desk and momentarily opened her eyes. She is asleep again, but I can still feel my heart going thumpty-thumpt! OK, I'll be awake for yet a while tonight.
Mother Jones — "Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is so far outside the historic American model of constitutionally limited government and the rule of law that it is the perfect case study of the pathologies that infect our bureaucracies at the federal level," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich solemnly intoned in his opening statement as an expert witness at a congressional hearing on December 16. "It is dictatorial. It is unaccountable. It is practically unrestrained in expanding on its already expansive mandate from Congress. And it is contemptuous of the rights, values, and preferences of ordinary Americans."
Newty is at it again . . . lie after lie! I am not saying the CFPB is perfect, but it is needed to keep the financial vultures off the backs of ordinary people. Having been in the financial services industry for over 40 years, and being one that supports the rights of consumers, Newty is all wet! What is truly disturbing is the apparent lack of awareness of this agency and its role by the public.
Truthdig —
The difference with the “bail-in” is that the order of creditor seniority is changed. In the end, it amounts to the cronies (other banks and government) and non-cronies. The cronies get 100% or more; the non-cronies, including non-interest-bearing depositors who should be super-senior, get a kick in the guts instead. . . .
In principle, depositors are the most senior creditors in a bank. However, that was changed in the 2005 bankruptcy law, which made derivatives liabilities most senior. Considering the extreme levels of derivatives liabilities that many large banks have, and the opportunity to stuff any bank with derivatives liabilities in the last moment, other creditors could easily find there is nothing left for them at all.
Credit to Politics Plus Were They Really TBTF?
As of September 2014, US derivatives had a notional value of nearly $280 trillion. A study involving the cost to taxpayers of the Dodd-Frank rollback slipped by Citibank into the “cromnibus” spending bill last December found that the rule reversal allowed banks to keep $10 trillion in swaps trades on their books. This is money that taxpayers could be on the hook for in another bailout; and since Dodd-Frank replaces bailouts with bail-ins, it is money that creditors and depositors could now be on the hook for.
There is a great need for the return of Glass-Steagall to separate the risky investment business, currently pegged at some $280 trillion in 2014, from daily deposit banking. Without it, everyday depoitors like you and I could lose all our savings. To effect that change will require an absence of Republicans in Congress, but also an absence of banksters writing the rules, no matter what party governs.
Policy.mic — In 2001, the Portuguese government did something that the United States would find entirely alien. After many years of waging a fierce war on drugs, it decided to flip its strategy entirely: It decriminalized them all.
If someone is found in the possession of less than a 10-day supply of anything from marijuana to heroin, he or she is sent to a three-person Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, typically made up of a lawyer, a doctor and a social worker. The commission recommends treatment or a minor fine; otherwise, the person is sent off without any penalty. A vast majority of the time, there is no penalty.
Fourteen years after decriminalization, Portugal has not been run into the ground by a nation of drug addicts. In fact, by many measures, it's doing far better than it was before.
What Portugal has done is change its paradigms around addiction from a punative to a health care focus. We treat smoking and drinking, both addictions for some people, as health care issues. Why would we not treat drug addiction in a similar way?
My Universe — I could not decide which to use so you get all three!
7 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 29/12/2015”
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Earthquakes are the strangest things, aren't they? I can understand completely you won't be able to sleep for a while, Lynn. Our lowlands on a bed of clay and sand aren't particularly known for earthquakes, and Oz has been the least seismic active place for thousands of years, but we've once witnessed one about the same seismic force you have. It was in the middle of the night and my husband and I both woke up at the same time, not knowing what had caused that. Things felt weird, eerie even. About ten minutes later we heard a little rumble that came closer until it felt like a lorry was driving through the bedroom. Then everything was quiet again. What stayed with me most was that eerie, sinister "silence" that woke us up.
MoJo: Sorry, but this article goes right over my head, although I do not doubt for a moment that Newt Gingrich, being the Republican and the man he is, has told another pack of lies at the hearing.
Truthdig: Nothing has changed since the financial crisis and the cronies are up to their old tricks again. This cronyism is kept alive and even allowed to prosper by Republicans because it is in the interest of their masters and ultimately themselves to do so.
Policy.mic.: As a Dutch woman I can only acknowledge that this approach is beneficial for all.
My Universe: So glad you decided to put all three in, Lynn.
How exciting! Next time that happens, click here.
Newter Newt!
Bankster bailouts in top!!
Kudos to Portugal!
Dump the dawg!
When he's having a Jesusing moment? That might be bad karma!
As my balance issues, which have been with me my whole life, slowly increase under the invluence of age and allergies, I less and less need a small actual earthquake to to feel unsure of my next step, or my stability. I'm pretty sure that I would notice a 4.8 one, though. I hope your heart has calmed down by now.
MoJo and Truthdig – I know this stuff is about as interesting as a root canal, but banking and finance today are so multi-national that what is being done in the United States would, in the event of a crash (which is always closer than we would like) drag the rest of the world down with us. It did in 1929, which helped facilitate the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and it did in 2008, which has helped facilitate the rise of the right wing in many places world wide. Now, instead of responding to the 2008 crash with common sense, we are loosening more and more regulations, all of which will make the crash worse..
Policy – "Why would we not treat drug addiction in a similar way?" One word. money.
Universe – Bless the beasts amd the children.
Why would anyone have the Newt thing to tstify about ANYTHING, unless one knows, beforehand, that he will spout the very BS you want on record? Asking him to testify is like asking Mrs. Hockey Puck form Alaska to tel about how she can see Russia from her back yard, way,way inland, in Fairbanks!
Portugal's remedy for the drug issue is simple, elegant, and IT WORKS! Can't happen in Puritanical, racist, and greedy America.
Glass- Steagall is not coming back to life under this congress, or any GOpig run congress.
Priority Numero Uno:
Take care of Numero Uno!
My heart would still be pounding. Glad you are ok.
Mother Jones: Newt is like Cheney, he needs to shut up and go away.
Truthdig: Since the banker are effectively writing the laws and our Republican Conress is rubber stamping them, I don't see much chance of change. I agree with you, Glass/Steagall needs to be reinstated.
Policymic: I think Portugal has the right idea, and I So wish we would follow it here.
My Universe: Love all three, but the middle one looks so familiar, I get that look a lot from Gracie, who has taken over our bathroom as her refuge from her two sons. Happy New Year!