just in in-tray, i quote
Was watching the Roundtable crew on Special Report with Bret Baier this morning on Fox News.
Interesting conclusions on the Massachusetts race.
They all felt that Obama would pivot towards more "populist" positions - i.e. more pressure on Wall Street, "fat cats" etc.
Sounds good in theory, but I fear that in the longer run, counter-productive.
Then we get this on Bloomberg:
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama tomorrow will offer new proposals on limiting the size and complexity of proprietary trading systems as a way to reduce risk-taking, a senior administration official said.
Obama, who is meeting tomorrow with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, will propose the new rules as a part of an overhaul of financial regulations to help limit the size of financial institutions, the official said on the condition of anonymity before the announcement is made.
“We’ve got a financial regulatory system that is completely inadequate to control the excessive risks and irresponsible behavior of financial players all around the world,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News broadcast tonight.
Obama in June proposed an overhaul of U.S. financial regulations to fix lapses in oversight and excessive risk-taking that helped push the economy into a prolonged recession.
Volcker, who is chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Board, has criticized as “reform light” efforts by the financial industry to weaken financial regulation proposals in Congress.
A year ago, he issued a report from the Group of Thirty, a panel of former central bankers, finance ministers and academics, calling for separation between commercial banks and businesses that engage in speculative risk-taking such as hedge funds and proprietary trading.
The House of Representatives passed a package of new rules in December while members of the U.S. Senate continue to work on legislation that has the support of Republicans and Democrats.
But if anyone can get rational policy, it would be Volcker, but I suspect Congress will mangle it as usual.
I wonder what sort of other "populist programs" will be proffered.
Good news for Hong Kong and Singapore?
[edit by tj: ... yes, we of freedom hong kong tend to view all direly enveloping situations as potentially fortunate, even regional election results in obscure places far away, because we are fundamentally optimists :0) |
