John Carney Adding the Koch Brothers to the Banking Interests He Represents

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The House is currently working on a bill that would re-authorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, usually not a controversial event, but this year, those who are looking to unravel Dodd-Frank have wrapped into this bill a number of items that specifically work to give banks more freedom to bankrupt us again. John Carney is right in the middle of this effort to continue to destabilize Dodd-Frank, and in the process, give the Koch Brothers an assist. Here's the earlier Huffington Post front page announcing how Democrats -- even our Democrat -- are working to help the Koch Brothers:
Carper and Coons Give a Big Thumbs Up to TBTF

Carper and Coons Give a Big Thumbs Up to TBTF

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And a big thumbs up to letting banks put the money in deposit accounts in the same kind of risky bets that their investment accounts are in. I can't say that I'm too surprised at this -- banks do own the road here -- but I'm still appalled at this position. It is a position that is ONLY good for banks -- the rest of us with deposit accounts (and who pay taxes) are definitely the losers here. Because the point of a Glass-Steagall 2 is to separate the deposit accounts (the only part of the banking business explicitly guaranteed by the feds), from the investment business (which is not insured). The point of Glass-Steagall 2 is to dismantle one more part of the TBTF scheme -- specifically the part where banks get to privatize their profits and get to socialize their losses. Until taxpayers get a say in the risks (and get a cut of the benefits) of the TBTF business, taxpayers should not backstop what the banks do here.

Ungrateful

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They got an extraordinary bailout funded and guaranteed by the taxpayers of the United States of America -- they still are -- and yet Jamie Dimon of Citibank Chase is whining about regulations from Dodd-Frank:

Banking Reform Legislation Background

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So now that we're done (for the moment) with the HCR, it is on to Banking Reform. This work has been ongoing in the House (who passed a bill already) and Chris Dodd's Banking Committee. The Congress is in recess now, but it is worth taking some time to get up to speed on the coming issues and the bill itself.

Chart of the Day

An excellent depiction of the current state of the Too Big to Fail showing their bonus payouts vs TARP holdings and current earnings or losses: