Financial Reform Bill Gives More Power to the Federal Reserve, and the Fed is Leading Us Down the Path to Destruction — Pandemics, Warfare, Chaos and Crises

Congress Passes Bankster Consolidation Bill

July 16, 2010

Infowars.com - Change has arrived. But it is not the sort of change imagined by the fawning mobs of 2008 at Obama’s campaign rallies. Obama and Congress have pulled a three-card Monte on the American people. It’s called “financial regulatory reform” and it hands unprecedented power over to the Federal Reserve.

“This historic reform creates the strongest protections for consumers in history and the toughest financial regulations since the Great Depression,” declares a triumphant White House.

Ron Paul’s call for putting the bankster Fed under a microscope has evaporated.

“Just a few months ago, amid populist anger at the Fed for failing to prevent the financial crisis of 2008 and bailing out Wall Street, Congress was talking of stripping the central bank of its supervisory oversight of banks or forcing it to submit to congressional audit of its interest-rate decisions,” the Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday. “Instead, the new law gives the Fed more power and a better tool box to help prevent financial crises.”

The Fed, of course, does not prevent financial crisis. It perpetuates financial crisis at the behest of a cabal of international bankers — the Rothschild’s of London and Berlin, Lazard Brothers of Paris, Israel Moses Seaf of Italy, Kuhn, Loeb & Co. of Germany and New York, Warburg & Company of Hamburg, Germany, Lehman Brothers of New York, Goldman, Sachs of New York, and the Rockefeller Brothers of New York.

The so-called financial regulatory bill headed to Obama’s desk for signature “is not about cracking down on big banks as some claim. Rather, this is about not wasting a crisis.

This is about using a traumatic event to increase government power and control over the economy,” Ron Paul wrote earlier this month. This “traumatic event” was engineered by the banksters and the Federal Reserve.

“The current Globalist Financial Crisis is a Financial False Flag operation,” writes Alfred Lambremont Webre. “It is a controlled collapse of the globalist economic system, engineered by an international war crimes racketeering organization…. The Financial False Flag [is] designed to accelerate the deterioration of First World economies, democracies, and prosperity, in aid of a larger program of global depopulation. The same powers who control the Federal Reserve Bank are intent on depopulating between 1/3 and 2/3 of the current human population, in service to a grotesque covert elite plan.”

If you want to know what the elite have in mind for the serfs, read Paul Joseph Watson’s Rockefeller Study Envisages Future Dictatorship Controlled By Elite. The elite are planning pandemics, warfare, chaos and crises, according to a Rockefeller study produced in association with the Global Business Network.

Providing the Federal Reserve with more authoritarian power under the flimsy guise of going after Wall Street and the greedy investment bankers is only the latest phase of the bankster game plan to impoverish humanity and eventually cull the herd.

Obama, the skilled teleprompter reader, will now sell the Bankster Consolidation Bill to a generally hoodwinked and ignorant public.

“Thursday afternoon, fresh from an economic speech in Michigan, Obama touted financial reform from the south driveway of the White House – beginning with what the reform means for average Americans,” reports the Christian Science Monitor.

It’s a three-card Monte scam, a confidence game, a sleight of hand. Like the famous card game, the mark is steered away from the queen. The Federal Reserve will now lead us down the primrose path to destruction — pandemics, warfare, chaos and crises — and most of us will be none the wiser.

U.S. Regulatory Bill Nears Passage With Republican Support

July 13, 2010

Bloomberg - The U.S. Senate plans to pass the financial-regulation bill on July 15 as Democrats secured the 60 votes needed to enact the biggest rewrite of Wall Street rules since the Great Depression.

Majority Leader Harry Reid will file a procedural motion today that will permit the Senate to move forward, Jim Manley, a spokesman for the Nevada Democrat, said today in an e-mail.

“We will finish our work on this bill this week to ensure that these critical protections and accountability for Wall Street are in place as soon as possible,” Reid said in a statement yesterday.

The decision to seek a vote comes after Republicans Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, said they would back the bill. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, announced today he would vote yes after telling reporters yesterday he was undecided ...

Washington Post: Reid Still Short on Votes for Dodd-Frank Financial Bill

July 12, 2010

LibertyCentral.org - The Washington Post reports that despite weeks and weeks of arm-twisting and cajoling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid still has not pulled together the 60 votes needed to pass the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul in the Senate:

The House last week passed the 2,300-page bill, which among other things would create an independent consumer bureau within the Federal Reserve to protect borrowers from lending abuses, establish oversight of the vast derivatives market, and enable the government to wind down large, failing firms.

The Senate could hold a final vote next week. But it won’t be a cakewalk. Democrats need 60 votes to overcome the threat of a GOP filibuster, and getting that could prove difficult, at least in the short term.

For starters, the recent death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) left Democrats minus a vote, and aides said party leaders are waiting on West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, to fill the empty seat before moving forward. Even then, the math doesn’t get any easier.

When the Senate passed an earlier version of the bill in May, four Republicans supported it: Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Two Democrats — Maria Cantwell of Washington and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin — opposed it, saying it didn’t go far enough.

Cantwell, pleased with changes made to provisions dealing with financial derivatives, has said she will vote for the amended bill. Collins has also voiced support.

Grassley and Brown have remained noncommittal. Both have expressed concerns about efforts to make the bill budget neutral by ending the Troubled Assets Relief Program early and applying estimated savings from the unused funds toward the cost of the bill, as well as by raising premiums paid by banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Dodd-Frank financial overhaul is a misguided power grab, which will vastly expand federal control over the economy, make ‘too big to fail’ permanent, and do nothing to address the problems that led to the current recession. This is the right time to add your voice to the thousands of others who have called or E-mailed their Senators, and told them to vote ‘no’ on this power grab!

Take Action Against the Wall Street Bailout Bill: Call These Key Senators Today!

July 12, 2010

LibertyCentral.org - The US Senate is expected this week to move to a final vote on HR 4173, the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill. As Senators return from July 4 recess, vote counters report that Harry Reid still has not lined up the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster of the bill. Please call the following Senators, who are facing heavy pressure to vote to break the filibuster, so Senate leaders can move to pass this unjustified power grab!

* Scott Brown (R-MA) — (202) 224-4543
* Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — (202) 224-5344
* Susan Collins (R-ME) – (202) 224-2523
* Charles Grassley (R-IA) – (202) 224-3744
* Ben Nelson (D-NE) — 202-224-6551
* Russ Feingold (D-WI) — 202/224-5323

Also read up on the 10 reasons to oppose Dodd-Frank, or learn about the myths and facts behind this terrible bill.

Financial Reform Bill-Questions for Citizens to Ask their Representatives

June 23, 2010

LibertyCentral.org - Both houses of Congress recently passed Financial Reform Bills, H.R. 4173 (passed in the House on December 11), and S. 3217 (which the Senate approved as an amendment to H.R. 4173 on May 20). These massive bills represent another effort by the Federal Government to further restrain our economy and grow the size of government. At a size of over 1,200 pages and 1,500 pages respectively, many members of Congress have likely not even read the bills! These bills are in a House-Senate conference and President Obama wants to sign the negotiated agreement between these two bad bills by July 4th.

Liberty Central has reviewed the bills and put together 25 questions for citizens to ask their elected officials, so that they can learn whether their Congressman and Senators supported the bill, why they may support this government takeover and if they understood the full impact of its passage.

Now is the time to express your views to your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator on this legislation.

Ask one of these questions and see if you get a straight answer! Approach them when they are home for July 4th parades! Bring a Flip Camera and send us your footage!

1. Where in the U.S. Constitution does Congress get the power to pick winners and losers this aggressively in our private economy?

2. Which of the three branches of our federal government has granted Congress this power?

3. Did Congress abolish their legislative authority by leaving key definitions to unelected bureaucrats, czars and others outside our government?

4. Did you know that unelected bureaucrats can decide if a company poses a risk to the economy and then can move in and “take over” or “fix it?”

5. Did you know that Congress has given taxing authority to an bureaucratic entity, the Financial Services Oversight Council? (House Bill, p. 99-102)

6. Did you know that this legislation is framed as going “after Wall Street,” but that (1) those with connections can be exempted from some of the requirements (House Bill, Title 4, Section 4202(b)(3)(A) and the reach of this legislation extends down to dry cleaners, orthodontists and small business owners? Do you feel this is right?

7. Did you know that when this legislation permits the government to take over a company it can manage the company, collect bills receivable, terminate rights of shareholders and creditors amongst other powers? Is this okay with you?

8. Why would you vote for something that puts America at risk of losing our sovereignty and power to international policy makers? (House Bill, Sub. J, page 462)

10. Do you believe, like we do, that the cost to consumers is this…we will pay more by adding new fees to banks? (Title IV, (Section 4109(b)(1)(A)

11. Did you know that this regulation paid off friends and campaign supporters with legislative provisions: (1) federal employees (House Bill, Title IV, p. 794) and (2) liberal elites who need to count by external characteristics – race, gender (Title I, Sub. I)

We have also provided some specific questions about the two bills that you may want to ask your Representatives or Senators.

HOUSE BILL

• Did you know that “financial company” can include companies that are only indirectly engaged in financial activities? Title I (HR 4173)


• Did you know that the Council can require regular reports from “financial companies” just to figure out if those companies pose a “threat” to financial stability (Title I Sub B)


• Did you know that this creates an entirely new unelected, bureaucratic body – the Financial Services Oversight Council – to oversee large financial institutions? (Title I, Sub. A)


• If a company is under these stricter standards, did you know that the company is required to conduct “stress tests” every three months? Even if a company is not in this category, it has to conduct “stress tests” every six months if it has more than $10B in assets. Companies must submit reports of the stress tests and put together a proposed plan for addressing the cause of this stress. After spending all of these time and resources, a judge does not even need to follow this plan if the company goes into bankruptcy. (Title I, Sub. B, p. 82-83, 118-119)


• Did you know that this bill gets rid of the Office of Thrift Supervision, but doesn’t save money by getting rid of its staff or other expenses, even though Republicans and Democrats generally agree that OTS was useless? It just folds the Office into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC. (Title I, Sub. C., pp. 131-140)

SENATE BILL

• Did you know that the Senate Bill allows the Financial Stability Oversight Council to vote on which companies are subject to their standards? (Senate Bill p. 33)


• Did you know that the Board of Governors – a bureaucracy set up by the bill – is the entity that determines the standards for regulating businesses? (S. p. 44)


• Did you know that the Board can force a company to cease activity or sell assets if that company is deemed a threat to “financial stability” (S. p. 60)


• Did you know that the Fed has been given new power that will make credit more expensive and harder to obtain? (S. Sub. C)


• Did you know that this bill gives the Fed new power to scrutinize not just banks but any financial company that the Washington regulators want examined because they think the company might pose risks to the economy? (S. Sub. C)


• Did you know the bill allows the government liquidate companies deemed failing, with shareholders taking the loss? (136)


• Did you know that the Board of Governors is to be funded by fees collected from Corporations? S. p. 334 and Do you really expect to fully fund a new bureaucracy solely by collecting funds from the corporation?


• Did you know that states are barred from imposing eligibility requirements for insurers if they have not adopted nationwide reforms? P. 413


• Why is there a “study for oversight of carbon markets” in this bill? P. 757-758

Derivatives Bill Calls for U.S. Carbon Market Study

April 22, 2010

Reuters - A tough new proposal to regulate U.S. markets calls for top regulators and government officials to conduct a study on transparency in emerging U.S. carbon markets as part of the financial reform package.

The heads of the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other U.S. agencies would be required to study oversight of existing and prospective carbon markets, according to the proposal, part of a bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee this week.

The goal of the study is "to ensure an efficient, secure, and transparent carbon market, including oversight of spot markets and derivative markets," the bill said.

Senator Blanche Lincoln's Agriculture Committee voted to advance the bill this week. It will be merged with the Senate Banking Committee's financial reform package, expected to be debated next week, which will likely include a crackdown on the unregulated $450 trillion derivatives market.

Emerging carbon markets are either voluntary or regional because the U.S. government does not limit emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet, considered a requirement before the launch of a national market.

Ten states in the U.S. Northeast operate a carbon market on power plants. In addition, the Chicago Climate Exchange CLIE.L also runs voluntary carbon markets.

Some critics of carbon markets say that not all of the credits that are traded in them represent true emissions reductions.

Senators John Kerry, a Democrat, Lindsey Graham, a Republican and Joe Lieberman, an independent, hope to unveil a climate bill on Monday that is expected to include a carbon market on power plants beginning in 2012, which could be expanded to the manufacturers years later.

Other agency officials required to participate in the study would be the heads of the Agriculture Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Energy Information Administration, the independent statistics arm of the Department of Energy.

The interagency group would be required to submit a report to Congress on their study within six months after the report becomes law.

Congress Fixes Wall Street - and Orders up 68 Studies

July 6, 2010

CNNMoney.com - In Washington, there's a code phrase for the middle ground that lawmakers find after a torrent of industry lobbying or partisan debate: "Let's do a study."

The Wall Street reform bill may be the most extreme example: The legislation, which could become law later this month, orders government officials to conduct some 68 studies, according to a CNNMoney analysis.

Instead of toughening up ethical and marketing standards for financial planners, Congress studies the issue in the financial overhaul bill. Instead of making it easier to sue lawyers, accountants and bankers who help commit securities fraud, Congress studies the issue.

The bill also studies, among other things: short selling, reverse mortgages, improved insurance regulation, private student loans, oversight of carbon markets and the "feasibility of requiring use of standardized algorithmic descriptions for financial derivatives."

Financial sector lobbyists say the bill's sweeping nature -- even more than the health care bill, which mandated about 40 studies -- leads to the studies.

"A lot of the topics the new bill deals with are very complex and interconnected, and one change in one area can set off a domino effect," said Scott Talbott, senior lobbyist with the Financial Services Roundtable, a bank lobbying group. "It's better to take the time to do a study and do it right then to do something in haste to get it wrong."

Sometimes lawmakers turn to studies to sidestep a thorny issue they aren't ready to deal with. Take the study of the increasingly troubled government-owned mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., recently compared to "kicking the can down the road."

Dodd spokeswoman Kirstin Brost suggested that the bill's reforms focus on more immediate ways to strengthen the economy, while its studies lay the "groundwork for future reforms."

Among the bill's immediate reforms: It creates a new unwinding process so the government can take down and break up failing Wall Street firms. It requires giant banks to keep more cash-like assets on hand, as a safeguard against troubled times. And it creates a new consumer financial protection agency to regulate disclosures and fees on credit cards and mortgages.

The House passed the bill last Wednesday. The Senate is expected to pass and send President Obama the bill in mid-July...

Write This Way: Wall Street Seeks Back Door From Volcker Rule

November 19, 2010

BNet - Banks don’t simply want to weaken the Volcker rule — they want to blow a gaping hole in it. The American Bankers Association is pressing financial watchdogs to ensure that any regulations written to enforce the new law can summarily be tossed aside.

The following is from a recent letter Carolyn Walsh, deputy general counsel for the trade group’s securities unit, submitted to regulators in charge of implementing the Volcker rule (h/t American Banker):

Finally, ABASA recommends that the FSOC recommend that a process be established for the Federal Reserve to provide exemptions from all or part of the Volcker Rule, consistent with the intent of that Rule, so that there is a mechanism to address readily any unintended application of the Rule, in order to facilitate the orderly functioning of the markets affected by the Rule.

While they’re at it, why not just chuck the thing into the East River? That sweeping exemption is on top of the wide range of carve-outs bankers are already seeking on proprietary trading, investing in private equity and hedge funds, principal investing, market-making and a host of other financial activities the Volcker rule could touch.

Writing financial regulations is like catching a falling knife. Banks hoping to dilute the Volcker rule generally want regulators to set broad parameters, so loopholes can be found. Those favoring stricter restrictions are pushing for more specific prohibitions. Yet rules can’t be so narrow that they allow clever bankers to skirt their intent by, say, simply changing a trading unit’s name.

The contest is also uneven. Wall Street firms are training enormous firepower on the Volcker rule and other elements of financial reform passed this summer under the Dodd-Frank act. Industry critics have far fewer resources in lobbying regulators and lawmakers.

For instance, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has roughly 100 task forces studying the implications of new regs affecting the use of derivatives, which played a key role in causing the financial crisis. By contrast, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the government agency largely responsible for overseeing derivatives, has set up some 30 task forces — to implement all of Dodd-Frank.

That doesn’t mean it’s a foregone conclusion that regulators will write weak rules. But it definitely skews the odds.