Clear Financial Thinking from Washington

It is not fair to criticize Washington endlessly. Here is one example of clear thinking.

If you look carefully, you can find patriotic and intelligent members of the U.S. government who are not afraid to spell out clear priorities that address national problems. Consider Representative Marcy Kaptor of Ohio, who makes this cogent statement on her website about the state of reform of the corrupt U.S. financial system:

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill did not go far enough in addressing the challenges facing our financial system. For example:

• It did not replace and strengthen Glass-Steagall, separating commercial banking from investing or speculation.
• It did not reform the credit rating agencies, which had a starring role in the misdirection of investors, including the fundamental business model of the credit rating agencies.
• It did not force every derivative to be traded openly and transparently on an exchange.
• It did not end too big too fail.
• It did not prevent Wall Street banks from replacing community banks.
• It did not encourage prudent lending.
• It did not strengthen support for those agencies finding and fighting fraud in our financial system.
• It did not properly address the housing crisis. 

People of Ohio, you are blessed to have someone actually worth voting for. (Yes, yes, I know Dennis Kucinich is also from Ohio - imagine two candidates worth voting for!)

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If the reference in Point #1 to Glass-Steagall, the critical Depression Era legislation that protected your bank account from financial fraud for half a century until eliminated by a cabal of Washington lackeys serving Big Finance at the turn of the century, leaves you confused, read "Another Weapon for OWS: Pull Your Money Out of BoA."

Concerning "too big to fail," see "Too Big to Exist."