Sunday, September 27, 2009
Like Willie Sutton lobbying against bank robbery laws
Only because they use computer programs and inside information instead of a gun, the banks feel that they should be allowed to continue their thieving ways.
The guest of honor: Barney Frank.Ah yes, the US Chamber of Commerce, that stalwart bastion of protection for corporation against the great unwashed masses.
The bankers wanted to be sure that Representative Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would not attempt to clamp down excessively on derivatives trading. Frank said he left the session pledging to keep in mind their “legitimate’’ concerns.
“It was not lobbying politically,’’ Frank said of the meeting last summer in New York, which was held at his request. “This is lobbying intellectually.’’
Whatever it is called, it is part of a huge corporate effort in Washington to stave off or shape sweeping regulatory reforms, led by many of the very same financial institutions that received unprecedented sums of taxpayer money last year to keep them from failing.
Even as the banks say they are reforming themselves to avoid excessive financial risks, they have mounted a pitched battle against new regulations they fear could stifle competition and growth. They are spending millions of dollars, hiring former congressional and White House staffers to make their case, and warning, in the words of the US Chamber of Commerce, that the sweeping financial regulation Frank’s committee is producing “will do more harm than good.’’
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