Wall Street-Friendly Democrat Undercuts Financial Reform

The Senate conferees negotiating a final Wall Street reform bill approved a measure late Tuesday that purports to protect retail investors yet actually scraps an Obama administration-supported proposal to protect average investors from unscrupulous brokers on Wall Street, in a move one dismayed consumer advocate likened to "false advertising."

The amendment, offered by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), undercuts a move to compel brokers -- middlemen between buyers and sellers of securities -- to act in the best interests of their clients, in accordance with what is known as their fiduciary duty.

"The Johnson fiduciary duty 'compromise' offers the illusion of investor protection, but not the reality," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. "The conditions that the agency would have to meet ensure that any rule it tried to adopt would be tied up in court and would probably be overturned. In short, this is just another fake fiduciary duty provision from the Senate."

The requirement attached to the study acts like a "poison pill" designed to gut the provision, Roper added, given broker-dealers' high probability of success challenging potential rules in court.

The North American Securities Administrators Association, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and AARP all support stronger provisions to protect average investors.

In fact, even Wall Street has indicated its support for a more robust measure.

"[W]e remain supportive of a new, federal fiduciary standard for brokers and investment advisers when they are providing personalized investment advice to retail investors," Andrew DeSouza, a spokesman for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a top trade group, told the Huffington Post in May. Goldman Sachs chief executive and chairman Lloyd Blankfein expressed a similar position in January in testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the panel charged with investigating the roots of the financial crisis.

Johnson's amendment, though, makes it nearly "impossible" for the SEC to act, Roper said, adding that his measure does nothing more than offer "the pretense of trying to solve the problem."

Roper, though, is hopeful that House negotiators will resist the direction taken by their Senate counterparts. "Fortunately, [Senate Banking Committee] Chairman [Christopher] Dodd indicated that this language was still open to negotiation."

But, she added, "it will take major work before it remotely resembles a provision that investor advocates could support."

And come January, investor advocates won't be able to turn to Dodd, who will be retiring. Instead, they'll have to appeal to the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee -- and if Democrats replace Dodd on the basis of seniority, that new chairman will be none other than Tim Johnson.


Welcome to the politics of underhanded government. A lot is being said up front while lobbyists from the financial industry work behind the scenes with an influential congressmen. I knew some of the bought off congressmen would try to pull this garbage under the cover of the oil spill and other news. Here it is. You got a voice, you can stop it if you want.

Publish Photos Of Dolphins In Gulf Oil Spill

A pod of bottlenose dolphins swims in the oily water of Chandeleur Sound on May 6. Five days later, six dead dolphins were found along the Gulf Coast. Officials were investigating oil's role in the deaths. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


We know that dolphins hang around the coastal areas as well as out in the areas of the gulf and we know they certainly swim where the Deep Horizon oil rig used to pump oil. Unlike other fish dolphins and whales have to come to the surface to get air. They have to get air this way or they will suffocate and at some point in the vicinity of these expansive oil spill blobs they must surface for air. When they do they will surface and they will take oil into their spouts and since oil does not wash off they will try again and again and not because they are stupid but because they want to breathe and live. But each time oil will run into their spouts and then they will suffocate. I wanted to ignore this reality but I know it is happening and I want to see the pictures of it because I do not want this pathetic injustice of man to go unnoticed by man but I also know that much of it will, if not by repression of photos, by the very fact that much of this occurs below the ocean surface where dolphins eventually die from suffocation and sink to the bottom. I know there are photos of dolphins trying to surface for air and photos of dolphins swimming through the oil muck and I want to see these photos exposed. I want to see the trails of whales as they do the same but I do not want these things to be happening. In my heart I want to cry out "run free, run far away from this dangerous place" and even believe these beautiful creatures of the sea are listening but I know a positive approach of denial will only lead to more suffering and more foot dragging in this mess so I want to see the horror of it in the American public's face so they will so loudly speak out in protest that congress will blow all this crap wide open. Just as dogs are man's best friend on the land, dolphins have been considered man's best friend in the sea. They are the best ambassadors for the creatures of the sea and in their deaths they will be the best advocates for getting on top of all this and making sure this never happens again.

The Red-Neck Riviera Gets It's Oil

The Republicans wanted lax voluntary regulation for oil drilling as they bellowed "drill, baby drill" at the Democrats desire for wise and cautious regulation...
Now as the oil finally runs up on the red-neck riviera's pristine white beaches of those Republican states what was going around will have finally come around....in spades.