Monday, March 30, 2009

Chris Dodd: Exercises In Rhetoric And Hypocrisy

Just released a congressional letter signed by the jolly Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, Barney Frank and the one and only Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, [and assorted donations by A.I.G.] Chris Dodd. The letter, addressed to the recently crowned First Human Resources Manager of every publicly bailed out company, Barack Obama, pledges a bicameral effort to create a "more robust regulatory framework to enhance the financial stability and protect investors."

The letter continues: "The crisis has exposed serious weaknesses and gaps in the supervision and regulation of the financial sector and has shaken public confidence in the financial system." One imagines this is Chris Dodd speaking from his personal experiences based on a multi-decade mutually beneficial relationship with the financial black hole formerly known as A.I.G.

In the accompanying cover letter, Dodd says: "As we prepare to write legislation that will modernize our financial regulatory system for the 21st century, the Banking Committee has strong partners both across the Capitol and in the White House." Somehow, Mr. Dodd forgets to mention Wall Street in that list. One hopes Wall Street's feelings will not be too hurt, as it just may turn off the campaign donation spigot flowing in Mr. Dodd's general direction.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

just a signpost for ZH to consider answering the question i just posed about the definition of the "skew" in the context of credit spreads. my guess is it has to do with the difference in spreads as that implied by the underlying components of an index vs the index itself. thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

Blah, Blah, Blah. What is the purpose of this letter ?

Anonymous said...

Really! I wish that Barney Rubbel would show up to work one day in full garb.

(right click -->Open in New Window)

Barney's Suit

Anonymous said...

i dig the misspelling of barack obama.

jill said...

No, Wall Street is not on the list but you can bet that the letter has been forwarded to Wall Street lobyyists. Yes, this is how it works. First issue a warning that changes are on the way. That is the signal to the lobbyists to write changes and deliver them with a bag of monay to Frank and Dodd.