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Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Bloomberg News
Posted: January 4th, 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a48c8UpU...
H.R. 4173 [is] the financial-reform legislation passed earlier this month by the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to pass its own reform plan. The baby of Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the House bill is meant to address everything from too-big-to-fail banks to asleep-at-the-switch credit-ratings companies to the protection of consumers from greedy lenders. At 1,279 pages, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a real slog. While banks opposed the legislation, they should cheer for its passage by the full Congress in the New Year: There are huge giveaways insuring the government will again rescue banks and Wall Street if the need arises. For all its heft, the bill doesnt once mention the words too-big-to-fail, the main issue confronting the financial system. Instead, it supports the biggest banks. It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for no-more-bailouts talk. The bill also allows the government, in a crisis, to back financial firms debts. Bondholders can sleep easy -- there are more bailouts to come.
Note: For a treasure trove of reliable reports on the government bailout of Wall Street, click here.
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