WHY THE FINANCIAL REFORM IS NOT MUCH OF A REFORM
By Danny Schechter
Author of THE CRIME OF OUR TIME
Washington Post, Some Perks For Wall Street Execs Have Gone UP
"Some of the nation's biggest financial firms have increased the perks and benefits they pay their chief executives, despite the glaring spotlight from a public fed up with handsome bonuses at bailed-out Wall Street banks."
I was among those raving in wonder at the the passage of the financial reform bill. And now, having figured out how little has been done, I am just raving.
"Unbelievable," said one advocate who hoped for the best but expected the worst. He was amazed it even passed. The wise men in the media immediately began making comparisons with the New Deal. The pundits praised the President and the fact that a handful of Republicans did not just say no this time.
Somehow, even the most hard-headed among us realized that something had to be done to bring Wall Street in line if only because the mood in the country on this issue is practically insurrectionary.
You would think as this big 1500 page "reform" went through--any one want to bet if its strongest provisions will survive the reconciliation process?--the banks would be quaking in their boots. After all, they funded what President Obama called "swarms" of lobbyists to kill it at birth. They denounced it with doomsday language with their rhetoric helping to drive the market down. Oh the fear! Oh, the consequences!
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