So -- in other words -- whatever regulations President Wreckingball can't obliterate outright, he's going to undo by appointing "hands off" regulators who simply "look the other way" and ignore the predatory and fraudulent activities going on right under their noses. The Wall Street Journal even admits it openly. Check it out:
"The administration plans to change how post-crisis rules are enforced, many of which are at the discretion of regulators. This includes lighter enforcement of the so-called Volcker rule, which bars banks from making proprietary trades. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also could see a change in personnel.
"There could even be some relief on capital requirements...The administration has enough power on its own to move the needle considerably, especially for the biggest Wall Street firms. Financial stocks, already among the biggest winners since the election, just got fresh fuel to go higher." (Trump Reforms Are Stuff of Banker Dreams, Wall Street Journal)
This serious stuff, folks. Trump's deregulatory rampage is going to impact the lives and living standards of every man, woman and child in this country. He's going to turn Wall Street into a financial Fukushima that reduces the sputtering US economy to a toxic waste-dump incapable of supporting the nearly-extinct middle class. And, for what? To add a little more helium to a grossly-inflated stock market bubble? It makes no sense.
By the way, when the WSJ talks about "lighter enforcement of the so-called Volcker rule," what they really mean is that the banks are going to have greater flexibility in the way they use government-insured deposits in their casino operations. Wouldn't you like that? Wouldn't you like to plop-down a big chunk of change on Seabiscuit at Churchill Downs, knowing that if you lose, the government will pick up the tab?
Sure, you would. Everyone wants that deal, but Trump thinks the perks should go exclusively to the banks because they're part of the big club. And as George Carlin says, "You and me are not part of the big club."
And what's Trump's beef with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after all, didn't they just fine Wells Fargo $100 million for opening bogus accounts without customers' consent?
Yep, they sure did. And that's what has Trump so rankled. The president doesn't like the idea that his banking chums can get their wrists slapped by an upstart regulator on a crusade to clean up Wall Street corruption. He doesn't like that at all. He's going to decapitate the pesky CFPB, slash its budget, and make sure its trouble-making Director, Richard Cordray, is put out to pasture. You can't have consumer advocates in positions of power who actually do their jobs. That just won't do at all!
Gutting Dodd-Frank is just part of Trump's master-plan to cozy up to the Wall Street heavyweights in order to consolidate his own personal power. That's what's really going on. Trump has already made the same ingratiating appeal to muck-a-mucks in the military, law enforcement and the intelligence community, now he wants to be buddy-buddy with the big money guys. It's all a powerplay.
It's just a pity his base hasn't figured it out yet.
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