But then, what happened? Were bankers jumping out of windows like their predecessors had when the market crashed in '29? No way.
WSNS reported what happened: "Bank stocks soared on Friday, with the share price of JP Morgan Chase, one of the biggest finance houses, surging 5.9 percent and helping drive the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 125 points. Other bank stocks rose sharply: Bank of America up 4.7 percent, Goldman Sachs up 3.3 percent, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. The S&P financial sector index was up 3.6 percent overall.
The Wall Street Journal reported the rise in prices under the headline, "Financial Stocks Turn Higher After Senate Passes Reform Bill."
Sounds bad right? HaHaHa! So much for Harry Reid's boast, "When this bill becomes law, the joyride on Wall Street will come to a screeching halt." In fact, there is still plenty of joy in Mudville because Mighty Goldman has not yet struck out.
The bankers were encouraged by something else as well: a vow by President Obama "not to punish the banks." A day later it was reported that AIG will not be prosecuted criminally.
Writes Daniel Gross in Newsweek: "Given what the financial sector put the nation through in the past three years, the case for punitive action was--and is--very compelling. But while there's stuff in there that the financial sector doesn't like, the legislation that is now headed to a House-Senate conference is, in fact, relatively tame."
Gross's article is headlined "reform without punishment," The bill's passage came two days after The Tory dominated government in Britain announced plans for a new agency to fight financial crime. Sorry, to say, the United States, under the "progressive" Obamacrats, is moving in the opposite direction. The press is even reporting that the Treasury Department (i.e.) Tim Geithner, is, along with the big banks, against the provision in the bill calling for regulation of derivatives. Watch for that to go in some new compromise. See Politico's report that this derivatives issue has "soured" Wall Street on Obama. Can't have that, can we?
Two other parts of the "reform," one that survived the politicking and one that didn't, should also concern us. First, there was the provision that transferred what was first conceived as an independent consumer protection agency into The Federal Reserve Bank which has shown no concern with protecting consumers. One Financial blogger argued that big financial power vetoed any independent role. His conclusion: "The Giant Banks, Federal Reserve and Treasury Have All Blackmailed America." Elizabeth Warrren must be furious.
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