Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
The Voice of Young Conservatives
THE WEEK OF APRIL 26, 2010
The Outrage
Used and forgotten. In 2008, young people gave Democrats their vote and in 2009
Democrats showed young people the door. Well it’s time to tell the Democrats to
stop and listen up. From health care to student loan reform, Democratic policies
have consistently ignored the needs of our generation. If we want change, 2010
must be different.
What You Can Do About It
Speak up! As a conservative we must begin to win hearts and minds before we can
win elections. The process starts by educating people about what we truly believe. It
starts with you in the classroom.
We’ll arm you with the facts you need to win the argument. It’s your job to carry the
message on to your campus. It’s your job to speak up! By engaging ourselves in the
debate, we’ll spread the message of conservatism – the message of small
government, Xiscal responsibility, and individual rights – to one campus, one
classroom, and one student at a time.
Over the next Xive weeks the CRNC will be looking into the growing entitlements that
left unreformed will doom this country’s Xiscal future. We must realize that
government is not the solution to the problem…it IS the problem.
This Week’s Theme: Financial Regulatory Reform
The Promise: President Obama continues to push for regulatory reform saying that
it is, “essential that we learn the lessons of this crisis, so we don’t doom ourselves to
repeat it. And make no mistake, that is exactly what will happen if we allow this
moment to pass.”
The Reality: The current reform package being debated in the Senate fails to
address the major causes of the crisis. The President is more concerned with passing
something quickly to score political points with voters in the upcoming elections
than creating a workable policy that solves the structural problems in the Xinancial
sector.
A group of former regulators, left‐leaning economists, and Democratic insiders have
written a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid examining the myriad Xlaws of
the current Xinancial regulatory reform bill. The letter says that,
“Nineteen months after the most devastating Xinancial crisis since the
Great Depression, our Xinancial system remains at risk. Neither the bill
passed earlier this year by the House, nor the one currently under
consideration in the Senate would have prevented the crisis. Without
serious restructuring, they will not prevent a future crisis.”
The letter highlights eight things that the bill must do to thwart a future crisis.
Among them:
“Eliminate a perpetual system of government sponsored corporate
bailouts Xinanced by the government or private industry.”
Unfortunately, rather than eliminate taxpayer bailouts of the Xinancial sector the
Democrats legislation institutionalizes the process. In addition to the letter an
informal survey of economists and regulatory experts from across the political
spectrum found that not one single expert of any party agreed the Democrats
legislation would end “too big to fail.”
The debate over the bailouts has centered around the $150 billion in the House bill
and $50 billion in the Senate bill used as a “liquidation fund.” However, this
overlooks other provisions of the bill that would institutionalize “too big to fail.” For
instance
• Section 204 authorizes the FDIC to “make available...funds for the orderly
liquidation of a covered Xinancial institution” which could be used to pay off
the Xirm’s creditors
• Section 210(n)(9) the Treasury Department creates a line of credit for
government funding to failing Xirms
• Section 1155 the FDIC is authorized to guarantee the debt of “solvent
depository institutions” if regulators declare there is a liquidity crisis.
Little wonder then Brad Sherman (D‐CA), Member of the House Financial Services
Committee said, “The Dodd bill has unlimited executive bailout authority. That’s
something Wall Street wants but doesn’t dare ask for.”
Fact 2: The Plan Ignores One of the Primary Creators of the Financial Crisis
Democrats’ anger has solely been directed at Wall Street but have failed to address
their own role in the crisis. To that end Investor’s Business Daily recently wrote that,
The worst part is that this crisis was predictable. In 1999 the New York Times wrote
that,
“In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae
is taking on signiXicantly more risk, which may not pose any
difXiculties during Xlush economic times. But the government‐
subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic
downturn, prompting a government rescue...”
Nevertheless, Democrats continue to ignore Fannie and Freddie’s role in the crisis
and failed to make it part of their reform plan. Barney Frank, chairman of the House
Financial Services Committee, went as far as to say that “[Republicans] have not yet
made a policy case why GSE reform needs to be a part of regulatory reform.”
Unfortunately, for Mr. Frank, economists from his own party disagree with him
saying that a reforms must be “considered incomplete” unless they “[e]stablish a
timeline for the resolution of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
Fact 3: Big Government Only Adds to the Problem
The Federal Reserve is the centerpiece of the Senate legislation. Under the bill, the
Fed would be the chief regulator of banks with $50 billion or more in assets. That
would put hundreds of banks within the Fed’s authority, including banking giants
Bank of America and Citigroup. It would also gain the authority to regulate, a
whenever it deemed necessary to break up, corporations that are “systemically
important.” Finally, the bill creates a Financial Stability Oversight Council that
identiXies and protects the Xinancial system from threats. As part of the Council’s
power it can enable the Fed to order Xinancial institution to break itself up, stop
certain practices, or even go out of business.
But is a new all‐powerful government entity really the answer? Just last year a Wall
Street Journal story called “Senate Democrats Seek Sweeping Curbs on the Fed”
outlined Chris Dodd’s (D‐CT) position on the Fed. In the article he is quoted as
saying that,
“Over the last number of years when [the Fed] took on consumer
protection responsibility and regulation of bank holding companies, it
An enormous change in rhetoric over the past year. Essentially Dodd is giving
enormous regulatory powers to a Fed he admits has a “dismal” record in regulating.
This shouldn’t inspire a great deal of conXidence. In fact the Federal Trade
Commission has already said that result of the layers of new bureaucracy “could be
less protection for consumers, and fewer ‘cops on the beat.’”
Bottom Line: The need for Xinancial regulatory reform is something the parties
agree on. However, true reform needs to be able to prevent the Xinancial crisis that
led to the outcry for reform. Democrats should work with Republicans to create
workable legislation that ends bailouts and addresses the real structural causes of
the Xinancial crisis.