Obama : "If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have"

A fight with the banks now then... since all of his other plans have gone out of the window. This will become interesting, if it actually gets anywhere and become more than another failed promise.

news.bbc.co.uk...

US President Barack Obama has proposed significant new curbs on the activities of banks to try to prevent future financial crises.

"Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by banks that are too big to fail," Mr Obama said.

The plans include limits to the size of banks and restrictions on the riskiest trading practices.

US stocks such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America - fell sharply as the sweeping new rules were announced.

Limiting risk taking

"While the financial system is far stronger today than it was one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse," Mr Obama said.

His proposals also include a ban on retail banks from using their own money in investments - known as proprietary trading. Instead, banks would be limited to investing their customers' funds.

Banking reforms do not come bigger than those proposed by President Obama," the BBC's business editor Robert Peston said.

This may mean that some of the US' biggest banks, such as Bank of America and JP Morgan, whose shares were badly hit, may have to be broken up.

The industry lobby group for banks suggested Mr Obama was trying to return the US to the past.

"The better answer is to modernize the regulatory framework and not take the industry and the economy back to the 1930s," said the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group that represents large Wall Street institutions.

In the UK, shadow chancellor George Osborne said that if the Conservatives win the next general election, they would impose an identical dismantling of UK banks to those suggested by the US president.

The Treasury said it was considering the proposals "very carefully".
Fighting talk

Mr Obama's move is his first proposal since Republican Scott Brown's shock victory in Massachusetts to win a Senate seat.

The Republican victory may make it harder to get Mr Obama's proposals passed in the Senate, as they are more likely to get held up in political wrangling.

"This is a political effort because of what happened in Massachusetts," said economist Peter Morici of the University of Maryland.

Banks have also been lobbying against more stringent regulation.
"If these folks want a fight, it's a fight I'm ready to have," Mr Obama vowed.

The president dubbed his proposals on limiting bank risk the Volcker rule - after Paul Volcker, one of his economic advisors and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve central bank.

The moves follow popular anger at financial institutions, who have been paying large bonuses to staff even as they accepted government bail-outs to keep them going.

The tax will claw back some of the losses from a $700bn taxpayer bail-out of US banks known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp).

It was drawn up in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, following the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers and rescue of insurance giant American International Group (AIG).

Mr Obama's proposals appear to be a return to the principles underlying the Glass-Steagall Act.

That law - from the 1930s in the aftermath of the Great Depression - separated commercial and investment banking and was eventually abolished in 1999 under President Bill Clinton.

Mr Clinton's financial secretary at the time, Robert Rubin, previously worked at Goldman Sachs and went on to be an advisor to Citigroup until last year.

The latest proposals follow a $117bn (£72bn) levy on banks to recoup money US taxpayers spent bailing out the banks.

[edit on 21-1-2010 by john124]

Good for Obama. sorry kids, he's NOT the enemy.
It's Congress and Wall Street that have given the middle finger to hope and change. If you REALLY want reform it's time to wake up and realize that the banks and corporations run this country so they can take your money! They have no alligance to America, but only to profit.
With all the crowing on ATS about "The Constitution" and revolution, you seem to be easily misled about who the problem really is.
IF you really care, then back Obama on this one, call and write your Reps in Congress. Put your cynicism and party politics away and actually DO SOMETHING TO SAVE AMERICA from corporate rule!

reply to post by OldDragger


Well sir, anytime Obama wants to come and pay All my bills.

I'll let him scold me after too.

Originally posted by john124
A fight with the banks now then... since all of his other plans have gone out of the window. This will become interesting, if it actually gets anywhere and become more than another failed promise.

It'll be jaw dropping if it truly happens.
I wonder what am I supposed to think of him then if this actually going somewhere.

Originally posted by OldDragger
Good for Obama. sorry kids, he's NOT the enemy.
It's Congress and Wall Street that have given the middle finger to hope and change. If you REALLY want reform it's time to wake up and realize that the banks and corporations run this country so they can take your money! They have no alligance to America, but only to profit.
With all the crowing on ATS about "The Constitution" and revolution, you seem to be easily misled about who the problem really is.
IF you really care, then back Obama on this one, call and write your Reps in Congress. Put your cynicism and party politics away and actually DO SOMETHING TO SAVE AMERICA from corporate rule!

He IS apart of the evil, he's the one that hired a staff full of people from wall street. He's just as guilty, acting like he's on our side like every president does. Only the blind fall for whatever he says or any president says. I never back any President because I know there is a higher power behind him controlling what he does..if this is the case how can you trust any president? which is simply why i DONT.

So what nice little show are they going to cook up for us now... I mean the Tories (Probable next UK government) back Obama.. hmmmm

news.bbc.co.uk...

I laughed at the bit where Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats called on the government to "get on with breaking up the banks".

LOL, as is this is not being stage managed...

reply to post by Jazzyguy

I wonder what am I supposed to think of him then if this actually going somewhere.

Maybe the banks will hire a hitman to take out Obama first.

Let me get this straight in my mind.

Bush and Obama BOTH bailed CERTAIN banks out the world round.

Them and their cronies Paulson/Geithner systematically and fraudulently bailed certain people/banks out 100% and others told them to frell off. It just so happened to be certain connected banks.

Of course trying to discover what they really did, will never happen because of non-transparency. Some are saying the amount of money created by the Fed exceeded $27 Trillion. Poof, money out of thin air and now the tab has been given to the American Tax payer. A recovery that has no basis in reality, only on the "supposed" increase in the stock market.

Name one number that actually means anything about a recovery. Dare you to name one.

The largest single theft of assets in the history of the world, and we are supposed to TRUST Obama and his cronies to get our money back. I am sorry, almost everyone I know has had their entire life's retirement packages stolen by these POS. Now, if he taxes the banks, HOW FRELLING EXACTLY IS THAT GETTING ANYONE'S MONEY BACK. So the money goes from everyone in the US to the government. Wow, I am happy now.

You have got to be frelling kidding me, right?

[edit on 1/21/2010 by endisnighe]

So let me get THIS straight.
We punish Obama for continuing the bailouts and have a snit, refuse to back any MEANINGFUL attempt at reform and preventing it from happening again.
Smart. That'll show him. Maybe Ron Paul will win in '12. Oh wait, corporations can now freely buy elections! Guess not.

Originally posted by Jazzyguy

Originally posted by john124
A fight with the banks now then... since all of his other plans have gone out of the window. This will become interesting, if it actually gets anywhere and become more than another failed promise.

It'll be jaw dropping if it truly happens.

I wonder what am I supposed to think of him then if this actually going somewhere.

You will think, "Wow, so this is what it's like when you lose your mind." Ha Ha!

Eh, It's like the Health Care crisis, Obama promised one thing and presented a package different from the one that was promised.

I think the same thing will happen, A different package, but one with its core similiaries unaffected, like in Obamacare, which is, as I understand it, a 'public' option, but one where the original insurance providers are unaffected after intense lobbying by the insurance providers?

So there was no real 'change' but rather some pseudo-compromised piece of garbage.

So the main money players will be unaffected but those who are unconnected to Obama's inner circle will survive another day, or through legal loopholes the same people will benefit, like the stockbrokers or the investors, anybody earning money with the bank (or 'healthcare' for that matter)

[edit on 21-1-2010 by star in a jar]

reply to post by john124


Obama and his administration has received more sweet deals from big time banking and Wall Street than any previous administration. Anything Obama cooks up for the banks has to be viewed as pure hippocratic baloney.

Obama's Big Sellout

Obama has slipped badly into unpopularity and is frantic for a popular issue that will catch. Not much has so far. Obama crashed today"s market, look at the DOW! Thanks Obama!

Well his heart is in the right place but it will never happen
This is nothing but more phony outrage from Obama, spewing off at the mouth whiile he whispers to his cronies, "hold me back, hold me back".

How can anyone believe anything that comes out of his mouth when he has failed to hold true to any of his past promises?
If anything, we should all expect him to do the complete opposite of he says.

As usual an excellent speech but as the saying goes - talk is cheap. In reality job losses are continuing while Goldman again posted record profits today because of the $350 billion in TARP II funds the current government released into the banking market. Not to mention the trillions of cheap money from the fed and the bill authorizing the fed to make $4 trillion available to the big banks next crisis. Say one thing while doing another, this strategy has been used so much I'm surprised people are still falling for it.

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. That is more than twice what the Fed pumped into markets this time around. The size of the fund makes the bribes in the Senate’s health-care bill look minuscule.

www.bloomberg.com...

[edit on 21-1-2010 by 4ortunate1]

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out. I don't blame those of you that are cynical - federal government has done NOTHING to gain the trust of the American people in a very long time.

I do wonder where the real problem in Washington is? My guess is that if the ATS Messiah (Ron Paul) somehow got elected president we would see much of the same thing we are seeing with Obama. Spinning wheels in mud.

Many of you talk big talk about Constitution and Democracy, but then you expect a president to act like a dictator. "By golly, Obama is just barely 1 year into his first term and he has not changed the world! He is worthless!"

There is a big problem in Washington, and I don't think it is just Obama.

So let's ask ourselves, why is Obama talking big-talk to the banks? Perhaps it is a show to placate the consumers, er- Americans, who are getting tired of the banks? Or maybe it is that something real is going down.

I hope it is not the former, and would love to see the latter. The string-pullers above Washington will know there is danger when Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents all start agreeing on more thing than they disagree on. Right now they (we) all agree that the banks are screwing them (us) royally, so the strings get pulled and the illusion of action being taken appears in the beltway.

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by john124

 

Obama has slipped badly into unpopularity and is frantic for a popular issue that will catch. Not much has so far. Obama crashed today"s market, look at the DOW! Thanks Obama!

I agree with what you are saying except that last part about Obama crashing the market. The DOW was down 200 mid-day yesterday as well. It is the market reacting to a plethora of issues. Unemployment is worsening, BoA missed their projections by a LOT, and bank lending is continuing to dry up while the housing market gets worse.

If anything, I think Obama's statement on banking may have made a lot of current issues "real" to the average investor. Instead of "green shoots" and "rebounding" economy happy-talk, we have somebody saying it the way it is.

Edit: Okay, he is not exactly "saying it the way it is" but he is at least talking sh__ instead of patting the bankers on their heads and telling them how awesome they are. I'll take financial fireworks in Washington over some healthcare stalemate any day.

[edit on 21-1-2010 by nydsdan]

reply to post by john124


This just fantastic. The issue in the economy is liquidity and the fact that the banks will not give credit. Now this brain surgeon comes out and essentially looks to eliminate a significant portion of methods in which banks and lending institutions make money. That will have a direct effect on liquidity. Mark my words. Next he will force liquidity into the market by mandating that banks make loans. This gent is making Jimmy Carter look like Thomas Jefferson.

Get a grasp on reality. Banks and non-government liquidity is what fuels the economy. You may not like it, but when you hammer banks the rest of the economy will tank. Now that might make you feel good, but the fact of the matter is that governmental involvement in the financial system is what caused the sub-prime disaster in the first place. The good old government, hammering the banks and making them give loans to minoritys and poor folks who could not legitimately afford to pay them back.

This is populist trash. I would much rather be led by bankers and corporate CEOs than anyone in the government. At least that way I have an opportunity to rise with the tide by buying stock and getting richer along with them.

Last time I checked it is CEOs and rich folks who actually hire folks. Take a look at Microsofts website and the 1000s of jobs they have open.

Grow up and get off of your socialist, down with the system high horse. Move to Cuba.

reply to post by john124


This speech proves that Obama is a very well polished political machine.

Look Obama, that speech of yours that attempts to distract the people from the fact that you're a WAR-MONGER (even more than McCain was so much so I'm surprised there isn't blood dripping down your jaw) was the best it could have been. You are much better than McCain would have been... your path of destruction comes with a fake time-table. Ohhh... you've got the vote of the sheep for sure on that point. Nothing is more refined and sophisticated than a battle axe with a built-in timer. Well, a lot of people will foolishly swallow what you've got to say. Good job.

But there are those of us who are not so foolish. We understand what has taken place is purely because of the federal reserve handing out fiat(counterfeit) money. We understand what has taken place is because of the entire system is built upon a foundation of fraud by which banks are encouraged to participate in a government pyramid scheme.

And there are even some of us who are getting that most of what is wrong with America has to do with people like you who get one set of laws while people like us are ruled by a completely different one.

So yeah enjoy slamming down on banks while you can, and they do deserve it, but only because they are in bed with you. They've been dealing with the devil... people like you. Good luck! You'll need it to keep the scam going and the self-righteous hypocrisy continuing... you seem like a smart guy, maybe you can keep your house of cards together through 2012.

Originally posted by john124
A fight with the banks now then... since all of his other plans have gone out of the window. This will become interesting, if it actually gets anywhere and become more than another failed promise.

news.bbc.co.uk...

"While the financial system is far stronger today than it was one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse," Mr Obama said.

His proposals also include a ban on retail banks from using their own money in investments - known as proprietary trading. Instead, banks would be limited to investing their customers' funds.

Banking reforms do not come bigger than those proposed by President Obama," the BBC's business editor Robert Peston said.

[edit on 21-1-2010 by john124]

A few comments,

On the first paragraph above, the financial system only "appears" to be stronger because the government used US taxpayer money, which is actually at interest FED money created out of nothing to prop up the system. Nothing of real tangible value was added, therefore any apparent financial strengthening is an illusion.

On the second paragraph, oh great, now the banks get to gamble with our money only. So, if the stock market fails or the banks make bad financial decisions, the depositors are screwed, but the bank is safe. Something like the patient lived but the doctor died.

On the third comment, banking reforms come way larger than this tripe. Deconstruction of the FED and a return to a viable precious metal standard is considerably more constructive.

But.... the last time a president tried that, FED deconstruction under EO11110 (I think it was) was back in the early 60's and that was JFK. I think we all know what happened to him.

Obama is making the hollow promises he made before he was elected, he is simply a corporate shill.

Cheers - Dave

PS. I saw that pic of Michael his wife (or whatever), I've always thought it looks like an ugly man in drag, but that pic, yow! Looks like too much time under the fever tree.

Guys, you should actually be scared if Obama does good on his word this time. This bank-curbing thing will be the final nail in the coffin. Investors will shun the US. And I've got news for you, it isn't the people that builds a nation (you're not that important ) . It's capital. Those who have it gets to build infrastratures and factories and funds engineers and inventors. With this proposal you might as well call yourself the United States of Argentina.