Boehner, Republicans Unveil 'Repeal Wall Street Reform' Strategy
It's unclear which illustrious message guru signed off on "Repeal Wall Street Reform" as the new Republican strategy going forward, but it's out of the cage now, before the final vote even takes place. Again: "Repeal Wall Street Reform."
Ladies and gentleman, John Boehner:
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters, "I think it ought to be repealed. There are common sense things that you should do to plug the holes in the regulatory system that were there, and to bring more transparency to financial transactions, because transparency is like sunlight. Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
See? This is not complicated at all. Sunlight. (In fact the most effective parts of Dodd-Frank are probably those transparency-enhancing ones that John Boehner pretends aren't in there — the requirement that over-the-counter derivatives and other bilateral, private instruments pass through a public clearinghouse, namely. Loopholes aside.)
The Wall Street reform bill is very much imperfect. Even though it does forbid future bailouts of failing firms, well, we'll see how well statutory code stands up to an emergency parsing the next time our six massive financial institutions link arms and go for the plunge together, overnight, with the global economy's existence at stake. Because that's the root of it: six institutions have cornered the market on American finance — there were 15 or so before the 2008 crisis, and the wealth has simply consolidated — and they remain highly leveraged and dangerously complex and annoyingly prosperous.
But do you see John Boehner and the Republicans breaking up the big banks after their glorious repeal plan works out?
There will be no "Repeal of Wall Street Reform," but, uh, good luck to Boehner & Co. in getting whatever they want out of this weird tactic for the few days it lasts!
[Image via AP]