Lost Ball in the High Weeds - Dodd's Financial Reform Legislation

It is very interesting to see how the media portrays Senator Chris Dodd's Financial Reform Legislation. Even, the media outlets in the financial services industry have no clue. Let me help the people who do not know how to read or who are too lazy to read the bill.

As I reported in a prior blog post, there are a confusing array of new bureaucratic organizations that will be created with this bill. Just what we need, more government bureaucracies.

See my March 16th, 2010 post entitled, "More Bureaucracies and More Studies"

These are the new government bureaucracies that are in the Dodd Bill.

Financial Stability Oversight Council
Office of Financial Research
Orderly Liquidation Authority Panel
Office of National Insurance
Investor Advisory Committee
Office of Investor Advocate
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Consumer Advisory Board

I just have to wonder. Since Senator Dodd is retiring from the Senate, do you think he may have created an agency, advocacy, board, committee, council, panel, office or bureau that he may himself want to be a part of in his retirement? No. Say it ain't so. Would he?

Perhaps some of his cronies will be appointed to one of these agencies, advocacies, boards, committees, councils, panels, offices or bureaus. Do you notice when the government writes legislation and they are trying to create more bureaucracies, then find themselves in a predicament. They cannot name all of their groups Councils, or Committees. They have to come up with different names like panel, advocacy, office or bureau. How stupid do they think we are?

Take a look at the last four on the list. Now, you tell me...which one of these will have more authority and which one of these will really protect consumers? The Investor Advisory Committee or the Office of Investor Advocate? Perhaps, the Consumer Advisory Board will have the most authority, but wait, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has the best name. After all, it has the word bureau in it which is where we derive the term bureaucracy.

Now, we have not even started our blog discussion on the budgets for each of these groups. I can just imagine the waste of federal money that will be lost in these agencies, advocacies, boards, committees, councils, panels, offices or bureaus. Another example, of your federal tax dollars at work people.

If you think the above list contains a lot of bureaucracies, then look at all of the studies that are to be done required in the Dodd bill.

1. GAO study and report on accredited investors
2. GAO study on self-regulatory organization for private funds
3. SEC Commission study and report on short selling
4. GAO study of non-admitted insurance market
5. Study on treatment of credit card banks, industrial loan companies, and certain other companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956
6. Study and report on implementation related to Security-Based Swap Markets
7. Study and rulemaking regarding obligations of brokers, dealers, and investment advisers
8. Study regarding financial literacy among investors
9. Study regarding mutual fund advertising
10. GAO study and Federal agency review of required uses of nationally recognized statistical rating organization ratings.
11. SEC study on strengthening credit rating agency independence
12. GAO study on alternative business models
13. GAO study on the creation of an independent professional analyst organization
14. GAO study of increased disclosure of Municipal Securities to investors
15. GAO study on the Municipal Securities markets.
16. Study of funding for the Government Accounting Standards Board.
17. GAO study on proprietary trading
18. GAO study on the effectiveness and impact of various appraisal methods

People, this is how the government keeps the juggernaut going with endless studies that need endless amounts of funding. Ridiculous.

These people in Congress who write this garbage are "lost balls in the high weeds." We need to vote them ALL out of office this fall.

I believe in the American Voter. This fall, we will start the process to take back our country.

Stay tuned.

More Bureaucracy and More Studies

Come on. Did you really think that Wall Street firms were going to allow any legislation to be enacted that changed the game for them? Neither did I.

The Senate bill put forth by Senator Dodd is called the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. There is a whole lot more bureaucracy in it. Look at the new government entities that will be created if this passes.

Financial Stability Oversight Council
Office of Financial Research
Orderly Liquidation Authority Panel
Office of National Insurance
Investor Advisory Committee
Office of Investor Advocate
Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
Consumer Advisory Board

Take a hard look at the above list and tell me who is in charge? Does the Investor Advisory Committee have more authority than the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection? Or, does the Consumer Advisory Board have more authority than the Office of Investor Advocate. Or, does the Office of Investor Advocate have more authority than the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Of course, it is easy to figure this out, isn't it?

Then, let us not forget the very effective use of tax dollars that call for a study to be done. (Yes, I am being facetious.)

GAO study and report on accredited investors
GAO study on self-regulatory organization for private funds
SEC Commission study and report on short selling
GAO study of non-admitted insurance market
Study on treatment of credit card banks, industrial loan companies, and certain other companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956
Study and report on implementation related to Security-Based Swap Markets
Study and rulemaking regarding obligations of brokers, dealers, and investment advisers
Study regarding financial literacy among investors
Study regarding mutual fund advertising
GAO study and Federal agency review of required uses of nationally recognized statistical rating organization ratings.
SEC study on strengthening credit rating agency independence
GAO study on alternative business models
GAO study on the creation of an independent professional analyst organization
GAO study of increased disclosure of Municipal Securities to investors
GAO study on the Municipal Securities markets.
Study of funding for the Government Accounting Standards Board.
GAO study on proprietary trading
GAO study on the effectiveness and impact of various appraisal methods

The poor GAO. Those guys will be doing studies for years. Well, look at the bright side. They will have job security. Hey, wait just a minute. Is this giving job security to government workers, instead of the private sector? Unfortunately, it is true. No private sector study jobs will be created by this bill, I do not believe. It appears that it all will go to the government.

This paints a clear picture of why we should vote these people out of Congress, don't you agree? This type of bill is purely ridiculous. All it does is create more bureaucracy and cost the taxpayer yet more out of their pocket. We have not even seen the Health Care bill yet. I wonder how many new bureaucreacies and studies it creates?

Vote them out. Vote them all out.