– Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln
Today he’d write, “…and that government of Wall Street, by the corrupt, for the wealthy…”
The economy is still suffering from the worst financial crisis since the Depression, and widespread anger persists that financial institutions that caused it received bailouts of billions of taxpayer dollars and haven’t been held accountable for any wrongdoing. Yet the House Appropriations Committee has responded by starving the agency responsible for bringing financial wrongdoers to justice — while putting over $200 million that could otherwise have been spent on investigations and enforcement actions back into the pockets of Wall Street.
A few weeks ago, the Republican-controlled appropriations committee cut the Securities and Exchange Commission’s fiscal 2012 budget request by $222.5 million, to $1.19 billion (the same as this year’s), even though the S.E.C.’s responsibilities were vastly expanded under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Charged with protecting investors and policing markets, the S.E.C. is the nation’s front-line defense against financial fraud.
[...]
But cutting the S.E.C.’s budget will have no effect on the budget deficit, won’t save taxpayers a dime and could cost the Treasury millions in lost fees and penalties. That’s because the S.E.C. isn’t financed by tax revenue, but rather by fees levied on those it regulates, which include all the big securities firms.
[...]
An S.E.C. memo on the committee’s proposed budget warns: “We may be forced to decline to prosecute certain persons who violate the law; settle cases on terms we might otherwise not prefer; name fewer defendants in a given action; restrict the types of investigative techniques employed; or conclude investigations earlier than we otherwise would.”
#38 Doesn’t the Budget Act require the House and the Senate to either adopt the president’s budget or put forward an alternative?
When was the last time the Senate passed a budget?
Uncle Dave, did it ever occur to you Dodd Frank is wrong and therefore funding it making the error worse?
That Chris Dodd, aka Ten Acres in Ireland, might have had an agenda when putting these regulations into law?
Its the dirty secret lobbyists write the regulations that congress votes on…that’s where Obama got all his initiatives…but now the Tea Party is rebelling…restoring power to the people…therefore they will seek to defund lots of corrupt regulation…
The EPA has gotta go, lets hope its next.
foobar, some people are mixing up two things. Pres Obama has submitted a budget. The Senate has not produced a budget for over 800 days, which it is required by law to do. Now Republican Senators are objecting to any more appropriations bills until they produce a budget.
Obama will restore the money as part of his grand compromise. The money will come from the new taxes on corporate jet owners, which will bring in trillions in new revenues.
Funny how repukatons are all about increasing community Police Forces to Reduce Crime and Fear of Crime yet they encourage high dollar and nation crashing white-collar crime, the kind that causes economic instability and insecurity.
It’s all about always enriching the rich folks with the repukatons and damn the sheepeople!
Alfie, Michelle “Chootzpah” Bachmann and her gay husband will save America.
#46 Just read about Michelle Bachmann and her gay husband.
Having 27 GOP candidates are a bonanza for comedians as their closets get examined.
Jon Stewart said Michelle Bachmann’s husband is an Izod shirt away from being a cast member for Modern Family. LOL
It can’t be much clearer than this. Republicans voting to gut the enforcers so Wall Street can do whatever they want without being caught. (And look how well that worked in the past. Not.)
The Republicans are really showing their true colors here, regarding who they really represent. Similarly, they continue to insist that “the people” don’t want tax increases when multiple polls clearly show that the majority of Americans want tax increases along with budget cuts to resolve our budget crisis.
The majority of Americans aren’t “the people” that Republicans are talking about. They are talking about their true constituents… the rich and the big corporations. They’re rubbing it in our faces. And yet some non-rich Americans still support them. Strange.
(Even most Republicans want tax increases.)
Abe Lincoln said: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching which unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic destroyed.” – Abraham Lincoln (21st November 1864)
They’re here !!!
Jim D–excellent quote. I got a bit more of the background here:
http://ratical.org/corporations/Lincoln.html
and I’m looking for more.
How many of our (Republican) presidents have warned against “corporations” in just the very way they are threatening us now?
Evidently, being forewarned does not forearm us==it just makes the continuing folly that much sadder.
Yea, verily.
I heard that these very same Republicans kept the Harvard Law professor, who came up with the idea for a Consumer Fraud Protection Agency, from actually being put in charge of it. No doubt the GOP thought, she’d do too good a job. So they wanted some jerk, the credit card and financial industry can push around, placed as head of it. Reminds me of the movie “The Hudsucker Proxy”. They should do more movies, like that one. Because these days they tend to be the rule, rather than the exception.