Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
The Oracle of Omaha shook things up a little on Monday with an op-ed piece in the New York Times saying the rich should pay more in taxes. Some may argue that Buffett did not show a lot of backbone with his timing. If he wrote this as the GOP was holding the line on any new revenues during the debt ceiling debate or last year when Congress was battling to extend the Bush tax cuts to 2012, this would have had more impact. To be fair, however, this is not the first time he made this point. He has often noted that it is wrong that he is taxed at a lower rate than his secretary. (more…)
Tags: Congress
Posted in Debt ceiling, economy | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
As our political leaders were patting themselves on the back for averting a crisis — albeit with both sides of the debate frustrated they didn’t get everything they wanted, even those who got almost everything — a strange thing was happening in the markets. Equity indexes continued to tank.
Perhaps some analysts and pundits breathed a big sigh of relief when equities rebounded after a huger sell-off on Wednesday to close higher. No relief was in sight today as the Dow dropped more than 500 points and the S&P 500 dropped 55 pushing both indexes into the red for 2011. (more…)
Tags: Congress, Dow Jones Industrial Average, economy
Posted in Debt ceiling, Markets, economy | No Comments »
Friday, June 24th, 2011
It’s not easy being a regulator these days, especially in the foamy wake of the Dodd-Frank Act’s tsunami crashing ashore at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (we island dwellers are authorized to use maritime analogies). Congress (remember them?) told the CFTC to create scores of new rules by July 16 (two days after the hang-over from Bastille Day, by the way). That is exactly 360 days after the 200+ page tome was enacted (I will leave it to numerologists to explain that). (more…)
Tags: CFTC, Congress, dodd-frank, regulation
Posted in Regulatory/actions | No Comments »
Friday, May 13th, 2011
When silver dropped precipitously off of its near $50 high at the beginning of the month some people saw it as the bursting of a bubble. Other more constrained analysts saw it as a long overdue correction and or reaction to a reversal in the dollar and would wait for more information before giving the move more significance.
Yet there were others who saw the sharp rise in margin requirements by the CME Group as proof of a conspiracy. Margins did go up sharply but so had price and volatility making silver more risky and thus requiring more money to back positions.
(more…)
Tags: CFTC, Congress, speculators
Posted in Markets, Spec limits, Speculators | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
There has been a debate raging for more than three years as to the role of speculators in the ongoing bull market in commodities. It hit a head in 2008 when crude oil spiked to $147, subsided during the credit crisis and is back with us in force.
Henry Jarecki, chairman of Gresham Investment Management, a long-time figure in both cash and futures metals markets and the subject of our May cover story gave a lecture in April at Georgetown University titled, “The Relationship Between Commodity Futures Trading and PhysicalCommodity Prices.” (more…)
Tags: CFTC, Congress, Gary Gensler, speculators
Posted in Regulatory/actions, Speculators | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 29th, 2011
In pointing out the ongoing difficult with the economy, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed high unemployment and foreclosure rates. The foreclosure rate comment is particularly disturbing in that the Fed had made a point with its various emergency liquidity actions during the crisis that returning a flow of credit to American families and businesses was a priority.
While the Fed made sure the banks got theirs, there has been no sign of diligence from the Fed on the rest. Why didn’t someone ask Ben specifically what have you done to “restore the flow of credit to American families and businesses” or more specifically, why didn’t you make the largesse you offered the banking sector conditioned on restoring that flow of credit.
(more…)
Tags: bailout, Ben Bernanke, Congress, Treasury, U.S. dollar
Posted in Federal Reserve, Housing, economy | No Comments »
Friday, March 25th, 2011
A prominent criticism of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) swaps rulemaking as commanded by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is that many key definitions of terms remain blank while tangential provisions are vetted. It could be likened to setting standards for dogs when no one is quite sure what a “dog” is.
For example, what is a “swap”? The CFTC is addressing dealers in them, major participants in them, execution facilities for them etc. but has yet to put a ring fence around what are swaps. All we know is that Dodd-Frank treats them as “different” from the instruments – like futures contracts – that the CFTC has overseen for generations.
(more…)
Tags: CFTC, Congress, OTC, Swaps
Posted in OTC derivatives, Regulatory/actions | No Comments »
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
“The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done. If we accept this notion, it will happen again…. It falls to us to make different choices if we want different results.”
These are the words of the task force that wrote the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report released in January. These 10 commissioners were tasked by Congress to determine what caused the 2008 financial meltdown. After hearing about possible exemptions of certain firms from the Dodd-Frank Act by those in Congress, I read this report. It irks me that some of those responsible are the loudest naysayers of reform. Even the task force notes: “Some on Wall Street and in Washington with a stake in the status quo may be tempted to wipe from memory the events of this crisis….” So let’s have at it…what were the group’s main conclusions? (more…)
Tags: bailout, Congress, dodd-frank, Economic outlook, economy, Federal Reserve, financial crisis inquiry report, Financial Regulatory Reform
Posted in Regulatory/actions, economy | No Comments »
Friday, February 4th, 2011
In the year 2010, ground-breaking legislation was passed by Congress that would curb transgressions that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis. Also in 2010, mid-term elections changed the balance of the U.S. Congress, giving Republicans a majority in the House with Democrats retaining a majority, barely, in the Senate. Thus the financial reform bill is targeted by the new House majority, who promises to rip it apart. (more…)
Tags: Congress, Financial Regulatory Reform, Flash crash, forex
Posted in Markets, Regulatory/actions | No Comments »
