And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.So Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Backwoods, Pa.) has unveiled his homage to the Morgenthau Plan. His proposed amendment to the financial regulation reform package offers a simple solution to the “too big to fail” phenomenon: Stamp it out.
If Kanjorski gets his way, the government would be empowered to split up firms that are “too big to fail” even if they are in no danger of failing, as well as the power to keep firms that aspire to be “too big to fail” in their place, blocking mergers and keeping them from all of those highly-profitable enterprises that present a systemic risk.
Kanjorski, who last week announced his crusade against financial services firms with designs on “taking over the world,” offered a fun new metaphor to justify his genocidal intentions.
“Financial firms that want to play in a casino need to have their own resources to cover their bets and not assume that tax dollars are available in reserve if their bets fail,” he said.
Fair enough. The industry’s not going to like it–”It will act as a strong disincentive for financial firms to grow,” one said. Duh. That’s the whole point–but who cares what those greedy wreckers think? Kanjorski’s bill does have one fatal flaw, however. It includes no exemptions for those firms (well, that firm) that work with divine sanction and under His protection.
Do you really want to tussle with the righteous men (even a woman or two) doing the work of God here on earth, Mr. Kanjorski? Lloyd Blankfein is watching you closely, sir, and is not afraid to ask for a big favor from his Biggest Fan.
Kanjorski Proposes Breaking Up Firms That Pose Risks [Bloomberg]
Q.&A. With Kanjorski on Bank Breakup Plan [DealBook]
Step 1: Create perception of crisis
Step 2: Raise taxes
Step 3: Solve fake crisis with tax $
Step 4: Raise taxes again
Step 5: Create regs to prevent crisis
Step 6: Raise taxes again
Step 7: Declare victory over crisis
Step 8: Raise taxes
Step 9: Raise taxes just for the hell of it
@1 = racist. examine your motives.
@1 since this is obviously just a political diatribe and not to the point at hand, a little counter point
step 1 start with a budget surplus
step 2 spend like a drunken sailor
step 2 continue to spend like a drunken sailor
step 3 create the biggest expansion of social program with healthcare changes
step 4 give 700 billion to banks
step 5 blame everything on the new guy
while i am not a fan of what the current administration is doing, it is useless to bloviate with no basis for your bloviating. try to focus on the inanity of this current proposal and why this guy has no clue
@2= tolerant. examine your motives.
@2 = imposter.
First, Kanjorski is a long-serving Democrat in the House, so his district should have little bearing on his legislation proposals or his legitimacy. And besides, I’m from the Scranton area, Kanjorski’s district, and object to your characterization. Nearly every district in America, except for large cities, has a “backwoods” because a lot of Americans are uncultured and unexposed to the rest of the world or even their own country.
Second, I’d much rather strong legislation be put in place to guard against US take-overs of financial institutions. It’s a sad day when we have to force businesses to act ethically. It’s something I’ve blogged about. http://laidofflawyer.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/new-normal/ I’m all for Geithner’s New normal because I don’t understand the rational for allowing the business world to operate without regard to others within its reach.
Maybe if businesses re-embraced some form of social responsibility for workers, perhaps we wouldn’t have to have government take-overs.
Used to be if you heard that shit it meant your ass, but you happened to catch me in a transition.
@6 – Quit pitching your blog and quit using the phrase ‘new normal’…oh, and examine your motives.
@5 – Missed opportunity, examine your post.
@7 nice.
A picture of LB would have gone down a treat. He is doing God’s work.
@3 – $700B is chump change. I found more than that in the ashtray of my Maybach yesterday.
LB
@8=blogist. examine your motives.
@8 Yessur, massur. I’s sorry. Wont do it again.
Why don’t you actually engage the discussion instead of just pissing on it with your covered long.
@11 – It must stem from my inadequecy issues…I was never able to create my own blog, damn, I’ve never told anyone that before.
@12 – I have nothing to add. I actually kind of agree with the idea of implementing a TBTF law similar in concept to existing antitrust laws.
This is aside from the fact that you typed alot of words but didn’t really say anything, so there’s wasn’t much to respond to or engage with.
@CoveredLong I’ll just let you have the last word on it.
the future of this country scares the shit out of me
@15: with @3, @6 & the 537 overpaid dumbasses in DC you won’t have long to fret. Just buy Rosetta Stone and brush up on your Manderin.
@14
Actually you didn’t.
Step 10 – Put your junk in the box
Damn Laid off lawyers become socialists??
As some one who consults in detroit I can tell you watching out for the workers didn’t work out too well up here
@ Anal_yst: yes, I know. That was the irony in responding to someone who had just said he had nothing to add. If you don’t have anything to add then stop talking.
@20
Was that supposed to be ironic, too?
. . . .
It’s called Glass-Steagall. Bring it back. The solution is so damn simple.