Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) was tapped Tuesday by House Democrats to serve as the ranking member on the influential House Financial Services Committee, promoting a vocal liberal who has long been critical of Wall Street. Ms. Waters will succeed Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is retiring at the end of the year, as the top Democratic voice on banking and financial services matters in the House of Representatives…Outspoken and not afraid to go toe-to-toe with Republicans, Ms. Waters is in her 11th term in Congress. She’ll be joined at the head of the dais by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who was chosen by House Republicans to serve as chairman of the panel next year. [WSJ, earlier, related]
Maxine Waters
Christmas Come Early: Entire House Financial Services Committee Hearings To Be Devoted To Asking People Who Their CEO Is
By Bess Levin
If we’re being totally honest, while it had its moments, last week’s Jamie Dimon Congressional hearing to discuss Whale Boy was a bit of a letdown, theatrically-speaking. This was probably due in large part to the fact that it was conducted by the Senate Banking Committee, and the Senate typically comes off intelligent and reasonable compared to the House,* and proceeded accordingly. As we surely don’t have to tell you, this is not the kind of hearing we are interested in. Read more »
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, announced Monday that he is retiring from the seat he has held for more than three decades…His decision will almost certainly have ripple effects as Democrats compete for Frank’s committee slot. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the second-ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, has already started making calls to colleagues to try to shore up support to succeed Frank in her party’s top post on the panel. [Politico]
Maxine Waters Wants To Know Why John Mack’s Wife Got Money From Ben Bernanke And African American People Got None
By Bess Levin
Earlier today, Ben Bernanke had the pleasure of sitting down for a little Q&A with Congress about the economy. Former Real World cast member Sean Duffy inquired as to whether or not raising taxes would hurt job growth. Ron Paul asked if gold is money and had his mind blown when he was told it was not. And Maxine Waters wanted to know why two white bitches got money from TALF when minority-owned banks didn’t see a dime. Read more »
Earlier this morning, the House Financial Services Committee unveiled a new website that includes 1) a place to comment on legislation 2) a handy form for anyone who knows of someone up to no good found under the section “You Blow The Whistle” and 3) a blog called The Bottom Line. Here’s what they had to say in their inaugural post. Read more »
As you may have heard, Congresswoman Maxine Waters is currently being investigated on charges she arranged stimulus funds for a minority-owned bank in which Mr. Waters owned stock. Max maintains her innocence and wants a public trial to be held “as quickly as possible so she can clear her name.” In the meantime Ms. Waters says she’s gonna be putting a few people on trial herself– two of the biatches investigating her. Read more »
“It’s proven by the fact that you have millions of people who are in foreclosure who never should have been in foreclosure. This just didn’t happen because there were a lot of irresponsible people. Think about it. This is unprecedented, that this many people, all of a sudden, would be in foreclosure. What went wrong?” she asked Mark Haines. “I’ll tell you what went wrong. These exotic products that were put on the market tricked people into mortgages they could not afford. They had mortgages that reset that they never anticipated would reset, where the interest rates were double, where their mortgage payments were double. They never anticipated that. They didn’t know what they were getting into. This is not just some irresponsible homeowner. This is massive fraud…On a macro level, policy for the whole country, I still don’t understand how you get around the moral hazard without just simply saying all of the contracts that are out there are not worth the paper they’re printed on.” Read more »
As previously mentioned, Maxine Waters has been accused of some questionably ethical dealings. The Congresswoman from California has denied that she’s violated any house rules and as a result, will take part in a public hearing rather than admitting to any wrongdoing. Naturally you can expect any hearing involving Waters to be an extremely entertaining event but today the Boston Herald takes one for the team, raising a few points that ensure there will be a minimum of, ballparking it, 5 delightful awkward exchanges, vis-a-vis a pal of hers named Kevin who allegedly has a coke, sodomy and Porsche problem. Read more »
“I have not violated any House rules,” Waters said in a statement today. “Therefore, I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do.” Instead, the Representative from California will be taking part in a public hearing “rather than admitting to any wrongdoing.” The House Ethics Committee has said it formed an “adjudicatory subcommittee” to deal with the matter/hold the showdown, and while at this time they probably do not have plans to consider allow Waters to question herself, I think it’s most certainly something that should be considered. Honestly. Just take a moment to imagine the fireworks of Waters on Waters. They could sell tickets and make it a pay-per-view event. Don’t say no, just say maybe, and get a taste of what could be. Read more »
Ok, so we can sort of understand the utter ignorance of many lawmakers about markets and modern finance in general. We can’t expect all of them to possess the kind of Maxine Watersesque encyclopedic knowledge of swap credit defaults and other complex derivatives.
But never using, and therefore by extension, not knowing how to use an ATM machine is just beyond dumb. I mean, how out of touch with reality do you need to be to still drive up to the bank teller, fill out a withdrawal slip and wait for the cash?
Just ask Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. Read more »
Goldman Sachs super fan Maxine Waters has her eyes on another group of evildoers and is doing something about it. The recently introduced Stop Vulture Funds Act seeks to prohibit vulture funds from suing poor countries to obtain usurious payments. No doubt it took her every ounce of restraint to avoid naming names when she described the fundamental problem.
“Over the past year, we have seen how the actions of a small number of unscrupulous and exploitative investors can hurt innocent people and cause economic chaos. We cannot allow the world’s poorest countries to be exploited by these bad actors.”
As a reminder, this is where the legislation is coming from.
US bill would outlaw vulture funds [Guardian.co.uk]
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