Original Blog Entry: "Senate Rejects Brown-Kaufman Proposal To Break Up Largest Banks

konane — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:17:44 GMT

Senate Rejects Brown-Kaufman Proposal To Break Up Largest Banks

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/06/2010 20:13 -0500

Source Zero Hedge

The Senate is officially bribed, paid for and in the pocket of the big banks. Too disgusted to even comment on this. This country deserves all that the big banks have in store for it.

Below is the full press release from Senator Kaufman:

WASHINGTON, DC Senator Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) released the following statement after the Senate voted down the Brown-Kaufman amendment to Wall Street reform legislation, 33-61.

I am disappointed. This is certainly a defeat for those who are concerned about the dangers of financial concentration in this country.

On the other hand, against the odds and starting from nowhere, I am proud that Senator Sherrod Brown and I helped to start a nationwide debate on the need to break up too big to fail banks and succeeded in getting a vote on our amendment.

The debate on the floor and around the country was not short it lasted for weeks. In the last month, this proposal and debate was met with favorable reaction from many respected policymakers, economists and former regulators. I believe this idea was sound policy and I further believe that a mainstream consensus will continue to grow that these megabanks are too large, too complex and too internally conflicted to regulate successfully.

Some causes are worth fighting for, and for me, the concern about the risks too big to fail banks pose to the American economy and people is deep and profound given the economic tragedy millions of American have endured. I believe the debate itself though failing to gain a majority of votes has helped to change attitudes about the degree of financial concentration and power these megabanks now represent. Going forward, I hope the Congress will work to strengthen the bill s ban on proprietary trading by banks. And I hope that regulators will understand that they should use their discretion under existing statutory authority to break up megabanks when the financial system is threatened.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/senate-rejects-brown-kaufman-proposal-break-largest-banks

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