Wall Street is Clinton's achilles heel and for Sanders's sake it will stay that way

[BlueMTexpat]

Interesting read from The Guardian. I am posting it here to avoid the snipers it will undoubtedly attract in GDP that will distract from its main points.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2015/dec/27/wall-street-hillary-clinton-achilles-heel-bernie-sanders?CMP=fb_gu

From the link:

Setting aside the idea that Wall Street, collectively, is as capable of conspiring effectively as Sanders believes (if it did, I doubt that we would have experienced the 2008 crisis, or that as many institutions or individuals within them would have been caught off guard, or nabbed by regulators for doing stuff that they shouldn’t), I’m not convinced that Clinton is the patsy that Sanders would like us to imagine her as being.
...
It’s true that Clinton’s reform plan for Wall Street isn’t as dramatic as that proposed by Sanders. She wants to keep the Dodd-Frank Act in place and keep funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at robust enough levels to ensure the organization is effective in fulfilling its mandate. Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who oversaw the creation of the CFPB and who has been an outspoken critic of Wall Street, hailed this and some other aspects of Clinton’s plans, even though the two differ on the extent to which Wall Street should be regulated.
...
Clearly, aggressive risk taking by banks was a major cause of the financial crisis. But of the institutions that were most directly responsible for triggering the 2008 crisis – Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Fannie Mae – none was a big bank created by the repeal of Glass-Steagall. They were traditional investment banks, savings and loan institutions, insurance companies and a government-backed housing finance entity.
,,,
But it’s far from certain that simply restoring Glass-Steagall would be a panacea, or that failing to do so suggests that Clinton is in the bankers’ pockets. Indeed, Clinton’s plan has the virtue of stretching beyond the banks, and recognizing that real financial power on Wall Street often resides elsewhere: in the hands of hedge funds, private equity funds, offshore institutions, high-speed traders, and other kinds of trading platforms. The banks may be big and powerful, but they are the employees of these shadow institutions and individuals – folks like hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose firm made $15bn and who personally made $4bn (or $10m a day) shorting mortgage securities during the financial crisis. Clinton’s suggestions for regulating Wall Street call for more oversight of this “shadow” world.

[Cha]

1. Thank you, BlueMTex! Hillary is detailed oriented and focused on ways to actually solve

the problems.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. Exactly - the problem itself

is complex and just using a simple meme like "Repeal Glass-Steagal" - attractive as that may sound, if it even is possible - doesn't get to the heart of it.

[SunSeeker]

3. I think you mean reinstating Glass-Steagall, but yes, that is no panacea.

We are faced with a complex problem that reaches far outside the big banks. Only Hillary seems to get that and has a plan to deal with it.

[BlueMTexpat]

4. LOL! Good catch, SS!

A couple cylinders still haven't fired yet this am, I guess!

[upaloopa]

5. Real solutions to complex problems do not

fit into a talking point campaign like Bernie has. Also his cohorts are so full of hatred toward anyone with more than they have that they aren't capable of understanding complex ideas. Just "break up the big banks" and "bring back Glass Steagal" are the limits of their thinking.

[Thinkingabout]

6. We know Glass Stegall would not have prevented the finanical crisis and also know the

CFMA played into the financial crisis and Sanders voted for this bill which was veto proof and Bill Clinton signed the bill. Hillary also wants to invoke the Volcker rule which will break up the banks which fails and this is another of Sanders issues. I am surprised once Hillary said she wanted to invoke the Volcker rule which would break up the banks, probably he will take this stand soon.