Financial regulations gutted in new bill [View all]

[woo me with science]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/11/BUPU1NIGVF.DTL&type=business

Financial regulations gutted in new bill
Kathleen Pender, Chronicle Columnist
Sunday, March 11, 2012

It's hard to believe that Democrats, who brought you the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are solidly backing a bill that would weaken or obliterate many regulations designed to safeguard investors.

The bill, HR3606, sailed through the House Thursday with 222 Republicans and 168 Democrats voting for it. Only 23 members, all Democrats, voted against it. President Obama has endorsed the bill. The Senate is fast-tracking its own version, which could come to the floor Monday night.

Under the guise of creating jobs, the House bill would make it easier for companies to raise money from the public without fulfilling some - or in certain cases virtually all - of the obligations designed to protect investors in public companies. However, there is no requirement or guarantee that companies would use any of the money to hire a single person.
Democrats 'suckered'

"My guess is the Republicans cannot believe they have suckered the Democrats into taking up their idea that deregulation is the way to promote job growth. It flies in the face of what the Democrats were arguing just a couple years ago. It completely undermines what they are trying to do to shore up our system of financial regulation," says Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.

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Nobody was "suckered." Wake up, America, and occupy, because the assault by the one percent is now systematic, sustained, and bipartisan. They know exactly what they are doing.