Holder's Wall Street Legacy
AG Eric Holder's lack of banker prosecutions is "his biggest failure" says TNR's Danny Vinik: "Holder simply never tried to use it to hold Wall Street executives accountable. That is a major blemish on Holder’s record. Bankers sleep easier at night thanks to his decisions. And when the next financial crisis hits—and when we discover that financial fraud was a major cause of it—Holder will deserve blame as well."
Bloomberg says Holder "spent the past year making up for lost time": "...since last fall [Holder] has rolled out a series of multibillion-dollar penalties against financial institutions culminating with Bank of America (BAC) Corp.’s record $16.7 billion settlement last month. 'No attorney general has ever done anything of this magnitude in keeping the banks in check,' Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler, who worked on the Bank of America case, said..."
A Republican Senate will gun for Obama's financial reform legacy. Mother Jones: "The House haspassed a bill that would limit the bureau's power byreplacing its director with a five-member panel, and subjecting its budget to the congressional appropriations process—meaning that hostile lawmakers could starve it to death ... Obama and his party might cave, Hill staffers say, if anti-CFPB legislation were attached to a bill they really had to pass, such as an appropriations bill or a debt-ceiling measure. A Republican-controlled Senate would also likely try to eviscerate portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform act ..."
"This American Life" has "Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes" says Bloomberg's Michael Lewis: "The reporter, Jake Bernstein, has obtained 47½ hours of tape recordings, made secretly by a Federal Reserve employee, of conversations within the Fed, and between the Fed and Goldman Sachs ... In early 2012, [Carmen] Segarra was assigned to regulate Goldman Sachs, and so was installed inside Goldman ... she went to the Spy Store and bought a tiny tape recorder, then began to record her meetings at Goldman Sachs, until she was fired."
Ryan Faces Obstacle In Quest To Control House Tax Committee
Rep. Paul Ryan faces an opponent for Ways & Means Chair. W. Post: "Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.) said Thursday that he will seek the chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, scrambling what was expected to be a smooth ascension to the post by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ... concerns about whether he would be fully committed to committee work as he simultaneously considers a bid for the White House have been voiced privately by some of his colleagues."
The top 1% lived very differently in the 1950s, notes NYT's Paul Krugman: "I’ve just reread a remarkable article titled 'How top executives live,' originally published in Fortune in 1955 ... 'The executive’s home today,' the article tells us, 'is likely to be unpretentious and relatively small — perhaps seven rooms and two and a half baths.' ... why had the elite moved away from the ostentation of the past? Because it could no longer afford to live that way. The large yacht, Fortune tells us, 'has foundered in the sea of progressive taxation.' But that sea has since receded..."
Global Pressure On Obama To Step Up On Climate
Obama will need to be more specific on climate by March. The Hill: "World leaders said they would pitch their plans to cut emissions by March 2015 in the run-up to the Paris talks later next year. 'After his speech ... I think it will be very, very tough for the United States of America not to come up with something substantial for 2015,' the EU's Connie Hedegaard [said.]"
EPA chief says to expect "changes" to power plant rule. The Hill: "'People who know me well enough know there are going to be changes between proposal and final because we listen,' [EPA's Gina] McCarthy said ... 'My goal is to make sure many of the states stand up as early as possible and say I can make this work for me, and my economy, and my energy sector,' ... The problem the EPA is facing, she said, is how to explain to states the 'difference between regulating under this [Clean Air Act] section and what Congress might do to adopt a cap-and-trade system.'"
