If you can’t beat ’em, starve ’em. It’s become a go-to tactic of the GOP-dominated House of Representatives, and it’s not just for Planned Parenthood anymore. Today, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to advance bank-friendly legislation created and approved by its financial services subcommittee that effectively hamstrings …
Congress
The Mounting War Over 32 Cents
Will Big Oil Get A Bigger Tax Bill?
You can practically set your watch by it. As petroleum prices soar—and with them, oil company profits and pain at the gas pump—sooner or later members of Congress will haul Big Oil executives into a hearing and Demand That Something Be Done. It happened in 2008, the last time oil prices breached the $100 a barrel mark, and on …
Financial re-regulation: did we reach a middle ground?
Financial re-regulation: check! Here’s a great graphic summarizing what wound up in the final bill. For each category of re-regulation, Jon Hilsenrath explains what problems existed, the solutions Congress came up with and the chances that those solutions will work. It’s a great compilation, one worth checking out.
As I’ve been digging …
Why are we still discussing the causes of the financial crisis?
Here’s a question that might be worth asking. With both the House and the Senate zeroing in on passing a bill to overhaul the financial industry, why are we still so deeply enmeshed in debating the causes of the financial crisis in the first place?
I ask because as Congress enters what appears to be the final stretch of its …
Members of Congress Clueless About ATMs and Fees
Here’s one reason that Congress seems unsure about whether to limit ATM transaction fees to 50¢, as it’s been suggested: Some Senators aren’t exactly sure what ATM cards are, or how they work. “I’ve never used an ATM, so I don’t know what the fees are,” says one Senator. “It’s true, I don’t know how to use one.”
Congress mans up on rating agency reform
[Editor’s note: I wrote a story for Time.com, which is now being funneled here, to the Curious Capitalist. I might have assumed a bit more knowledge had I known it was going to wind up with you, dear readers.]
Credit ratings companies played a key role in the financial crisis by blessing the packages of sliced-and-diced mortgages that …
The limits of the job-creation bill
I am thrilled, as are many others, that Congress has found a way to actually move forward on an issue. I refer to the apparent progress of the $15-billion job-creation bill.
Unfortunately, as I’ve explained before, I’m pretty sure the legislation won’t have as much of an impact as we’re hoping for. I saw another survey just today that …
Members of Congress who want to pass health-care reform should sneeze every time they talk about it
Here’s a little advice for folks pushing health-care reform: sneeze more.
A study due out in the journal Psychological Science finds that when people have just witnessed a sneeze, they’re more likely to want to fund federal health initiatives.