Friday, January 22, 2010

Banking Rules, the Dow, Bernanke, Campaign Finance

While I would like to offer some deep thoughts on the following news items, time only allows me to offer this quick bit of off-the-cuff analysis and opinion.

Proposed Banking Rules
Controlling the risks that banks can take when backed by US taxpayers, sounds much more reasonable than the more punitive fee on transactions. Goldman is the only one to really be hurt by the new rules anyway.

The Dow's Slide
The fear over how China's tightening of lending will restrict growth and slow the global recovery is understandable. Financials, though, should not have this great an impact on the broader market.

The Vote on Bernanke
A question for those thinking of voting against Bernanke: Who would you rather have at the Fed? There's no question that he didn't get everything right going into this mess, and he won't raise rates as quickly as the inflation hawks want him to. You can't punish him for Wall Street's failings, though. And I don't think you can find a better guy to see us through this mess.

Corporate Personhood
The Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that did away with McCain-Feingold restrictions on corporate and union money going to political campaigns sets, I think, a dangerous precedent. We ought to be careful about granting rights to companies and organizations that we normally reserve for individuals. Should corporations have the same free-speech privileges as you or I? If so, what other rights of individuals should they have?

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