TW: If one person has retained his reputation amidst the financial carnage of the past couple of years it is Paul Volcker. Apparently the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee does not hold him in such high esteem though. Folks somehow think Republicans are less to blame for the finanical crisis than the Dems but I am highly skeptical. Their ideological pursuit of deregulation since the 1980's (with Democratic support at times) has set the table for many of the recent problems.
If not Volcker what do they support, more deregulation? Higher Wall Street bonuses?
From Time:
"That was quick. Sen. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, is throwing cold water all over President Obama's bank bashing populism of last month. According to dealReporter,
A proposal by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to limit bank's proprietary trading will be either be dropped or significantly modified in the Senate, lawmakers and staffers told dealReporter. Senate Banking Committee ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) said he opposes the so-called Volcker rule and the Obama administration's call to levy a USD 90bn tax on banks. . . . Speaking to this news service on Thursday, Shelby said if Democrats push forward with the proposals they risk unravelling much of the bipartisan support already reached regarding the passage of financial regulatory reform in the Senate. Shelby said that the Obama administration risks losing Republican support for the bill if they begin to “politicise” the issue.
This could just be a negotiating position, but the signs do not point to much optimism. A staffer for Chris Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the committee, is quoted later in the story saying of his boss, “He is not going to risk bipartisan support to make the White House happy.”http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/02/01/volcker-rule-and-bank-tax-doa-in-senate-suggests-shelby-r-ala/
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