Phony Dems in House Gut Regulation of Risky Carbon and Energy Derivatives in Climate Change Bill
In June I wrote the following about the Waxman-Markey climate change bill: "The current Waxman-Markey climate change bill is an example of the
Democrats' lack of fortitude and selling out government of, by, and for
the people and the common good to the demands, bribes and control of
the rich few and corporations.
"This bill would also create a vast, complicated carbon derivatives market that, given the deliberate weakness of this administration's financial regulations proposals including ignoring strong derivative and other speculation and manipulation regulation, could cause another disastrous financial and economic meltdown in this country."
Rachel Morris at Mother Jones who warned about cap-and-trade generating a new market for carbon derivatives that could lead to another economic meltdown, writes this:
"Waxman-Markey had some good language regulating carbon and other energy derivatives. Most of it was authored by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, who wanted to eliminate over the counter (OTC), or unregulated, derivatives altogether and force trading onto exchanges. His measure also called for stricter trading limits and reporting requirements so that no single operator could assume more risk than it could handle or capture so much of the market that it distorted prices.
With Democrats like these.....
"This bill would also create a vast, complicated carbon derivatives market that, given the deliberate weakness of this administration's financial regulations proposals including ignoring strong derivative and other speculation and manipulation regulation, could cause another disastrous financial and economic meltdown in this country."
Rachel Morris at Mother Jones who warned about cap-and-trade generating a new market for carbon derivatives that could lead to another economic meltdown, writes this:
"Waxman-Markey had some good language regulating carbon and other energy derivatives. Most of it was authored by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, who wanted to eliminate over the counter (OTC), or unregulated, derivatives altogether and force trading onto exchanges. His measure also called for stricter trading limits and reporting requirements so that no single operator could assume more risk than it could handle or capture so much of the market that it distorted prices.
"However, in the 300 pages of amendments added to Waxman-Markey just after 3.a.m on the night the bill passed, a few new sentences materialized that placed a big asterisk on those safeguards. The final text now says that the sections of the bill regulating carbon derivatives will be overridden by any derivatives legislation that the House passes later in the year.
"This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if the House enacts tough reforms. But that's not what the lawmakers who engineered the change had in mind: on Wednesday they released a proposal for a far more anemic regulatory regime than the one mapped out by Stupak.
"The banking industry, especially Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, wasn't happy about the language in Waxman-Markey outlawing OTC derivatives and called for it to be removed. Eighteen members of the business-friendly New Democrat Coalition in the House proved receptive to these concerns. They wrote to Waxman and Markey to say they were "concerned about requiring all OTC derivatives and swaps to be centrally cleared and settled." The writers included nine members of the financial services committee, as well as some of the House’s top recipients of money from the financial industry. Rep. Scott Murphy of New York and Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois, for instance, are respectively the second and fifth leading beneficiaries of donations from the finance, insurance and real estate sector this election cycle."With Democrats like these.....
Posted by Kaz at 7/23/2009 3:52 PM 
Categories: Energy
Tags: Barack Obama Financial Crisis Politics Democrats
Categories: Energy
Tags: Barack Obama Financial Crisis Politics Democrats
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