The infamous Wall Street reform bill is now law: President Obama signed it today.
The reform bill, known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is being touted as the “most sweeping reform since the New Deal.” The conference report finally passed the Senate by a vote of 60-39 (you can see how your Senator voted here and how your Representative voted here).
Not everyone is a fan. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the bill “is widely expected to stifle growth and kill jobs.”
However, when he signed the bill into law, President Obama said, “Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes. There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.” The word “bailout” appears three times in the final version of the bill (you can read the whole thing – all 848 pages – here).
No more taxpayer bailouts… Do you believe it?
(Editor’s note: My link to the bill is bad so I’m looking for another one. I can’t upload the file as a pdf because it’s too large – nearly 2MB. The link I have to the text version is temporary… when I find a permalink, I’ll post it. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
I don’t believe that this law has outlawed Congressional or Federal Reserve bailouts. No law could be that powerful (the US Constitution was supposed to ban specific welfare in favor of general welfare, but we see that it didn’t last long).
Christopher, This bill hasn’t *really* done it, that’s just how they’re characterizing it. That said, the bill does specifically prohibit federal bailouts of swaps entities (section 716).
Do I believe this will really mean no more bailouts…ever? Well, the optimist in me says, yes, I want to believe (let me drink your Kool Aid). The pessimist in me says, now really…I wasn’t born yesterday! And the cynical side of me says that there may be no more ‘bailouts’, they’ll call them something new and fancy like ‘bail unders’ (or some other term….).
I would love to believe that there would be no more Taxpayer Bailouts. I’d also like to believe that there would be no more 16th amendment! Do you remember the “side-step” scene from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJG75FJkjr8
Congratulations on 5 years Kelly – I love the Taxgirl Blog!
If this is REALLY true, my comment is……………… Sure aszhole, after you have bankrupted the country. What a lying dirtball, and these are the NICEST names I could think of for you.
It’s like some guy who just got done murdering his family & he finally gets caught & he signs a paper saying “I Promise I’ll Never Do It Again”. I can’t believe Americans were dumb enough to believe this man’s bullsh-t and then, elect him to the highest office in America. HOW’S IT WORKIN FOR YA??? lol