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I Bet They Call It The Protect Home Owners Act, And You Know What That Will Mean

Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2008-03-29 10:54.

U.S. seeks enhanced financial authority for Fed
By Reuters

The U.S. Treasury Department will propose on Monday that the Federal Reserve be given sweeping new powers that would make it chief regulator with authority to require actions to ensure market stability.

An executive summary of the proposals published by the New York Times, which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will make public on Monday when he unveils a blueprint for regulatory overhaul, says it is vital to fix "regulatory gaps and redundancies" exposed by an ongoing subprime mortgage crisis...The proposals say a "market stability regulator" is needed and the Fed best fits that role, suggesting the central bank could use its control over interest rates as well as its ability to provide market liquidity to fulfill its functions.

It proposes that the Fed be given broad authority to require information from all participants in financial markets and a right to collaborate with other regulators in writing the rules that companies and institutions must follow. If the Fed finds that the actions of some market participants pose risks for the overall financial system or the economy, "the Federal Reserve should have authority to require corrective action to address current risks or to constrain future risk-taking," the summary said.

Among other recommendations, Treasury suggests merging the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. markets watchdog, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that oversees the activities of the futures market...It also recommends getting rid of a Depression-era charter for thrifts that was intended to make it easier to obtain mortgage loans, saying it is no longer necessary. That would mean closing up the Office of Thrift Supervision and transferring its duties to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that oversees national banks.

Treasury said it has been working on its proposals since March last year, well before calls for an overhaul began to intensify in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis that began to wreak havoc last summer on financial markets. Paulson had signaled some of the direction the proposals would take earlier this week when he said that since the Fed had taken the exceptional step of permitting investment banks access to its discount window for loans -- the first time it has done so for any financial entities besides commercial banks since the 1930s -- it should have some authority over the investment banks...

Another proposal would provide an option for insurance companies to obtain a charter to do business under federal regulation, though it says the current state-based system would continue for any that did not get a federal charter. Most of the financial services industry in the United States is regulated by federal authorities except insurance, which the states supervise. For years, big insurance companies, however, have been calling for an optional federal charter...

Many analysts and some Treasury officials have said they don't expect recommendations made during the current administration to become law but hope it will be used a springboard for the next resident of the White House.

(Reporting by John Poirier and Glenn Somerville; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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Scarier than Iraq?

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2008-03-29 15:51.

They've done it a again. A brilliant play, I must say! Use the recession and financial market problems (were these a "monetary 9/11", created on purpose?) to consolidate an unregulated market into the hands a few profit takers. People are unaware of the what the Federal Reserve Board is or that it is an un-audited for-profit corporation. This new power grab has been happenning right beneath our noses, but they hope to legitimize it and seal the deal by changing the law of the land. OUR LAND! Please learn about the Federal Reserve Bank(s) and fight any effort to give them more power.

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Protection?

Submitted by Marilyn Gjerdrum on Sat, 2008-03-29 22:27.

This government uses the word protect to remove all safeguards we had for our privacy and financial freedom. Turning it over to the FRB is just another reason to plan my retirement in another country.

Marilyn Gjerdrum

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