Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


 INTERVIEW 
28

Frank Rewriting Wall Street Rules as Public Yawns

Share

(Newser) – Barney Frank is working on the biggest legislation of his career, and no one seems to care. Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is preparing for markup sessions on a bill to revolutionize America’s financial regulatory structure. “It’s been eclipsed obviously in the public’s mind by health care,” Frank tells the Boston Globe, “which I am troubled by a little bit, to be honest with you.”

The legislation would put limits on hedge funds and derivatives traders, regulate the consumer market, and install oversight for the Federal Reserve. “Ron Paul agrees with that,” he says. “I am boasting about this.” But Frank isn’t big on bipartisanship; he likely doesn’t need Republican votes to pass the bill, and knows the Senate version will be more conservative.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank opens a hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in July.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank opens a hearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in July.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd speak with the press outside the White House in June, following President Obama's remarks on his regulatory reform plan.
Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd speak with the press outside the White House in June, following President Obama's remarks on his regulatory reform plan.   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank delivers remarks at a National Press Club luncheon in July.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank delivers remarks at a National Press Club luncheon in July.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.20.09
The Health-Care Wars Have Just Begun
11.19.09
Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention
28 comments
VIEWING:
 
TheSniperZero
Aug 25, 09 12:03 PM CDT
Massachusetts should be ashamed for keeping this idiot in office. He has taken ZERO responsibilty for the housing failures at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, constantly disrepects his constituents, and is a national embarrassment. Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-14
IN RESPONSE:
sully4411
Aug 25, 09 12:08 PM CDT
oh yeah? but what about when he told that b!tch of a woman at the town hall that talking to her was like having a convo with a kitchen table?? that was the funniest thing I have seen a congressman do in so long!!! (as for your remarks about his failure to take responsibility - please show me the door that bush ran through to avoid all of the SH1T he cooked up. please, consider the last 8 years of our countries demise before you go trash talking my state's congressmen.
Vote up! Vote down!
+9
IN RESPONSE:
Rob
Aug 25, 09 12:54 PM CDT
@sully, Frank's shortcomings are not made less by the shortcomings of the Bush administration. Frank IS an embarrassment and that he is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee is an epic scandal.
Vote up! Vote down!
-2
IN RESPONSE:
jamerican
Aug 25, 09 12:58 PM CDT
I was going to say that and you are exactly right. He is an immoral piece of crap and as I have said before the people in Massachusetts that voted for him need an IQ and morality test.
Vote up! Vote down!
-6
IN RESPONSE:
RogerMohajir
Aug 25, 09 1:20 PM CDT
Barney Frank is a rather unpleasant person with a remarkable lack of people skills. He is also, however, extremely bright and wields a rapier wit ("Republicans concern for children begins at conception and ends at birth"). Sure, he shoulders some of the blame for the Fannie/Freddie mess, but his interest in opening up mortgage markets was to make housing available to more working folks, not to enrich himself or the croupiers on Wall Street. The fact that his critics harp on his sexual orientation is just a demonstration that he is too smart and too funny for them to attack in any other way. The people of Massachusetts are justifiably proud of the job he's done in Congress.
Vote up! Vote down!
+6

View all 28 comments »

LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

50 Stories

Thomas Frank

Financial Reform: How to Prevent Another Greenspan

Reform plans may hand regulation over to fervent deregulators

Nov 11, 09 9:44 AM CST
(Newser) - There's a lot riding on reform of the financial industry, but the administration's plans to overhaul financial regulation carries the seeds of its own destruction, writes Thomas Frank. Taking oversight away from the present confusing array of agencies and making the Federal Reserve One Big Regulator means that when the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Federal Reserve • Alan Greenspan • financial services • regulation • financial sector • bank regulation • deregulation

Dodd Unveils Sweeping Financial Overhaul Bill

It would create new oversight agencies

Nov 10, 09 2:41 PM CST
(Newser) - Chris Dodd introduced a sweeping financial regulation bill that creates no fewer than three new agencies to oversee the banking industry. Dodd’s bill creates an Agency for Financial Stability to identify systemic risks to the economy as a whole. It entrusts all bank supervision to the Financial Institutions Regulatory... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Senate • Federal Reserve • Chris Dodd • Senate Finance Committee • FDIC • bank regulation

Credit Cards Rates Jump Ahead of New Regulations

Companies add fees and cut limits in blind cash grab

Nov 6, 09 1:57 PM CST
(Newser) - If your credit card bill just exploded, it wasn’t an accident. Card issuers have been jacking up rates to historic highs—in excess of 30%—cutting limits, and adding new fees in an effort to squeeze money out of customers before new federal regulations kick in Feb. 22. The... More »

MORE ABOUT:
House Financial Services Committee • Mafia • credit card • Barney Frank • banking industry • Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights • credit card reform

50 Stories


In case you were hiding under a rock last week and missed this
Wonkette


Politics  •  Business 
TwitterFollow @NewserPolitics on Twitter

 
Federal Reserve • House Financial Services Committee • Ron Paul • regulation • Barney Frank • bank regulation

from our news partners