Showing posts with label Dodd-Frank. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

FOCUS: Wall Street Democrats Warn of Backing Trump if Warren Wins Nomination

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FOCUS: Wall Street Democrats Warn of Backing Trump if Warren Wins Nomination

The business community's unease about Warren's candidacy has surged in tandem with her campaign's momentum. (photo: AP)

Brian Schwartz, CNBC
Schwartz writes: "Democratic donors on Wall Street and in big business are preparing to sit out the presidential campaign fundraising cycle - or even back President Donald Trump - if Sen. Elizabeth Warren wins the party's nomination."

EXCERPT:

Elizabeth Warren

✔@ewarren

I'm fighting for an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the wealthy and well-connected. I'm not afraid of anonymous quotes, and wealthy donors don't get to buy this process. I won't back down from fighting for the big, structural change we need. https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1177262095819300864 …

CNBC

✔@CNBC

Wall Street Democratic donors warn the party: We'll sit out, or back Trump, if you nominate Elizabeth Warren https://cnb.cx/2m1TPR6

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5:08 PM - Sep 26, 2019

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During the campaign, Warren has put out multiple plans intended to curb the influence of Wall Street, including a wealth tax. In July, she released a proposal that would make private equity firms responsible for debts and pension obligations of companies they buy. Trump, meanwhile, has given wealthy business leaders a helping hand with a major corporate tax cut and by eliminating regulations.

Warren has sworn off taking part in big money fundraisers for the 2020 presidential primary. She has also promised to not take donations from special interest groups. She finished raising at least $19 million in the second quarter mainly through small-dollar donors. The third quarter ends Monday.

Trump, has been raising hundreds of millions of dollars, putting any eventual 2020 rival in a bind as about 20 Democrats vie for their party’s nomination.

Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have raised over $100 million in the second quarter. A large portion of that haul came from wealthy donors who gave to their joint fundraising committee, Trump Victory. In August, the RNC raised just over $23 million and has $53 million on hand.

The Democratic National Committee have struggled to keep up. The DNC finished August bringing in $7.9 million and has $7.2 million in debt.

Biden, who has courted and garnered the support of various wealthy donors, has started to lag in some polls. The latest Quinnipiac poll has Warren virtually tied with the former vice president. Biden was one of three contenders that saw an influx of contributions from those on Wall Street in the second quarter.

The business community’s unease about Warren’s candidacy has surged in tandem with her campaign’s momentum. CNBC’s Jim Cramer said earlier this month that he’s heard from Wall Street executives that they believe Warren has “got to be stopped.” Warren later tweeted her response to Cramer’s report: “I’m Elizabeth Warren and I approve this message.”

Some big bank executives and hedge fund managers have been stunned by Warren’s ascent, and they are primed to resist her.

“They will not support her. It would be like shutting down their industry,” an executive at one of the nation’s largest banks told CNBC, also speaking on condition of anonymity. This person said Warren’s policies could be worse for Wall Street than those of President Barack Obama, who signed the Dodd-Frank bank regulation bill in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown.

Yet before Obama was elected, his campaign took over $1 million from employees at Goldman Sachs, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

A hedge fund executive pointed to Trump’s tax cut as a reason why his colleagues would not contribute or vote for Warren if she wins the nomination.

“I think if she can show that the tax code of 2017 was basically nonsense and only helped corporations, Wall Street would not like the public thinking about that,” this executive said, also insisting on anonymity.

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Thursday, July 12, 2018

RSN: Matt Taibbi | Why Killing Dodd-Frank Could Lead to the Next Crash

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RSN: Matt Taibbi | Why Killing Dodd-Frank Could Lead to the Next Crash

Lianna Dunlap started seeing white vans filled with immigrant children pulling up to the vacant office building behind her house June 4. The next day, she videotaped more children being led into the building. Dunlap says she 'never saw children leave or go outside during the next three weeks.' (photo: Aura Bogado/Reveal)

ALSO SEE: Trump's HHS Says Lawmakers Visiting
Immigrant Children Create 'Unnecessary Strain'

CIA-Linked Military Contractor Used Arizona "Black Site" to Secretly Jail Dozens of Migrant Children

Democracy Now!

Excerpt: "A major U.S. military and CIA contractor has been detaining dozens of migrant children inside a vacant Phoenix office building with dark windows, no kitchen and only a few toilets, according to a new investigation by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting."
READ MORE

Thursday, July 5, 2018

RSN: Matt Taibbi | We Need a Financial Transactions Tax Before It's Too Late

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RSN: Matt Taibbi | We Need a Financial Transactions Tax Before It's Too Late

Friday, June 9, 2017

Progressive Breakfast: Kitchen Logic: Don't Let Trump's GOP Privatize America

MORNING MESSAGE

Richard Eskow

Kitchen Logic: Don’t Let Trump’s GOP Privatize America

If you need a new stove or refrigerator, you don't give the keys to your kitchen to Olive Garden, then pay them to let you eat. You’d be opening your wallet for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, that’s the kind of logic Donald Trump and his party are using to give away our shared wealth.

Comey’s Tale

Comey raises possibility of Trump obstruction and condemns his “lies.” NYT: “The recently fired F.B.I. director, said Thursday in an extraordinary Senate hearing that he believed President Trump had tried to derail an investigation into his national security adviser, and accused the president of lying and defaming him and the F.B.I. Mr. Comey, no longer constrained by the formalities of a government job, offered a blunt, plain-spoken assessment of a president whose conversations unnerved him from the day they met, weeks before Mr. Trump took office.”

House votes to roll back post-2008 financial rules. WaPo: “The Republican-led House has moved closer to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s goal of doing “a big number” on Dodd-Frank, the landmark banking law created after the 2008 economic crisis that was designed to prevent future meltdowns. But the effort will likely require some major changes to bring about Democratic support in the Senate. Such support was missing entirely when the House voted 233-186 Thursday for a bill that would undo much of Dodd-Frank.”

Arizona Rep. McSally shares GOP fears of “going down with the ship” with Trump in 2018. Tucson Weekly:“McSally complained that President Donald Trump and his tweets were creating troubling ‘distractions’ and “it’s basically being taken out on me. Any Republican member of Congress, you are going down with the ship. And we’re going to hand the gavel to Pelosi in 2018, they only need 28 seats and the path to that gavel being handed over is through my seat. And right now, it doesn’t matter that it’s me, it doesn’t matter what I’ve done. I have an ‘R’ next to my name and right now, this environment would have me not prevail.”

Progressive Gains in UK

UK election results could slow or soften Brexit. CNN: “Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap U.K. general election in the hope of strengthening her hand in negotiations to take Britain out of the European Union. But that gamble has backfired: Rather than handing May a landslide victory, the election wiped out her parliamentary majority after a surge in support for the opposition Labour Party.”

Labour’s gains in UK election signal progressive rise. Guardian: “This was about millions inspired by a radical manifesto that promised to transform Britain, to attack injustices, and challenge the vested interests holding the country back. Don’t let them tell you otherwise. People believe the booming well-off should pay more, that we should invest that money in schools, hospitals, houses, police and public services, that all in work should have a genuine living wage, that young people should not be saddled with debt for aspiring to an education, that our utilities should be under the control of the people of this country. For years, many of us have argued that these policies – shunned, reviled even in the political and media elite – had the genuine support of millions. And today that argument was decisively vindicated and settled.”

The (bad) theology conservatives use to justify cutting benefits for the poor. ThinkProgress: “No, that’s not what Jesus says. In recent months, GOP lawmakers have taken to spouting Christian scripture to defend budget cuts and their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The first example came from Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who argued… ‘Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us… There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.’ He added that ‘morally, spiritually, socially,’ some poor and homeless people ‘just don’t want health care.’ Marshall’s comments triggered a flurry of criticism from several sources, including more progressive faith writers who chided him for rebuking the traditional Christian instruction to help the poor.”

More from OurFuture.org:

What I Learned Carrying a Cross From Chicago to Springfield. Erica Nanton:“Everyone I met on our March to Springfield for a People & Planet First Budget made it clear to me we are all on the same side. We all share the same journey. It’s time for our elected officials to step up and do their share.”

DeVos Education Hires Bode Ill For Students’ Rights. Jeff Bryant:“U.S. Secretary Betsy DeVos had another rough day in Congress when Senators grilled her over her plan to cut $9 billion from the education department and divert $1.4 billion to privately operated schools such as charter Even Republican senators expressed strong reservations for cuts to Special Olympics, after-school programs, and a cluster of programs for supporting low-income and first-generation college students. But the fireworks in the media focused primary on what DeVos said about enforcing federal government laws related to discrimination in schools.”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People's Action.more »

MASSterList: Bombshells away | One word, one person | Sanctuary showdown

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By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

06/09/2017

Bombshells away | One word, one person | Sanctuary showdown

Happening Today

Immigration bill press conference

Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Rep. Juana Matias, Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, and others hold a pre-committee media availability over legislation that would bar state and local police from aiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials on certain immigration matters, Room 437, 9:30 a.m.

Safe Communities Act hearing

Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security holds a hearing on the ‘Safe Communities Act’ that bans use of state resources to support federal immigration laws, Rooms A1 and A2, 10 a.m.

Cabinet meeting

Gov. Charlie Baker holds a meeting with members of his cabinet and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Room 360, 10 a.m.

Safe Communities Act vigil

Greater Boston Health and Law Immigrant Solidarity Network holds a vigil for health professionals in support of the Safe Communities Act, State House steps, 12 p.m.

Gold Award ceremony

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg provides congratulatory remarks at the Girl Scouts' Gold Award Ceremony, Great Hall, 2 p.m.

Asian American Civic Association gala

Gov. Baker and Auditor Suzanne Bump attend the Asian American Civic Association 50th Anniversary Celebration, Park Plaza, 50 Park Plaza, Boston, 6 p.m.

Today's News

Bombshells away

So much for yesterday’s James Comey hearing being a dud. There were no true smoking guns per se revealed yesterday, as the Globe’s Joan Vennochi and the New York Times’David Brooks rightly note. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of damning and damaging testimony by the former FBI chief, they add The Globe’s Jacklyn Reiss has a fun best-quotes story from the hearing, while her Globe colleagues – James Pindell andMichael Cohen – have their own hearing highlights pieces. One more from a Globie: Scot Lehigh thinks Comey absolutely mauled President Trump.

Then again, this is a two-newspaper town, and the Herald’s Howie Carr says Comey’s testimony merely proved he’s a hero in his own mind. The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld says Comey is covered in the same mud he was slinging. The Herald’s Kimberly Atkins notes that Trump wasn’t the only one damaged by Comey’s blunt testimony: Hillary Clinton, former AG Loretta Lynch and current AG Jeff Sessions also got dinged.

Finally, WGBH’s Peter Kadzis has a good piece comparing today’s Russian-connections scandal and Watergate and says yesterday’s hearing proved, if anything, that some sort of crime was committed, as it relates to Russia.

Rosenberg on freezing income-tax rate: ‘I don't see that happening’

Senate President Stan Rosenberg has thrown cold water on the idea floating around the State House of freezing the state’s income tax rate at its current rate, rather than letting it decrease as scheduled by law, in order to help balance the state budget, reports Colin Young at SHNS (pay wall). Meanwhile, Gov. Baker, trying to plug a more than $400 million budget gap in the current state budget, yesterday said that there may be “hundreds of millions of dollars” that won’t be spent by state agencies by the end of this fiscal year and that those funds could be used to fill budget holes, reports SHNS’s Katie Lannan and Andy Metzger (pay wall). Rosenberg said he’s “looking forward” to seeing how that mini-miracle budget trick pans out.

Big changes at Medicaid?

If this works, it's a big long-term deal, arguably more important than anything that lawmakers are now mulling to stabilize the state's perennially unstable budget. From Jessica Bartlett at the BBJ: "Massachusetts has chosen 18 health care organizations to participate in a massive Medicaid restructuring aimed at changing the way providers are reimbursed and creating new programs to care for patients on a budget." BBJ

‘Here are tips on how to successfully cultivate your own cannabis’

The times they are a-changin’ when a mainstream newspaper site, in this case MassLive.com, has a feature on how best to grow pot in your home. ...

MassLive

Travesty: Hilltop Steak House site to be redeveloped into luxury apartments

One saving grace of AvalonBay Communities Inc.’s purchase of the old Hilltop Steak House in Saugus, with plans to turn the site into luxury apartments, is that the firm plans to incorporate the restaurant's landmark cactus sign into development designs, as the BBJ’s David Harris reports. Here’s a BBJ slideshow of the old Hilltop Steak House.

BBJ

Brockton socks away cash for education lawsuit

This is getting serious. The city of Brockton’s 2018 budget sets aside $100,000 to hire outside lawyers in the event it joins with other cities—think Worcester—to sue the state over the way it distributes education funding, Marc Larocque of the Enterprise reports. “Relief must come from the state,” the mayor says.

Enterprise

Showdown today over ‘sanctuary state’ legislation

Proponents and opponents of making Massachusetts a ‘sanctuary state’ are gearing up for a major fight today, as the Safe Communities Act goes before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, according to an AP report at the New York Times. This legislation shouldn’t be confused with a similar bill that House Democrats recently retreated from amid fears it would be perceived as a ‘sanctuary state’ endorsement, as the Herald’s Jack Encarnacao notes.

NYT

One word may doom pregnant-worker protection bill

The inclusion of just one word – “knowingly” – in a compromise bill may put in jeopardy the entire pregnant-worker protection legislation that was passed by the House earlier this session and now awaits a vote in the Senate, the Globe’s Frank Phillips reports (and explains).

Boston Globe

Meanwhile, a radio ad campaign aimed at just one person

Forty-nine other states, Gov. Charlie Baker and a majority of lawmakers on Beacon Hill favor a bill that would allow optometrists to treat glaucoma and other eye conditions. But the optometrists are now spending $25,000 on radio ads to convince just one lawmaker to relent in his opposition: House Majority Leader Ron Mariano, the Globe’s Frank Phillips also reports.

Boston Globe

Next chore for Elizabeth Warren: Defending Dodd-Frank

As the nation’s attention was riveted yesterday on former FBI director James Comey’s testimony on Capitol Hill, the Republican-controlled U.S. House quietly voted to weaken the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill – and weaken as well U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s cherished Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Washington Post reports progressives are already gearing up for a major fight in the Senate.

Washington Post

Scott Brown confirmed as ambassador to N.Z. – with Elizabeth Warren’s help

Speaking of Warren, partisanship was most definitely set aside yesterday, at least locally, when former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, a Republican, was easily confirmed to be the next ambassador to New Zealand, with Warren, who defeated Brown for the Senate seat in 2012, and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, both Democrats, voting in favor.

WBUR

SJC tosses defamation suit against former Gov. Patrick

Without addressing former Gov. Deval Patrick’s executive-privilege defense, the Supreme Judicial Court yesterday threw out a much-watched defamation suit against Patrick, saying the plaintiff failed to prove Patrick’s statements about the fired chair of the Sex Offender Registry Board were made with “actual malice,” reports Stephanie Ebbert at the Globe.

Boston Globe

Crosby: Thoroughbred horse racing has not crossed the finish line yet

Stephen Crosby, the chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, has written a letter to Beacon Hill lawmakers saying the horse-racing industry can be saved in Massachusetts, but it’s not going to happen if lawmakers raid the state’s horse-racing fund and don’t consolidate regulatory powers with the commission. Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth has more.

CommonWealth

Fear not: Corrections employees won’t go payless

From Colin Young at SHNS: “The Senate will temporarily relent in its pursuit of a report on Department of Correction spending and pass a budget bill Thursday to ensure the department can avoid payless paydays for its employees. On Boston Herald Radio, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, asked about a News Service report that department funds will run out on Sunday, said the Senate has committed to getting the supplemental budget to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk by the end of the week.”

SHNS (pay wall)

Going local: Faneuil Hall Marketplace launches latest effort to win back locals

Under new ownership, Faneuil Hall Marketplace is once again trying to woo local shoppers and diners who have long been turned off by the tourist-trap “stigma” of the tourist-trap mecca, reports the Globe's Tim Logan. While they’re at it, the owners may also want to step up efforts to rid the marketplace of the “Fake Monk Mafia” trawling for dollars, reports Universal Hub.

A pot-sweetener for weed-host towns?

Lawmakers are considering sweetening the pot to convince more communities to keep their borders open to recreational marijuana shops as they race to revamp the ballot initiative passed in November, Chris Villani of the Herald reports. A slew of communities—mostly well-heeled, suburban types—have passed moratoriums on pot shops in the months since the ballot question passed.

Boston Herald

Gavel thief steals chairman’s thunder in Attleboro

Police in Attleboro are hard on the trail of a man who they say was caught by video walking into the city council chamber and swiping the chairman’s gavel late last month, a theft that forced the council’s chairman to bring a rubber mallet from home to help keep order. George Rhodes of the Sun-Chronicle has all the gavel-to-no-gavel coverage.

Sun Chronicle

Reminder: The election cycle never ends

It’s always campaign season somewhere and with less than three weeks to go, it’s crunch time in the 4th Middlesex Senate district, where the three Democrats vying for the right to replace the late Sen. Ken Donnelly debated Thursday night. Rick Sobey of the Lowell Sun reports the debate was civil, with the three hopefuls agreeing on most of the major issues. No Republicans have declared, so the June 27th primary will essentially decide who’s the next state senator.

Lowell Sun

A call to arms to oppose the Weymouth natural-gas compressor

Tim Cronin, who’s only a senior at Stonehill College, has written an impressive blog post at the Climate Action Business Association calling on people to support state Sen. Patrick O’Connor’s bill that attempts to block a proposed natural-gas compressor station in Weymouth and to support carbon pricing.

CABAUS

'Reclaiming history in New Orleans’

This isn’t about a local topic, but it is written by a local writer, Rick Holmes, the former opinion-page editor at the MetroWest Daily News, whose op-ed pages shined under Holmes’ watch. The reason we’re running his column about a Robert E. Lee statue in New Orleans is because: A.) It’s an interesting topic about the changing South and B.) It’s just really well written. See what you think.

MetroWest Dailey News

Sunday public affairs TV

Keller at Large, WBZ-TV Channel 4, 8:30 a.m. Guest: Massachusetts Democratic Party chair Gus Bickford, who discusses the 2018 races and the Democratic party in general, with host Jon Keller.

This Week in Business, NECN, 10 a.m. Shirley Leung of the Boston Globe and Doug Banks of the Boston Business Journal talk about the Massachusetts budget shortfall, the Comey hearing, the Boston Globe’s ‘Trump Bump,’ the state’s Fortune 500 companies and other business issues.

CEO Corner, NECN, 10:30 a.m., Lupoli Companies CEO Sal Lupoli talks about his development projects in Gateway cities and his other business, Sal’s Pizza.

On The Record, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 11 a.m. This week’s guest: Attorney General Maura Healey, who talks with anchor Ed Harding and co-anchor Janet Wu.

CityLine, WCVB-TV Channel 5, 12 p.m. With host Karen Holmes Taylor, this week’s focus: ‘Branding,’ how political, non-profit and business officials are working together to fight racism and Boston’s image as a racist city.

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Today's Headlines

Metro

Faneuil Hall Marketplace tries to draw more locals - Boston Globe

Four now certified for mayor’s ballot - Dorchester Reporter

GrubHub to acquire Boston-based Foodler - Boston Business Journal

Massachusetts

Legislators advance driver cellphone ban - Boston Herald

Southbridge teachers union head faults state leadership - Telegram & Gazette

Fatherhood award established in Paul Cellucci’s name - MetroWest Daily News

Keating spars with Homeland Security over worker visas - Cape Cod Times

Gavel stolen in Attleboro council chamber caper - Sun-Chronicle