In his weekly radio and Internet address, President Barack Obama defended his proposal to subject as many as 50 financial institutions to a levy to recoup the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Obama also vowed to enact legislation that would rein in practices and strategies that caused the financial crisis.
Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
This Day in Wall Street History 1987: Chicago Board of Trade implements daily price ceilings
November 23rd, 2009
Before You Invest With Wall Street still feeling the effects of the record crash of October 1987, futures exchanges scrambled to prevent any more precipitous declines.
On this day in 1987, the Chicago Board of Trade took its own precautionary steps, implementing a daily price ceiling on the Major Market Index future, as well as the Institutional Index future.
Under these limits, the 20 stocks on the Major and Institutional indices were restricted to moves of no more than 40 and 25 points, respectively.
Following the October debacle, Wall Street officials came under fire for failing to reign in and regulate index-futures trading; the move by the Chicago Board was a step toward quieting these claims, as well as holding off potential legislative action by Congress or federal officials.
Source: History.com
Firms try to prevent reinstatement of Glass-Steagall Act
November 14th, 2009
Before You Invest Former President Bill Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which split investment-banking activities from retail-banking operations, a decade ago. Congress is considering reinstating the measure, and financial firms are scrambling to prevent the change. “We’re playing with live ammo,” said Sam Geduldig, a lobbyist at Clark Lytle & Geduldig who represents financial-services companies.
Regulating derivatives could do more harm than good
October 23rd, 2009
Before You Invest Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., writes that lawmakers are focusing on an easy target — the derivatives market — rather than identifying and tackling the root causes of the global financial crisis. Cantor, the Republican whip, warns that new regulations being considered by Congress could do irreparable damage to businesses and consumers. “Rather than the tool for gross financial manipulation it is portrayed to be, the derivatives market plays a very important role in solidifying the competitiveness of American businesses,” Cantor writes.
This Day in Wall Street History 1914: Nation’s first income tax
October 22nd, 2009
Before You Invest The passage of the anti-protectionist “Underwood-Simmons Act” took a bite out of the nation’s pocketbook. To compensate for the lost income, Congress passed the “Revenue Act” on Oct. 22, 1914, mandating the first tax on incomes over $3,000.
Source: History.com
Blankfein questions resentment directed at Goldman
August 30th, 2009
Before You Invest During the past six months, Goldman Sachs has taken risks and been handsomely rewarded for it. The firm repaid billions of dollars the government forced it to take in the fall, raised billions more from Warren Buffett and other investors, and encouraged its executives to tone down activities that could be construed as conspicuous consumption. Despite all of these efforts, Goldman has been the target of much resentment from its rivals, the media, Congress and the public, raising questions from CEO Lloyd Blankfein.
Geithner presses Congress for rules on derivatives market
July 10th, 2009
Before You Invest Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is seeking laws for the $592 trillion derivatives market. Geithner is set to testify before a joint hearing of the House Agriculture and Financial Services committees to call for requiring all “standardized” contracts to be traded on exchanges or other regulated platforms. Disclosure rules also would apply to the derivatives contracts, Geithner said.
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