banking regulation

7 August 2017 - This week we go really deep into the weeds, which is our favorite place! National ACA expert, Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba aka Brainwrap) of ACASignUps.org fame is with us to help us sort out current legislative efforts, what needs to be done as well as what is politically possible. Charles also defines and clarifies terms like "Medicare for All" and explains the problems with Dems settling on that vocabulary and policy at this point. Will starts us out with a bang and a rant. I chime in too. We have both just HAD IT with with the "Brocialist" attitude toward women. We also REALLY hate the entitled, special snowflake crap they throw at every idea which does not fully comply with their purity tests. Politics is work and compromise. It's about community. It's almost always a long, hard slog to get anything of real merit. It's definitely not for the whiny or precious. Being mean, vindictive and exclusionary is expressly not welcome in the big tent of the Democratic party. Everyone who wants to work, cooperatively to achieve the platform goals is welcome. Brocialists? Get the hell out. I devote my segment this week to part two of a three-part "series" highlighting the current, fierce attack on Dodd-Frank. Last week I was on the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB). This week I review the basics of the rest of Dodd-Frank in preparation for getting into detail regarding the increasingly successful Trump administration attack on the foundations of our entire financial system. It's a big deal and very much under-covered in the media, hence a three week project to shine a light. I'm here next week but traveling for the following two weeks so you can look forward to hearing from some of our new folks later in August. Carrots! - Arliss

19 June 2017 - This was one of those shows where Will and I covered a lot of ground. We did not have an interview (and there is no Extra Mad) so we just moved straight through the show with no breaks. I began with a nod acknowledging Will for bringing on Math Campbell last week and taking time from the discussion of the UK snap election results to talk with Math about the fact that the new agreement between the May government and the DUP has destabilized the already precarious Good Friday Agreement. This week Gerry Adams and the group of the Sinn Fein leadership met with PM May and made their grievances known and clear. Interestingly, Adams also pressed May on the fact that her austerity economics has drained more than £1bn out of the Northern Irish economy, an economy already dramatically endangered by the coming closure of the border between the Republic of Ireland and the Counties. I also took a moment to note that MP Jo Cox was assassinated one year ago this week and the memorial event her family planned, The Great Get Together (#Jo Cox, #GreatGetTogether, #MoreInCommon) spread deep and wide across the country as people joined to acknowledge their desire for less divisiveness and more unity. More than 100,000 listed events took place and millions of people participated in everything from fair-like activities held in parks to tea parties held at libraries, churches, mosques and synagogues and even in simple things like baking cupcakes for neighbors. In this week when members of Congress and their staff were terrorized in Alexandria, it seemed appropriate to take a look at what trying to heal could look like if we wanted it to. In our Hopping Mad's Lying Liar Lie of the Week segment Will's contender was the inability of the Trump administration to have any actual idea if Trump went to see Rep. Steve Scalise. I nominated Trump's "witch hunt" tweets and included my favorite response tweets. As it turns out, Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA) made the best case. He, of course, represents Salem, MA. 'nuff said. In the body of the show I use the example of the central bank of Denmark warning its member banks about concerns related to the hot lending market despite the fact that all of those banks have passed ECB compatible stress testing. Meanwhile back in the US, the House voted to roll-back Dodd-Frank and the Trump administration is tamping down regulatory enforcement at every opportunity. This leaves only the Fed between us and the same economic disaster which nearly destroyed the economy in 2007. So - every time you hear the deeply misguided "audit the Fed" meme, I want you to remember this week and thank the Great Bunny that the US Federal Reserve is (relatively) independent and self-funded. Will then spoke about the violent, so-called "left" DemExit movement and enumerated the ways in which they not really part of the left and definitely not part of the Democratic Party. Their dangerous, nihilistic rhetoric is really not about politics it's just a self-justification for their rage. They are not interested in engaging in the public debate about policy. Truly, their only focus is on revolution in the streets and destruction. Just as progressives blame the GOP for not having called-out the violent, far right; progressives must now take responsibility and call out the terrorists on the farthest fringes of the left for both their views and actions. I followed-on the subject of the responsibility to speak out by talking about former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke's new book, Courage to Act. NOW Bernanke acknowledges the the economic crazy is all coming from one side, the GOP, and even goes so far as to blame the Obama administration for not having issued more progressive budgets and then fought for them. Ben, where were you then!?! This show will air on 19 June and so I thought it was appropriate to take time to talk about the history of Juneteenth and why it is a relevant and important holiday for all Americans. I have

28 March 2016 - In the interest of full disclosure, as a Rabbit American I admit a bias on the topic of rabbit welfare. Toward that end Will and I were able to have attorney Mara Hurwitt join the show to talk about the legal complexities and issues related to rabbits. Mara is a long-time educator for the House Rabbit Society, a leading international rabbit rescue organization. Mara has provided pro bono legal support for a variety of animal welfare organizations and has worked at the Federal level to protect wild horse herds (which, in my opinion should be considered a national treasure). Rabbits are the third most abandoned domestic animal in the nation yet few municipal facilities or private rescue organizations are both equipped and knowledgable enough to meet their special needs. Rabbit abuse is rampant and seems to be on the increase but things are changing and Mara is a part of making that happen.Will begins the show with the newest in crazy from North Carolina. Later in the show he brings the history with an overview of the Irish Easter Rising. I start out with, of all things, graffiti in Cairo. I draw almost exclusively from an article in The Guardian but you absolutely must take a moment to look at photos of this fragile, moving and significant art here and here. My main segment is on 21st Century Glass-Steagall legislation and this is the last of my banking regulation series. Next week I get back to modern monetary theory. Yippie!We have no Extra Mad extended interview this week. It's the busiest weekend of the year for rabbits - so many eggs and too little time. - Carrots! ArlissPsst - from top to bottom, the rabbits in the photo are my office crew: David (age 3), Neo (age 3) and Bethy (age 12).