Shameful: Congress rushes through bill to exempt their staff from online financial disclosure...

In some bad ways, politicians of both parties are the same.  We really need term limits.

Via The Washington Times:

Congress this week approved a bill to free thousands of federal government employees from having to disclose their financial dealings online, rushing the bill through the Senate late Thursday and through the House on Friday.

But the push to undo the online reporting requirement is proving to be controversial.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) said that posting all of that information online posed a national security risk. But the Sunlight Foundation, an open government group, said releasing staffers from online disclosure eviscerates part of last year’s Stock Act, designed to stop insider trading by federal officials.

“Rather than craft narrow exemptions, or even delay implementation until proper protections could be created, the Senate decided instead to exclude legislative and executive staffers from the online disclosure requirements,” Lisa Rosenberg, government affairs consultant for the Sunlight Foundation, wrote in a blog posting. Read more here...

Unintended Consequences: Financial Overhaul Bill Causes Banks to End Free Checking

The boatload of new regulations imposed on banks as part of the Democrats financial overhaul bill has put a severe strain on bank profitability. Since banks are in the business of making a profit, they are taking steps to shore p the bottom line. One of those steps is to end free checking. Every-time the government intervenes in private markets there are unintended consequences.

AP reported:

Almost all of the largest U.S. banks are either already making free checking much more difficult to get or expected to do so soon, with fees on even basic banking services.

It’s happening because a raft of new laws enacted in the past year, including the financial overhaul package, have led to an acute shrinking of revenue for the banks. So they are scraping together money however they can.

Democrats sneak gender and race quotas into financial reform bill

A little publicized section of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill sets race and gender quotas for private financial institutions that do business with the government. There should be good enforcement of the section because the bill creates no less than 20 Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion to ensure enforcement.

Real Clear Markets reported:

I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new law inserts race and gender quotas into America’s financial industry.

In addition to this bill’s well-publicized plans to establish over a dozen new financial regulatory offices, Section 342 sets up at least 20 Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. This has had no coverage by the news media and has large implications...

…Section 342’s provisions are broad and vague, and are certain to increase inefficiency in federal agencies. To comply, federal agencies are likely to find it easier to employ and contract with less-qualified women and minorities, merely in order to avoid regulatory trouble. This would in turn decrease the agencies’ efficiency, productivity and output, while increasing their costs.

The Obamacare Financial Hits to Business Continue

Insurer Prudential Financial Inc. is the next to take a financial hit due to Democrats takeover of health care. They are taking a $100 million charge. The list of $100 plus million hits grows almost daily. Anyone who doesn't think this will cost jobs has no understanding of business. Companies will be forced into additional cost cutting measures. The first place most companies look is labor. Unlike the imaginary jobs created by the 'Stimulus." These will be real jobs lost.

AP reported:

Prudential joins a growing list of companies that have said they will take accounting charges because of the health care bills. AT&T said last week it would take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter. AK Steel Corp., 3M Co., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy have also said they would take smaller charges.