At her first Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, Warren questioned top regulators from the alphabet soup that is the nation's financial regulatory structure: the FDIC, SEC, OCC, CFPB, CFTC, Fed and Treasury.
The Democratic senator from Massachusetts had a straightforward question for them: When was the last time you took a Wall Street bank to trial? It was a harder question than it seemed.
"We do not have to bring people to trial," Thomas Curry, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, assured Warren, declaring that his agency had secured a large number of "consent orders," or settlements.
"I appreciate that you say you don't have to bring them to trial. My question is, when did you bring them to trial?" she responded.
"We have not had to do it as a practical matter to achieve our supervisory goals," Curry offered.
Warner turned to Elisse Walter, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who said that the agency weighs how much it can extract from a bank without taking it to court against the cost of going to trial.
"I appreciate that. That's what everybody does," said Warren, a former Harvard law professor. "Can you identify the last time when you took the Wall Street banks to trial?"
"I will have to get back to you with specific information," Walter said as the audience tittered.
"There are district attorneys and United States attorneys out there every day squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin grounds and taking them to trial in order to make an example, as they put it. I'm really concerned that 'too big to fail' has become 'too big for trial,'" Warren said.
Damn, this woman is fierce!
I have to say that if for some reason Hillary cannot run in 2016, that I am ALL IN for Elizabeth Warrens to run. She would be amazing.
And can you imagine the amount of money that the financial institutes would donate to her opponents to keep her out of the White House? It would make 2012 look like chump change.
Hey maybe we can have an ALL female ticket for 2012?
Clinton/Warren 2016!
What do you think?
I think that Liz and Hillary would not only turn America around, they would change the WORLD. I'm in!
ReplyDeleteI do like the sound of Clinton/Warren 2016.
ReplyDeleteThat has been my dream since 2010
ReplyDeleteWorks for me!
ReplyDeleteNo-one is overseeing the banks properly - and Sen Warren is well aware of that fact.
ReplyDeleteThe Glass-Steagall Act is what kept the mortgage / banking industry in check since The Great Depression.
DeleteThe Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act effectively deregulated the industry. That's when I saw dramatic changes in how banks did business in the early 2000's.
7:55 The mortgage banking industry was NOT kept in check due to that law! There was fraud all over the place as well as horrible losses! I was part of that industry and it made me sick to watch!
DeleteGramm-Leach-Bliley repealed Glass-Steagall.
DeleteGuess I wasn't crystal-clear about that. It was Glass-Steagall that held the thieves at bay.
Ahhhh, I love it! Clinton/Warren 2016!
ReplyDeleteMake that Clinton/Warren 2016 and I am in.
ReplyDeleteI like Elizabeth Warren and her pro-consumer stances on many issues.
ReplyDeleteI don't think she'd be the best candidate for Democratic nomination in 2016 because
she doesn't have enough experience, and she's so liberal that she'd be defeated.
The reason I'd support Hillary Clinton, even as a conservative, is because the Republicans have gone so far to the right, that Hillary is now where they used to be.
If Hillary doesn't run, the field is wide open, but the Dems had better find someone other than a Massachusetts liberal.
So, looking to the right- what's available?
DeleteBest possibility;
Marco Rubio/David Vitter 2016
Campaign slogan:
Vote Betsey/Wetsey! Water In, Water Out!
W. Tortoise
I wouldn't say Hillary is now where the Republicans used to be, but she certainly is a centrist in many areas. Of course, the Republicans have gone so far off the deep end, even a moderate liberal looks a little conservative.
DeleteThat would be an amazing ticket, YES!!!
ReplyDeleteI SAY HELL YES TO THAT- WHY NOT PICK THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST!
ReplyDeleteWarren has smarts and BALLS and so does Hillary Clinton!
ReplyDeleteI want Elizabeth Warren to stay where she is. She is going to be an amazing senator. She asked a simple question---and got disperate and desperate answers. She is damned good at what she does. We need her in the senate.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the end all, be all is the presidency. I hope she has a long and illustrious carreer as a senator and put the flames to Wall Street's feet.
Clinton/Castro (hate to have Warren as VP when she could be doing so much in the senate)
ReplyDeleteSchweitzer/Castro
Warren/Castro
#daretodream
As a former mortgage industry supervisor in Escrow, Title and Real Estate Finance, I can think of dozens of mortgage bankers that need to do a perp walk. What I saw in the early-to-mid 2000's was shameful, vile AND ILLEGAL. And they knew it. Once the last vestiges of Glass-Steagall were swept away, it was open season on consumers by Wall Street.
ReplyDeleteI quit because I had trouble sleeping at night.
I think Elizabeth is going to need bodyguards - there is simply too much at stake for the big banks. I guarantee there are closed-door meetings taking place this morning in most corporate offices of the big banks / brokerage houses in lower Manhattan... they fought her appointment tooth-and-nail, and they're not done. No way.
GO ELIZABETH WARREN!!
- KAO
I didn't read your post before writing mine... I agree... She better have some security guards surround her day and night...
DeleteClinton/Warren 2016? That could work.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean 'could' work? It 'would' work in a landslide!
DeleteI LOVE what Ms. warren is doing... ABAOUT TIME!!!
ReplyDeleteHowever, she better make SURE she has her back covered... I bet you that there is a contract out on her head... if not now, there will be soon...:(
This is off topic, Gryphen, but I was SURE you would want to know about it asap:
ReplyDeleteREAD: Obama’s pre-K plan
President Obama used his State of the Union address to launch a push for massively expanding pre-K and other early childhood education programs. But he was pretty vague about it. Not anymore. At 6 a.m. today, the administration released its detailed plan for early childhood education. Its three main components are:
Upon opening the plan for the first time (while on the phone with me) Nobel laureate and early childhood education expert James Heckman exclaimed “Holy smokes!” in approval. Your mileage may vary — see the full plan outline, courtesy of the White House, below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/read-obamas-pre-k-plan/
You KNEW it would happen. Mr. 999 is now a Fox Noise mouthpiece. What a joke. The guy is thick as a brick.
ReplyDeleteIn a release, Cain said: “I’m excited about joining the FOX family as a contributor because it is an opportunity to be one more voice for intelligent thinking in America.”
Fox News executive vice president of programming said in the same release, "As a political expert with business savvy, he brings an important voice to the nation's debate."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/herman-cain-joins-fox-news-as-contributor
Wall Street Whines Over Elizabeth Warren's Tough Questions
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Warren's Aggressive Questioning Prompts Anger From Wall Street
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) meeting with bank regulators Thursday left bankers reeling, after the politician questioned why regulators had not prosecuted a bank since the financial crisis.
At one point, Warren asked why big banks' book value was lower, when most corporations trade above book value, saying there could be only two reasons for it.
"One would be because nobody believes that the banks' books are honest. Second, would be that nobody believes that the banks are really manageable. That is, if they are too complex either for their own institutions to manage them or for the regulators to manage them," she said.
That set off angry responses to Politico's Morning Money. "While Senator Warren had every right to ask pointed questions at today's Senate Banking Committee hearing, her claim that 'nobody believes' that bank books are honest is just plain wrong," emailed a "top executive" to the financial newsletter. " Perhaps someone ought to remind the Senator that the campaign is over and she should act accordingly if she wants to be taken seriously."
The anonymous emailer said Warren was being as "extreme" as fellow freshmen Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who asserted Tuesday without evidence that secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel may have received money from "extreme or radical" groups.
Consumer Bankers Association CEO Richard Hunt was slightly more diplomatic. "We have been through more tests and thorough exams than any college student over the past four years, including many conducted by the CFPB. The results of the Hamilton Partners Financial Index and the testimony of OCC Comptroller [Thomas] Curry were very clear: the United States banking system is safe and sound, supported by historic and permanent capital ratios. We are working every day to fulfill the financial needs of the American consumer and small business and will continue to work with any and all lawmakers who seek to assist in this extremely important process."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/elizabeth-warren-wall-street_n_2695212.html
Poor babies, they just don't get it, there's a new Sheriff in town and their heyday of ripping off the American people is over.
Clinton/Warren 2016 - Let's declare to the world that not only is the US joining other enlightened countries by putting women in charge, but it would give representation to the 51 percent of our population that have XX chromosomes and a put an end to glass ceilings. Give the men a breather!
ReplyDeleteDamn! Hillary and Elizabeth Warren would be a dynamite ticket to vote for next national election cycle - President and VP! Almost as good as President Obama and VP Biden. And, I'm sure they would win in a landslide!
ReplyDeleteWorks for me! I've always liked the idea of that pairing. Another person I'd like to see up and coming is Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland.
ReplyDeleteTaibbi: Elizabeth Warren Will Be President Some Day
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/matt-taibbi-elizabeth-warren_n_2695200.html
School yard bullies and their insanely immature grudges. McCain leads the pack.
ReplyDeleteMcCain Admits Republicans Put Grudges Ahead of National Security in Hagel Filibuster
http://www.politicususa.com/mccain-forgotten-2008-filibustered-hagel-defense-george-bush.html
How about Clinton for President,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Warren for Senate Majority Leader and Nancy Pelosi taking back the Speakership of the House.
Damn wouldn't that be awesome!!
And I'll tell you right now....I am going to Hillary Clinton's inauguration. I want to be in the middle of that crowd. She will be our next President. Fact. They got nobody.
Sorry, but I think Warren would be wasted in the VP slot.
ReplyDeleteLet Hillary choose someone that would take over the ticket in 2020 or 2024. Warren will be too old then.
Besides, Warren would be better utilized appointed to a cabinet position. Keep her overseeing finance and banking.
Liz kicks ass, takes names and leaves no prisoners. She'd be a great vp to Hillary Clinton. She could get this job done in four years if this was any gauge of her ability to ask two questions I would have LOVED to hear concise and credible answers to. They're not hard questions.
ReplyDeleteAfter Rubio's lunge and tackle for one bottle of poland springs water, I was expecting at least one to go hog wild and hydrate on the four each, perfectly placed labeled "Deer Park" water, especially the "I'll have to find one and get back to ya on it" lady.