Off The Editor’s Desk – 5-30-2018

Remember Barney Frank?

A lot of people heard what Barney Frank said about the new banking law. Few know he worked for a bank. —Washington Post.

I have written before about Barney Frank (78). He is a former House Democrat from Massachusetts, who served for 32 years, and pushed through Congress the idea that everyone should own their own home. That program of government backed home mortgages cost the government billions of dollars to cover bank losses because of it. People were given home loans, but did not have the income to support the loan and the taxpayers had to step in and cover those losses. I blame him for the recession that hit back ten years ago.

Then Barney got a bill through called the “Dodd-Frank” banking bill that imposed new regulations on banks, especially banks with assets of over $50 billion dollars. Now a new rule has been placed into law that somewhat scales back those banking regulations and raises the government control by moving the rules on banks from that $50 billion in assets to banks with assets of $250 billion and more.

Frank is no longer a Congressman, but serves on the board of directors of New York based Signature Bank with assets of over $40 billion dollars.

The new regulatory rollback is overwhelmingly supported by Republicans, but it could not have cleared the Senate without the support of 17 members of the Democratic caucus. Members of that coalition continually cited Frank’s support to make their case for supporting the rollback of the rules, according to a story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Sunday. Frank has been on the Signature Bank Board for three years and has received over a million dollars in payments during that time.

From past experience it appears to me that when Frank is involved, the taxpayers pay.

According to the Pioneers Press’ story which was written by Jess Stein of the Washington Post states; “Senator Jon Tester, D-Mt., another proponent of the banking overhaul, criticized those arguing the bill would help Wall Street banks, citing Frank and Dodd’s contention that keeps the protection for the biggest Wall Street banks would remain in place. ‘Those are the original authors,’ Tester said. “That’s why it’s called Dodd-Frank.”

Sheila Bair, who served as chairwomen of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stated, “It looks bad, but knowing him I think he would have had that position whether he was on that board or not. Barney, for all his liberal reputation, has always been pretty bank-friendly, especially for the smaller banks.”

During the housing crunch Frank’s personal finances saw a growth of over four times. In a piece written by Liz Peek, Frank’s reported that his assets in 2006 were valued between $525,000 and $1.6 million. By 2010 those values had increased to $1.9 million to $4.6 million. In addition to that, Frank gets about $140,000 a year from the government as retirement for serving in Congress.

Now you have the answer, why people want to be in Congress. They leave and get a million-dollar position and a big pension.

Former President Clinton stated they were broke when they left the White House, but now they have a net worth that is in the top ten percent, and have their daughter run their so called charity with a million dollar salary. Did I read someplace that the Clinton Foundation got a $140 million donation from the Russians, or was it in a dream?

Obama, who never held a job, except as a community organizer, is a millionaire. I could never figure out how Richard Nixon, a life long politician, got to retire into the good life, after he resigned as president. I can think of many more and question where they got all the money.

Thanks for reading!     ~ Carlton