Busy day in DC..sort of

WARNING: The following blog is predicated on the assumption and\or delusion that Congress has both the ability and inclination to not just talk about the nation’s challenges but to do something about them

Good morning-Yesterday was a busy day in the public policy arena. Here is a quick review of some of the highlights

Credit Union Reg Relief TestimonyDouglas A Fecher, CEO of Wright-Patt Credit Union, delivered testimony on behalf of CUNA before a House Financial Services Sub Committee. The testimony highlighted an increasingly long list of needed reforms-ranging from putting the brakes on the Justice Department’s “Operation Choke Point” before it chokes off legitimate business activity, to forcing NCUA to scale back some of its proposed RBC asset weighting. CUNA estimates that, since 2008, credit unions have been subjected to 180 regulatory changes from 15 different agencies. The testimony is available here: http://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hhrg-113-ba15-wstate-dfecher-20140715.pdf

Warren is must see T.V. Even though I disagree with about 90 percent of what she has to say, Elizabeth Warren, the Birth-Mother of the CFPB and the current Senator from Massachusetts is good for America if only because she is one of the few politicians willing to publicly say how little is being done to prevent Too-Big-To-Fail banks from failing again at taxpayer expense. In this increasingly exasperated exchange with Fed Chairman Yellen Warren points out that so called “living wills,” which are intended to provide for blueprints for the orderly liquidation of the Behemoth banks, aren’t worth the paper they are printed on if the Fed doesn’t force institutions to make the changes necessary to allow for orderly liquidation. Yellen suggests that the Fed role in the process is merely advisory. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/15/too-big-to-fail_n_5588558.html

The Feds Outlook Chairman Yellen’s written testimony before Congress didn’t break much new ground. She did indicate that it remains on track to stop the “twist” bond buying program. In addition, even though the economy is improving she still sees enough slack in it to keep from raising interest rates. The WSJ is reporting that she “hedged” on interest rates but every Chairman hedges on interest rates. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/yellen20140715a.htm

On Mortgage meltdowns and prayers NY is slated to receive $92,000,000.00 from the Justice Department’s 7 billion settlement with Citi Bank over its shoddy underwriting practices for Mortgage Backed Securities but what really caught my eye was this quote from a Citi trader cited in the settlement papers : The trader stated that Citi should pray and explained that he“… would not be surprised if half of these loans went down. There are a lot of loans that have unreasonable incomes, values below the original appraisals (CLTV would be >100), etc. It’s amazing that some of these loans were closed at all.” http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/558201471413645397758.pdf