Now that Michael Barr has been confirmed to join the Federal Reserve Board’s Vice Chair for Supervision, the Board’s last vacancy has finally been filled and a regulatory agenda held in abeyance can now see action. The nation’s banks may have survived the pandemic with capital intact, but problems like Too Big To Fail — …
Update 627 — Crypto Crash Begs Regs:Hill Action as Euphoria Yields to Reality As the House returns today to vote on the Inflation Reduction Act and send it to Biden’s desk, we turn towards a murkier legislative task: regulating cryptocurrencies. Following the flurry of 2022 Super Bowl ads, markets saw a crypto winter of massive …
Update 626 — Democratic Reconciliation:IRA Secures 50 Votes, en Route to Passage Facing an August recess deadline, Democrats in Congress are on the verge of fulfilling their economic policy promise, bringing a hitherto elusive unity to a reconciliation bill and a Senate floor vote as soon as procedurally possible. The leap forward shows lessons learned: …
Update 625 — Salvaging Democracy:A Clarifying Sliver of Election Reform After the eventful news this week, GDP down 0.9 percent in the second quarter, CHIPS passing both chambers, and the new reconciliation package – the Inflation Reduction Act – introduced, we turn to a similarly signal development last week as a bipartisan Senate working group …
Update 624 — Another 75 bp Hike by FedRole of Consumer in Recession Risk Ahead The Federal Reserve announced by unanimous vote an increase in its target interest rate by 75 basis points for the second month in a row this afternoon. Though expected, this and last month’s rate hikes— both the largest since 1994 …
Update 623 — Saying Finito to Fees:Overdraft Overhaul Bill Long Overdue Next Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will mark up and vote on Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Overdraft Protection Act of 2021. Maloney, consumer protection advocates, and progressive policymakers have long sought to rein in high and random bank overdraft fees. Per the Consumer Financial …
Update 622 — Midpoint in Midterms:Picture Has a New Hue, But is it Blue? July marks the halfway point in the primaries for the 2022 midterm elections, with 29 states having chosen Congressional nominees. Some say minds are set, the outcome is ordained by history, confirmed by the polls. But the dismal outlook for Democrats …
Update 621 — COMPETES to Pass Sans HitchHit an Obstruction Named Mitch; Now What? Two weeks ago — amid extensive conference committee deliberations — Sen. Mitch McConnell announced his intention to block bipartisan negotiations on a USICA/COMPETES bill, industrial policy legislation aimed to compete with China, if Senate Democrats continued to pursue a “partisan reconciliation …
Update 620 — CPI for June up 9.1%But Trends Complicate Inflation Story The CPI report for June, showing a 9.1 percent hike in prices from a year ago, up from 8.6 percent in May, may alarm some and immediately suggests another 75 basis point interest rate by the Fed at its next meeting, July 26-27. …
Update 619 — 2022 Cong. EndorsementsPrimary Winners in CA, CO, IA, IL, and NV Per a far better than expected jobs report out this morning, the economy added 372,000 jobs in the month of June, which may prove better than expected for Democrats in the midterms. This update is the second part in a series …
