As the article says, "So much for transparency."
I'm not blaming Obama for this. Once again, he didn't (well, his staff didn't) write the basis of the law that he requested/demanded from Congress. He just gave them a vague idea - We need a Financial Reform Law so this doesn't happen again, and stick it to Wall Street (my paraphrase) - and signed the bill into law as soon as it hit his desk. Congress didn't read it, and he (or his staff) didn't read it either.
But he really needs to check with the people who did write it before he goes around touting it as one thing when it says the complete opposite. He kinda did this with the Health Care Bill too, but this is more glaring since we still don't really know what's all in and out of the Health Care Bill.
"Obama specifically said it would 'increase transparency in financial dealings.'"
However: "Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act."
Oops!
But well beyond President Obama's SNAFU in touting the Bill, this really puts the public at a disadvantage. We keep losing more and more and more under this Congress and President. The Patriot Act looks like child's play comparatively.
"The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from 'surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.' Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.
<snip>
"The SEC cited the new law Tuesday in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) action brought by FOX Business Network. Steven Mintz, founding partner of law firm Mintz & Gold LLC in New York, lamented what he described as 'the backroom deal that was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public.'"
Pretty scary, actually, that reporters can't report and can't get the information they need to bring a story to the American public. The SEC reaches far beyond any Administration or Congress. They make decisions that impacts our money every day without regard to which Party is in power. They made it possible for Bernie Madoff to scam hundreds of people out of m/billions of dollars.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2...ic-disclosure/
I'm not blaming Obama for this. Once again, he didn't (well, his staff didn't) write the basis of the law that he requested/demanded from Congress. He just gave them a vague idea - We need a Financial Reform Law so this doesn't happen again, and stick it to Wall Street (my paraphrase) - and signed the bill into law as soon as it hit his desk. Congress didn't read it, and he (or his staff) didn't read it either.
But he really needs to check with the people who did write it before he goes around touting it as one thing when it says the complete opposite. He kinda did this with the Health Care Bill too, but this is more glaring since we still don't really know what's all in and out of the Health Care Bill.
"Obama specifically said it would 'increase transparency in financial dealings.'"
However: "Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act."
Oops!
But well beyond President Obama's SNAFU in touting the Bill, this really puts the public at a disadvantage. We keep losing more and more and more under this Congress and President. The Patriot Act looks like child's play comparatively.
"The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from 'surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities.' Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot.
<snip>
"The SEC cited the new law Tuesday in a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) action brought by FOX Business Network. Steven Mintz, founding partner of law firm Mintz & Gold LLC in New York, lamented what he described as 'the backroom deal that was cut between Congress and the SEC to keep the SEC’s failures secret. The only losers here are the American public.'"
Pretty scary, actually, that reporters can't report and can't get the information they need to bring a story to the American public. The SEC reaches far beyond any Administration or Congress. They make decisions that impacts our money every day without regard to which Party is in power. They made it possible for Bernie Madoff to scam hundreds of people out of m/billions of dollars.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2...ic-disclosure/
