As in, “to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left….”
Based on yesterday’s about-face regarding financial reform, it appears so.
According to Politico, she dropped her efforts to cooperate with Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) after he balked at putting standardized derivatives on exchanges. The language she’s preparing is now stronger than what appeared in the House bill, the Dodd bill or even the administration’s own proposal. Her proposal will regulate foreign currency swaps, which the Treasury Department has opposed, bar “major swaps dealers” from receiving federal financial assistance in the event of a meltdown, and open derivatives dealers to fraud prosecution if they knew their deal could defraud the public.
“Proposals that I have seen from the administration have not gone far enough to prevent bailouts of ‘too big to fail institutions’ and could contain loopholes,” Lincoln said. “If we pass reform, it needs to be real reform. My proposal will go further than any other congressional or administration proposal to prevent future bailouts.”
Here is where I would normally make some sort of snide comment about Lincoln’s change of heart. I’m not going to do that, though, because this is a huge step in the right direction, regardless of who takes it, and I applaud Ms. Lincoln for this move.
I’m still voting for Halter, however.
[Author’s note: Schedule permitting, I have a big post on financial reform and derivatives that I hope to have up in the next couple days. However, further supporting my theory that procrastination always pays off, I’m glad I waited to do the post until after Lincoln made this surprising announcement.]