How about that financial reform. Yah, right.

By Dian Vujovich

Something that’s surfaced over the last couple of years— thanks to our continuing multi-level financial crisis and the 24/7/365/60-second reporting available on everything TV to tweets— is that it’s brought into focus what a corrupt bunch of self-serving greedy liars and finger-pointing blamers those in the various financial arenas seem to be. (Too much sugar-coating?)

While that dark side of our nature, where greed trumps truth, is nothing new as our bad has been easily swept—and kept—under the carpet until the 24-hour television, personal computers, mobile phones and electronic trading came along.

I’m someone who thought that the Glass-Steagall Act should never have been repealed; derivatives should have been regulated a decade ago; banks and financial institutions can be big enough to fail; prices, be they on real estate, stocks, gold, or oil don’t go up forever; market corrections are to be expected; the “investor” talking heads TV reporters refer to daily don’t represent the actions of the little guy or gal but rather what institutions are doing; and that there’s a fat chance any significant changes are going to come out of the financial reform bill Obama is supposed to sign by July 4.

Two reasons for my fat chance of good financial laws coming into play? Money and lobbyists.

A Washington Post business story today, June 4, 2010 reported: ” According to a new study, “More than 1,400 former members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers or federal employees registered as lobbyists on behalf of the financial services sector since the start of 2009…”

Read the full story at: http://tinyurl.com/39pflb4

And another, this one from an AP piece at Forbes.com: “The American Bankers Association spent $1.8 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter on sweeping legislation to overhaul financial regulation and an array of other issues, according to a disclosure report….”

“The banking industry’s biggest trade group lobbied Congress and federal agencies on the financial overhaul legislation as well as accounting rules, new requirements for credit card issuers, small business lending, bankruptcy legislation, insurance, retirement savings and taxes. In addition to the House and Senate, the bankers’ group also had lobbying contacts with the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the White House, according to a disclosure form filed April 20 with the Senate’s public records office…”

Full story at: http://tinyurl.com/339chqz

You don’t have to be a college graduate to realize all the lobbying going on has more to do with allowing those in the financial arena the right to continue to create products and investment schemes that are risky, laden with fees, and full of loopholes than it does in creating solid financial reform and change.