Juggling Dynamite

Lucid article from Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone yesterday, reminds that bankers are commanding governments of all political stripes.  Meanwhile, we, the people, keep paying the bill.  See Why killing Dodd-Frank could lead to the next crash:

The latest indignity is S.2155, a.k.a. the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” Supposedly designed to help some banks by reducing capital requirements and ending regular “stress tests,” the act is really more like helping ships steam faster by allowing them to ditch their lifeboats…

Nobody will say so, but everyone on the Hill knows why this bill passed. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, three of the bill’s Democratic co-sponsors, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly and Montana’s Jon Tester, are three of the Senate’s biggest recipients of financial-services donations. Quelle surprise!

This would be merely politically disgusting, were it not for the consequences in an overheated economy. Remember how tossing the Glass-Steagall Act during the Internet boom worked out? We should be increasing safety standards, not eliminating them. “With debt levels higher than before the last crash, a stock market bubble and wage stagnation,” says Dennis Kelleher, head of the watchdog group Better Markets, “now is the worst time to deregulate the financial industry.”

We’ve been here before – in an economy that feels shakier than suspiciously swollen stock market numbers would indicate. Either Trump is an economic genius, or we’re in for a correction soon. Who feels like taking off the life jacket?

Climate deniers and fossil fuel advocates are working hard to ban words and education on the science of our planet warming, but rising waters are showing us all who is actually in charge here.  Only smarter technology, clean energy and dramatic changes in human consumption can help turn this tide or not.  The longer the status quo stalls our evolution, the higher the compound costs will be.  See:  Rising seas: “Florida is about to be wiped off the map”:

Sea levels are rising. For many cities on the the eastern shores of the United States, the problem is existential. We take a look at how Miami and Atlantic City are tackling climate change, and the challenges they face under a skeptical Trump administration that plans to cut funding for environmental programs.  Here is a direct video link.

Also see Baton Rouge emerges from devastating floods to lead the battle against rising water.  Here is a direct link to a video report.

Rising Risks: Baton Rouge emerges from devastating floods to lead the battle against rising water from CNBC.

Think tank to Chinese government: don’t just stand there, get a plan! Turns out that ‘add even more debt and stir’, has been the only plan everywhere for the last decade.

A leaked report from a Chinese government-backed think tank has warned of a potential “financial panic” in the world’s second-largest economy, a sign that some members of the nation’s policy elite are growing concerned as market turbulence and trade tensions increase.

Here is a direct video link.