House Votes Overwhelmingly to Ease Financial Rules – Alan Fram (AP)
March 27, 2012

“To the chagrin of consumer groups, the House gave overwhelming bipartisan approval Monday to two bills easing requirements that President Barack Obama’s overhaul of financial regulations impose on some exotic financial instruments blamed for helping trigger the 2008 financial crisis. …Consumer advocates said the two bills could lead to abuses. For example, the bill addressing transactions between related companies refers to swaps between ‘affiliates.’ Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, said he worried that corporate lawyers would try broadening the use of that term to include more and more companies. ‘It’s ridiculous to put this broad exemption into statute,’ Stanley said. Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, blamed the upcoming congressional elections. ‘Unfortunately in an election year, the default position in my opinion is to curry favor with your major source of funding,’ Naylor said.” Click here for more.