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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, December 22, 2014

Now MetLife is "too big to fail" - We need Theodore Roosevelt



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We should Bring Back Trust Busting

  • The 2008 Wall Street driven economic debacle wiped out the wealth of millions of people and no one went to jail. The corrupt companies then latched on to the public treasury to save themselves because they were "too big to fail."
  • Conservatives should embrace the economic populism of Theodore Roosevelt and start breaking up these monster sized banking and insurance groups that endanger our economy and literally buy members of Congress to be their personal slaves.


U.S. regulators have declared insurer MetLife to be so big that its failure could destabilize financial markets, a designation that brings extra regulation.

MetLife said in a statement Thursday announcing the designation that it was disappointed by the decision, made by the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council, and was considering whether to take the regulators to court over it.

The determination “will harm competition, lead to higher prices and less choice for consumers and ultimately could result in less financial protection for middle-class families,” MetLife said.


Congress created the risk council in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law and assigned it to watch for threats to financial stability. The heads of all major federal financial regulatory agencies sit on the council, and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew leads it.

The group previously declared two insurers, American International Group and Prudential Financial, and one commercial lender, GE Capital, as “systemically” important.

The risk council in September proposed designating MetLife. The company contested, but it said Thursday that it had been notified that the council had finalized its decision.

MetLife has 30 days to seek a judicial review of the decision. None of the other companies designated as risky exercised that option, but MetLife has been more outspoken in its criticism of the council than the other companies. It has hired top Washington lawyer Eugene Scalia of the law firm Gibson Dunn, which many observers took as a sign that the company might be preparing a legal challenge.

(Washington Post)


“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” 
― Theodore Roosevelt

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