With regard to Megabanks, under the administration’s proposal, companies such as Citi, Goldman Sachs and others in a broad top tier engaged in complex transactions would face stricter scrutiny and have to hold more assets and more cash as cushions against a downturn.

They also would have to anticipate their own demise, drafting detailed descriptions of how they could be dismantled quickly without causing damaging repercussions. Think of it as planning their own funerals — and burials.

Obama’s plan, in short, aims to make it far less appealing to be so big. That was the middle ground the administration sought, a step short of an outright ban on systemically risky companies.

“Without banning them we’re providing some pretty heavy penalties for entering” the top group of institutions that could pose a risk to the entire financial system, said Diana Farrell, deputy director of the White House’s National Economic Council.

“The regulator might say to a large institution, ‘Make sure there is very good reason to allow yourself to get that big, or that interconnected, or that complex because the penalties will wipe out any advantages, such as lower cost of capital, you might have.'”

Some companies, such as Citi and Goldman Sachs, might bite the bullet and take on the added burden; in global capital markets some firms need to be large.

Others might choose to reduce their financial footprint.

“It’s a very sophisticated and very effective way to force institutions to deconsolidate,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a consulting firm that advises financial institutions.

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Various grassroots organizations are blasting Congress for not taking the time to properly consider the energy bill or health care reform — two very significant pieces of legislation.

Let Freedom Ring, a non-profit, grassroots organization that supports a conservative agenda, announced an initiative today urging members of Congress to sign a pledge to read and give citizens the opportunity to read any health care reform legislation before voting on it.

“For something as significant as health care reform, which influences 16 percent to 17 percent of GDP, I think it is important for legislators to know what they’re voting on, and not have lobbyists and staff members be the only ones who know what’s in there,” said Colin Hanna, Let Freedom Ring president.

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Republicans pushed for vote as way to criticize Obama strategy with regard to Iran.

The Obama administration on Friday stuck to a measured response to the uprising in Iran over a disputed presidential election, even as both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn an official crackdown on mostly peaceful demonstrations in the streets of Tehran.

Administration officials said they remained convinced that the wiser U.S. course was caution over confrontation. President Barack Obama is coming under growing domestic political pressure to speak out more forcefully in support of protesters warned by Iran’s supreme leader Friday to end their huge street rallies.

In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House voted 405-1 to condemn Tehran’s crackdown on protest rallies and the government’s interference with Internet and cell phone communications. The Senate followed suit later in the day.

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President Barack Obama stayed away from hot-button words in remarks Thursday on immigration reform, but hinted that his immigration push will include some kind of “amnesty” or “legal path” for illegal aliens already in the United States.

He also praised U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was at a White House meeting on the issue and has supported a legal path for illegal aliens and a guest worker program.

“What’s also been acknowledged is that the 12 million or so illegal alien workers are here — who are not paying taxes in the ways that we’d like them to be paying taxes, who are living in the shadows, that is a group that we have to deal with in a practical, common-sense way,” Obama said after the meeting. “And I think the American people are ready for us to do so. But it’s going to require some heavy lifting, it’s going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policy making over short-term politics. That’s what I’m committed to doing as president.”

On his former campaign foe, he said: “I want to especially commend John McCain, who’s with me today, because along with folks like Lindsey Graham, he has already paid a significant political cost for doing the right thing. I stand with him.”

Obama also said Thursday he is making U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a key point person on the immigration reform push. As Arizona’s former governor, Napolitano signed an employer sanctions bill into law and backed deployment of National Guard troops along the Arizona-Mexico border. She, however, was skeptical about a border wall and flirted with the idea of allowing illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses.

sourced – Austin Business Journal – by Mike Sunnucks

The report from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said a “super-sovereign” currency should take its place.

Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan has loudly led calls for the dollar to be replaced during the financial crisis.

The bank report called for more regulation of the countries that issue currencies that underpin the global financial system.

“An international monetary system dominated by a single sovereign currency has intensified the concentration of risk and the spread of the crisis,” the Chinese central bank said.

The dollar fell after the report was released. The US currency dropped 1% against the euro to $1.4088, and declined 0.8% versus the British pound to $1.6848.

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