Since the recent lines of attack on Sanders (that he has no idea how to Break up the Banks), have now become fodder for SNL, I felt that a few reality-based Fact-Checks might be in order.
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marketwatch.com — Jan 5, 2016
[Bernie Sanders: ] If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. When it comes to Wall Street reform that must be our bottom line. This is true not just from a risk perspective and the fear of another bailout. It is also true from the reality that a handful of huge financial institutions simply have too much economic and political power over this country.
If Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican trust-buster, were alive today, he would say “break ‘em up.” And he would be right.
And, here’s how I will accomplish that.
Within the first 100 days of my administration, I will require the secretary of the Treasury Department to establish a “Too-Big-to Fail” list of commercial banks, shadow banks and insurance companies whose failure would pose a catastrophic risk to the United States economy without a taxpayer bailout.
Within one year, my administration will break these institutions up so that they no longer pose a grave threat to the economy as authorized under Section 121 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
That was back in January, where Bernie Sanders explained how he would break up the TBTF Banks, under the Authority of Dodd-Frank.
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New York Daily News — April 4, 2016
Daily News: And then, you further said that you expect to break them up within the first year of your administration. What authority do you have to do that? And how would that work? How would you break up JPMorgan Chase?
Sanders: Well, by the way, the idea of breaking up these banks is not an original idea. It's an idea that some conservatives have also agreed to.
You've got head of, I think it's, the Kansas City Fed, some pretty conservative guys, who understands. Let's talk about the merit of the issue, and then talk about how we get there.
Right now, what you have are two factors. We bailed out Wall Street because the banks are too big to fail, correct? It turns out, that three out of the four largest banks are bigger today than they were when we bailed them out, when they were too-big-to-fail. That's number one.
Number two, if you look at the six largest financial institutions of this country, their assets somewhere around $10 trillion. That is equivalent to 58% of the GDP of America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards in this country, and about one-third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power.
And I think that if somebody, like if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, he would look at that. Forgetting even the risk element, the bailout element, and just look at the kind of financial power that these guys have, would say that is too much power.
Daily News: Okay. Well, let's assume that you're correct on that point. How do you go about doing it?
Sanders: How you go about doing it is having legislation passed, or giving the authority to the secretary of treasury to determine, under Dodd-Frank, that these banks are a danger to the economy over the problem of too-big-to-fail.
Daily News: But do you think that the Fed, now, has that authority?
Sanders: Well, I don't know if the Fed has it. But I think the administration can have it.
That was early this month in April, where Bernie Sanders STILL explained how he would break up the TBTF Banks, under the Authority of Dodd-Frank.
It was the Daily News questioner who brought up the possibility of the Fed [Federal Reserve] as “a way to get it done” — Not Bernie Sanders.
Sanders continued to insist that the Administration, through the Secretary of Treasury, has the authority to break-up the TBTF Banks — by the authority of Dodd-Frank.
To claim that he does not know how to “break them up” is disingenuous, at best; and veiled ageism at worst. Just check Bernie’s Wall Street Speech of January 2016, for proof that he actually knows all about the authority given the executive branch, to prevent any systemic risk that those six speculative financial institutions (worth over $10 Trillion and 58% of the Economy), may in fact be imposing on the overall economy. If recent history be any guide of future results.
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The real question should be: Who is actually prepared to use that Authority — within their first hundred days of their Administrations? … And who is not?