Donald Trump Celebrates Rebirth of the Boys Club! WYGA Trends Strong

Shadow Banks Clinton Flags as Risky Put Millions Into Her Run Bloomberg Politics

I would never argue that Wall Street has no influence over politicians. But as this excellent article from Bloomberg Politics points out, the relationship between Hillary Clinton and Wall Street is far more complex than Bernie Sanders would have us believe.

Even though Hillary Clinton has vowed to be very tough on Wall Street -- and her very public, detailed position papers back up that claim -- her campaign is receiving very substantial contributions from the very sectors that she plans to regulate.

Hillary Clinton argues that Bernie Sanders' plan to break-up the big banks is too narrow and should only be executed where the bank doesn't meet criteria for financial stability.  Sanders says nothing about shadow banking, even though the Financial Stability Board estimates that the US has the largest shadow banking sector with $14.2 trillion in assets, or about one-third of the total shadow banking assets in the world.

In highlighting the risks posed by shadow banks, Clinton frequently notes the example of American International Group Inc. The insurer had agreed to back securities that were tied to home loans before the 2008 financial crisis. When the mortgage market tanked, the company was on the hook for billions of dollars of payments and ended up needing a bailout from the federal government. As banks face more and more rules, Clinton says she’s concerned that more financing arrangements will move to less-regulated companies.

To regulate shadow banking, Clinton calls for "higher margin and collateral requirements for short-term borrowing like repurchase agreements, new rules for brokers on leverage, and more disclosure for hedge funds and private equity firms."

Rebirth of the Boys Club

Make Yourself Great Again! Politico

Does the Trump movement give hope to especially white men that they can be their best alpha male selves again? Screw feminism!

The most common thread in the world of MYGA is a feral obsession with Trump’s domineering maleness, writes Politico. MYGA writers embrace varying degrees of the idea that the Trump campaign is helping them become real men, inspired by Trump’s testosterone-driven unapologetic, aggressive vision for the country.

“He’s this alpha kind of guy, and I do think that resonates with young men,” a 21-year-old professional athlete from Idaho and a MYGA poster who uses the name HighlyVenomous, told me. MYGA men say that Trump "comes across as an alpha male. He’s sure of himself, and whatever flaws he does have, like his hair, he doesn’t care, and he runs with it." The Trump men reject the so-called feminizaiton of politics -- a joke given America's rank of 90 on the world in electing women to office.

“The Apprentice really showed me what a world class alpha male looks like and operates,” writes one poster in the Reddit thread LifeProTrumpTips. “As a group of dominant alphas you can achieve impossible things.”

As the MYGA crowd’s open obsession with dominance, manliness, and alpha-status suggests, the gospel can quickly turn down a dark corridor. The deeper one ventures into the strange world of MYGA, the more the country’s problems become laced with an array of white-male-themed anxieties—men are apologizing for their maleness, the users say; policies are lifting up the weak and punishing the strong; and culture at large is becoming more feminized. Go deep enough, and you’ll hit the so-called alt-right movement, an online waystation where MYGA has thrived most principally as an ideation of male virility. (The world of the alt-right is best known for creating the “‪#‎Cuckservative‬” hashtag—a racially tinged portmanteau of cuckold and conservative, created to call out those who are insufficiently far-right.)

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton speeches to highlight divisions on guns CBS News

Hillary Clinton policy adviser Maya Harris answered Donald Trump's assertion that she wants to overturn the 2nd amendment.

Clinton believes that the 2008 5-4 SC decision in D.C v. Heller, striking down a longstanding handgun ban in the District of Columbia was made in error.

{Quote}: "Along with the vast majority of Americans, Hillary Clinton believes there are common sense steps we can take at the federal level to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting the 2nd Amendment. As both PolitiFact and Factcheck.org recently reported, Donald Trump is peddling falsehoods," Harris said. "Donald Trump's conspiracy theories are simply his latest attempt to divide the American people and distract from his radical and dangerous ideas, like his promise to mandate that every school in America allow guns in their classrooms."

[ . . . ]

California, already among America's toughest states on gun control, will vote in November on a ballot initiative that would require buyers of ammunition to pass background checks and outlaw high-capacity magazines. This move to tougher gun control comes as other states are moving to allow people to carry concealed weapons more openly, including on college campuses, with no permit required."

Hillary Clinton Headlines March 23, 2016

Podesta attacks Trump's commander-in-chief credentials Politico

Born to Run The Atlantic

Family Feud US News

Who's voting in the Democratic primaries? CBS News

Trump's campaign dwarfed by Clinton's Politico

What Happens When Female Politicians Try to Stand Up to Sports Fans The Atlantic

Sanders Slams Closed Process, Rift With Top Democras Widens Bloomberg Politics

This Is What the Future of American Politics Looks Like Politico

Bernie Sanders Just Declared War on the Democratic Party Washington Post

Bernie Sanders Launches Wall Street Slugfest With Hillary Clinton While A Reality Check Says Uber Capitalism Is Rampant Beyond Wall Street | Is Sanders Over Simplifying The Problem?

The Best-Paid US Executives Don't Work on Wall Street Bloomberg News

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has made a total demon out of Wall Street. He promised yesterday to break up the big banks at once, even though he has NO power to do that. His appointees who could impact some regulations would have limited powers and would have to be approved by the Senate. Neither Republicans nor key Democrats have shown any desire to break up Wall Street via appointments or -- goddess forbid -- legislation. This is surely a key reason why New York's top progressive mayor announced yesterday his support for candidate Clinton's reform plan.

Bloomberg provides data suggesting that Bernie Sanders may have to break up the Fortune 500 as well. And super successful startups like Go Pro founder Nick Woodman (featured in photograph above)  -- off with their heads. Because business is even more egregious than Wall Street in paying its business executives. Think Bill Gates (no longer active in Microsoft management), Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs (dead), Amazon, Bloomberg, and the list of companies goes on. The multiplier between median staff salaries and executive compensation has skyrocketed in recent years.

A reality check voter knows that the problem is far more complex than breaking up the banks and making Wall Street the super villain. Not that we're in love with Wall Street. We are NOT.

The Complexity of Uber Capitalism

We just think Hillary Clinton has a deeper understanding of the complexity of today's uber capitalism and the range of what can be accomplished in reforms. She probably also knows that Bernie's beloved Sweden now scores higher than the US in entrepreneurial startups. And guess what is happening in the country that has turned its economy around, because it was in the ditch with its old-school, socialist model? The problem is nowhere as bad as in America, but the executive vs worker salary gap is increasing substantially.

Hillary Clinton knows we live in a very complex economic world. Bernie Sanders -- perhaps Bernie should dig a bit deeper into the facts. And if he breaks up the banks, and Amazon, and Apple, and the whole damn Fortune 500 . . . Exactly where will our jobs come from? Just asking. ~ Anne

On a related note, Ezra Klein just posted this VOX article, in response to "Silicon Valley's philosopher king Paul Graham's essay on Economic Inequality. In a quick scan of Ezra's article, I will point out this his big data chart stops in 2007. It's almost 10 years later, which may explain some of the differences between Klein and Graham.

Bernie Sanders Attacks Hillary Clinton Over Regulating Wall Street New York Times

Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders had a lot to say at a Town Hall in Manhattan yesterday. He delivered his strongest criticism of Hillary Clinton to date, saying:

“My opponent says that as a senator, she told bankers to ‘cut it out’ and end their destructive behavior,” Mr. Sanders said of Mrs. Clinton. “But, in my view, establishment politicians are the ones who need to cut it out. The reality is that Congress doesn’t regulate Wall Street. Wall Street and their lobbyists regulate Congress. We must change that reality, and as president, I will.”

Mr. Sanders said that Mrs. Clinton was “wrong” to oppose his plan to reinstitute the Glass-Steagall Act, which would legally separate commercial banking, investment banking and insurances services. And the senator implicitly criticized Mrs. Clinton for being a patron of bankers when he pointed to their huge campaign donations and noted that they “provide very generous speaking fees to those who go before them.”

For her part, candidate Clinton pushed back, saying that her proposals actually go far further than Sanders', although Hillary Clinton is not vowing to break up the big banks. What Sanders fails to acknowledge is that all of his Treasury appointments as president require approval by the Senate. Among both Republicans and Democrats -- and surely under Sen. Chuck Schumer (D. NY) as incoming Majority or Minority Leader after Sen. Harry Reid's retirement, the Senate will not approve anyone who wants to shut down the big banks. Candidate Sanders speaks of powers that he actually doesn't have, although his audience doesn't appear to understand that reality.

Clinton stressed her regulation of the 'shadow banking sector', untouched by Sanders. This is the wide range of financial services sold by insurance companies and a host of new business configurations that have little regulation currently.