Financial reform bill hit by truck, life support failing

In this clip Jon Stewart makes fun of the Dodd-Frank Act, the financial reform bill that passed in Congress about a year ago. The bill is intended to remedy some of the problems that led to the financial meltdown of 2008 while protecting consumers from the types of predatory lending inherent to that fiasco. Unfortunately in the year since its passage it has been continually attacked and defunded to the point it appears to have been run over by a truck, the imagery used in this humorous satire.

For example, there still is no Director for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Conservatives have so obstructed the nomination of Elizabeth Warren that she ultimately withdrew herself from consideration in order to perhaps someday get someone in the position. Obama could have appointed her during the Congressional recess but yet again he didn't have the courage of his convictions, i.e., he lacked his now infamous and ironic “audacity of hope” (balls) to do so because it would upset the very conservatives that want his ultimate demise.

Another point is that out of the supposed 400 new rules the legislation is supposed to enact only 38 have actually been written to date. Why? Wall Street lobbyists have descended on Washington in droves to gut the bill into an eviscerated, desiccated carcass so that it is effectively and completely ineffective. The only way it could gain passage was if said rules were left unspecified to allow the lobby process to do exactly what it has done. If by some accident of nature an actual provision helping the people got written the conservative Congress was quick to defund that aspect of the bill so there was no money to implement and enforce it. As the personified bill in the clip sings, “my ass was fucked raw.” Indeed it was, as was ours and my financial hemorrhoids just can't take it anymore.