The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 is better known as “The Dodd-Frank Act” to the American public.  What the American public does not know about, is that it codifies a “bail-in” provision that ensures that the United States can conduct the type of bail-in that we saw in Cyprus.

The bank bailouts of 2008 and 2009 will now be history as Dodd-Frank authorizes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to recapitalize failed financial institutions by confiscating customers’ deposits.

A bail-in takes place before a bankruptcy under current regulations, regulators would have the power to impose losses on bank depositors while leaving other creditors of similar stature, such as derivatives counter-parties untouched.  If your bank goes bust then your deposits/savings will be taken from you and turned into shares of the bank. You have no say in the matter because in legal terms, as a bank depositor, you are just an unsecured creditor of the bank.

A derivative is a contract between two or more parties. Its value is determined by fluctuations in the underlying asset. The most common underlying assets include stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates and market indexes. Most derivatives are characterized by the use of high leverage. Smart investors like Warren Buffet view derivatives as “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”  At this point in time, I certainly agree with him 100%. I blame derivative instruments like collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default swaps (CDSs) for the financial crisis in 2008.

The name “derivative” reflects a sense that derivatives somehow derive value at one or more future points in time based on observable events such as prices, interest rates, exchange rates, indexes, events of default.

The real problem with derivatives has to do with overexposure by the banks and “uninformed investors. I believe derivatives can add value to companies as long as the corporate leaders at those companies use restraint and hold a limited amount.

Derivatives may not be a financial instrument that the average investor wants to try on their own, but derivatives can add value to society when used appropriately and in moderation.

A bail out is when the government steps in so that the financial institution can  avoid bankruptcy or insolvency and is not able to continue operations  It may take the form of a direct transfer of capital. In September of 2008 the insurance conglomerate AIG found itself in serious financial problems the Federal Reserve bailed it out by extending $85 billion (and eventually $182 billion) in credit to the company. Proponents of bailouts say that they keep an economy afloat when an industry thought too big to fail otherwise would collapse.  Many opponents contend that bailouts are inefficient and non-competitive companies ought to fail.

Dodd Frank was passed in the aftermath of the crisis to avoid another speculative bubble.

The key fact of Dodd-Frank, Title II of the Act to establish an Orderly Liquidation Authority, which vests the FDIC with the authority to conduct a European-style bail-in. The preamble to the Dodd-Frank Act claims “to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts.” This is done, through “bail-in”, which is a critical feature of the internationally established regime of what is called cross-border bank resolution.

It claims to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts. That is done by implementing” bail-in” to stave off financial collapse, but is this constitutional?

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act took up 848 pages and contained 383,013 words.  In July 2012 an additional 8,843 pages of rules were added, representing only 30% of the rules to-be-written. The estimate for the final length of the Act is 30,000 pages.  The six largest banks in the U.S. spent $29.4 million lobbying Congress in 2010, and flooded Capitol Hill with about 3,000 lobbyists–a ratio of 5 lobbyists per 1 congressman The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act currently stands as the single longest bill ever passed by the U.S. government.  The length of the bill was intended to intimidate members of Congress and the public as well.

Title I of the Dodd-Frank Act requires each banking entity to periodically submit to the FDIC and the Federal Reserve a resolution plan that must address the company’s plans for its rapid and orderly resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act provides the FDIC with new powers to resolve by establishing the orderly liquidation authority (OLA). Under the OLA, the FDIC may be appointed receiver for any U.S. financial company that meets specified criteria, including being in default or in danger of default, and whose resolution under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (or other relevant insolvency process) would likely create systemic instability.

Title II requires that the losses of any financial company placed into receivership will not be borne by taxpayers, but by common and preferred stockholders, debt holders, and other unsecured creditors, and that management responsible for the condition of the financial company will be replaced. Once appointed receiver for a failed financial company, the FDIC would be required to carry out a resolution of the company in a manner that mitigates risk to financial stability and minimizes moral hazard. Any costs borne by the U.S. authorities in resolving the institution not paid from proceeds of the resolution will be recovered from the industry.

Dodd-Frank, Title II, Sec. 209 (b):

if claims are made against a firm, they ​will be​ paid in this order:

1. administrative costs
2. the government
3. wages, salaries, or commissions of employees
4. contributions to employee benefit plans
5. any other general or senior liability of the company
6. any junior obligation
7. salaries of executives and directors of the company; and
8. obligations to shareholders, members, general partners, and other equity holders

The liquidation during resolution is done at the discretion of the receiver, the FDIC, on the basis of salvaging what is, in its view, most important for financial stability. Under Title II, Sec. 9 E, it is stated that the FDIC, “shall, to the greatest extent practicable, conduct its operations in a manner that–..(iii) mitigates the potential for serious adverse effects to the financial system.”

When you deposit money in a checking or savings account, that money no longer belongs to you. Technically and legally, it becomes the property of the bank, and the bank just issues you what amounts to an IOU.  The bank considers this as an unsecured debt.

You will have to stand in line behind trillions of dollars of derivative payouts before your checking and savings accounts will be made available to you. Both the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 and the Dodd Frank Act provide special protections for derivative defaults, giving them the legal right to demand collateral to cover losses in the event of insolvency.

Reinstating America’s traditional banking act is crucial to protecting U.S. depositors by rebuilding the wall of separation between commercial banks and investment banking which would dissolve the “mega super market” banks.

Glass-Steagall was repealed by Congress and President Clinton in 1999 under pressure from Wall Street speculators who needed access to Main Street’s commercial bank deposits. Less than 10 years later, Wall Street suffered a financial collapse that required hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts to the country’s largest banks.

If implemented as an act of the United States, an act of the sovereignty of the United States, (Glass-Steagall) would effectively override Dodd-Frank. It would override this bail-in regime as soon as it is implemented,

This Act needs to be nullified or the result of its enactment will be the mass destruction of U.S. citizens through economic means. The fact is this has NOT been openly disclosed to bank depositors or the general public.

This legislation will result in the mass destruction of the citizens of the United States through economic deprivation, through the collection and extraction of funds done in such a way as to leave the US Bank holders subject to become extremely desperate to the point of extermination.

The United States of America has been a free and sovereign nation, based upon a foundation of law. What underlies the founding laws of the nation is the issue of its  “Right”.  The right of the nation to govern itself and to govern in a way that upholds the right of each citizen to his or her life, is the most fundamental value in law.

As of 2010, the total world derivatives had a value of $1.2 quadrillion, approximately 20 times the world GDP. Because of the lack of clarity of the derivatives markets, the exact numbers are virtually impossible to produce. However, the Bank for International Settlements quoted global OTC derivatives – derivatives that have a paper-trail–at $632 trillion as of December 2012.

Dodd-Frank, will deprive the citizens of the United States of those rights guaranteed to them under the Constitutional Law to their right to life. They will be deprived of their right to petition their government, they will be deprived materially and certainty that many will be deprived of their lives–by violence, poverty, starvation, extreme want, or suicide.

This Act establishes a Cyrus style bail-in mechanism that would enable the government to transfer enormous amounts of wealth from the collapsing banks into the hands of a private cartel that control the new Orderly Liquidation Authority.

The FDIC will be held accountable for losses to banks via the risky derivatives estimated in the HUNDREDS of TRILLIONS of dollars. This would BANKRUPT the U.S. government.

It’s time to REPEAL this monstrosity and PASS H.R. 129 or S.985 Restore Prudent Banking Act of 2013, which represents the return of Glass Steagall – separating investment banking from commercial banking.