The Choice, aka The Testimony The House Democrats Refused to Hear or Publish

It isn't just what happens that we should notice.

It's what doesn't happen.

It's the voices of dissent, however reasoned, that are suppressed, the testimony deliberately never entered into the record or published, that also must be noticed.

Robert Johnson, whose credentials are noted below, was called at the last minute to testify before the House Banking Services Committee this week. He warned starkly of the dangers of the bill proposed.

Five minutes into his testimony, he was cut off by the acting chair. He submitted his testimony, which was subsequently never published.

The account can be found here.

The full testimony can be found here.

Johnson is no tin-hat Tea Party type.  He is an experienced executive in the financial world, and is employed by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute!  If his voice is to be suppressed, what then?

Here is the summary of his testimony, which runs twenty-sen pages.  Little wonder the Committee did not wish it entered in the record!

THE CHOICE: REFORM OR ENDORSEMENT OF A MAN MADE FAULTLINE

Wall Street's leaders cannot control their urge to seek protection despite the fact that it is demeaning to their reputations. Yet the members of this Committee and your counterparts in the Senate are responsible for resisting their demands for the good of society. I do believe that this is no minor matter. The financial security and strength of our nation is in the balance. Confidence in the U.S. dollar as the world's foremost reserve currency depends upon the integrity of our financial system. As I stated at the outset, I believe that the intersection between the OTC derivatives market and the large financial institutions is the financial equivalent of the San Andreas fault. Yet there is one difference. The San Andreas fault is a natural occurrence that we must all cope with to mitigate the consequences of an earthquake. It is beyond our power as people to eliminate. The current state of OTC derivatives regulation and its relation to the guarantees of large financial institutions are a man made fault that is the product of past human errors financial legislation and regulation. It has been revealed by catastrophic events to have devastating consequences. It has produced an avoidable earthquake.  That earthquake and its consequences need not be repeated. One can only imagine the consequences for the reputation of those public officials who would choose to act to codify into law this fault line and expose our society to a repetition of the financial crisis that has devastated the world in recent months.

To avoid reform would be harmful enough. We know the fault lines of past human error regarding the regulation of OTC derivatives continue to threaten us. But to affirm the status quo with new legislation that codifies these structural flaws and deems them to be healthy would be far worse. This is not about just leaving a few crumbs on the table for big financial institutions and asking the rest of us to pay a little more. This is about the representative government of our society choosing to affirm a dangerous financial structure that could explosively harm us all again just after we experienced a severe and unnecessary crisis that resulted from these very failures of design. It would be both dangerous and demoralizing for America and the world if our legislators choose to take that path forward in deference to the parochial desires of a few firms in the financial sector. 


Robert Johnson is the director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and is a regular contributor to NewDeal 2.0. He serves on the United Nations Commission of Experts on Finance and International Monetary Reform. Previously, Dr. Johnson was a managing director at Soros Fund Management, where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. He was also a managing director at the Bankers Trust Company. Dr. Johnson has served as chief economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire and was senior economist of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici.