by John Bougearel

Let us begin by noting that Melissa Bean is a Pro-growth Democrat, like her counterpart Barney Frank. This pernicious group of democrats are a malevolent force against middle class America. With folks like Bena and Frank in charge, the hollowing out of the middle class is assured.

The Rob Johnson testimony in question regards hearings on a bill for regulatory reform drafted by Barney Frank. This reform would essentially codify current market practices and abuses in the OTC derivatives market which were largely responsible for the financial crisis we face. Codifying the same flawed architecture in the OTC derivatives market verually assures the American People that another major financial crisis is coming to a theater near you, even if the timetable for that crisis is unknown.

The point here is that Frank’s bill codifying current OTC market practices that created this financial crisis is a dishonest bill and is falsely-branded as a derivatives reform bill.

From Naked Capitalism

The hearings on the bill had testimony scheduled only from what amounted to industry flacks. Someone apparently realized at the 11th hour that that might not go over with the correctly angry public too well. So less than 24 hours prior to the session before the House Financial Services Committee, an invitation was issued to Rob Johnson, a former managing director at Bankers Trust Company and former economist at the Senate Banking Committee and Senate Budget Committee.

So what transpired? As Ken Silverstein recounts:

Johnson, who came last, offered the only serious critical viewpoint… After about five minutes of his testimony, Congresswoman Melissa Bean—another industry-funded committee member who chaired the hearing because Frank was absent—had heard enough. “I’m just going to ask you to wrap up because we’re running out of time,” she told Johnson.

Johnson gamely continued. “When I hear the testimony today that are largely financial institutions and end users, I believe that I represent a third group that comes to the table, which is the taxpayers, the working people of the United States,” he said.

“I do need a final comment,” Bean interjected seconds later.

That put an end to Johnson’s testimony. “I was just called to this hearing last night, so I will provide detailed comments on your bill and a statement for the record that will finish my comments,” he concluded.

So what happens next? >The House Financial Services Committee has refused to publish his testimony, offering “the dog ate my homework” level excuses, first that they hadn’t gotten it, then that it was in the wrong format, then that their IT department was experiencing difficulties (always a good one when real reasons are running thin). The last one was pure Catch-22: that he had gotten his written testimony in too late.

In the interest of making Rob Johnson’s detailed statement available for the American Public to access, it can be read here

It is a must read for all American’s.