Scott Brown Is The New Snowe Queen

Getting anything done in the Senate requires at least one Republican, and increasingly that Republican is shaping up to be Scott Brown, our new de facto Senate Majority Leader.

In the battle between Scott Brown and Russ Feingold over financial reform, Scott Brown appears to be winning.

Senate staffers tonight are hammering out the shape of the so-called Volcker rule, which would limit insured financial firms' ability to take speculative bets with their capital, or prohibit it altogether.

Brown for weeks has been seeking a carveout in the legislation--originally authored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR)--that would allow banks to invest a portion of their profits in hedge and private equity funds. And as the 60th vote for financial reform, his demands carry a lot of weight. Enter Feingold, who opposed financial reform from the left. After discussions with, and public pressure from, pro-reform groups, Feingold has toyed with the idea of changing his vote from 'no' to 'yes', becoming the new 60th vote and robbing Brown of his leverage--if the Volcker rule survived loophole free.

Multiple sources tonight say that in all likelihood the hedge fund loophole (known as a 'de minimis exemption') will be included in the offer that the conference committee considers this week. 

What, you thought that some of the richest people in the country were actually going to close the casino for THE richest people in the country?  You're mad.  Of course hedge funds are going to gamble with trillions.  America doesn't have a manufacturing base anymore, we gave that to China.  American consumers are tapped out on debt, they can't help.  So the ultra rich have to turn to the Big Casino to get paid in Great Recession America, and there are no bigger whales than hedge fund managers lording over trillions in retirement cash.

Somebody's got to make money in this country, right?