The Volcker Rule limits the ability of giant banks to destroy the economy. Their tool lobbyists explain how bankers stand for Truth, Justice, and the American Way of making money with taxpayer guarantees.

Jamie Dimon has a big plan to fix the housing market. It mirrors John McCain’s big plan to fix Iraq: get people in a room and yell “Stop the bullshit!” But the reality is, other people are getting in a room to talk, and what they’re working on probably isn’t what Dimon has in mind.

The Smithsonian magazine highlights — and supports — evolution in the cover story of their January issue. Online, they go even further, with additional information and links.

Cue the TheoCon heads exploding in five, four, three . . .

A stunning new GAO report prompted by Bernie Sanders shows there’s not much distance between the big financial institutions on Wall Street and the Federal Reserve system, particularly when it comes to the directors of the regional banks GAO found multiple Regional Bank directors with direct conflicts of interests.

A group calling itself 99 New York is going to stage a march today in support of Occupy Wall Street. It includes UnitedNY, Strong Economy for All Coaltition, NY Communities for Change, the Working Families Party and a bunch of other community organizations. They plan to march to the homes of several Masters of the Universe and present oversized symbolic checks representing the additional monies that will begin to line the pockets of the 1% once the New York State “millionaire’s tax” expires the end of this year.

If you read me often enough, you have probably noticed that I tend to check various news and opinion sites throughout the TradMed each morning, after I’ve spent a few minutes reviewing emails and jobs sites. Most of the time, I just shake my head at the various levels of stupidity I find, not being able to quite give it the full YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F*CKING KIDDING ME! treatment so richly deserved. Then there are days like today where teh stoopid is so truly dumbfounding.

Both of the provisions quoted will most likely be removed long before the Jobs bill gets anywhere near a vote, thanks to the captive legislators from both parties which makes the whining about it that much more irritating and ludicrous.

As it turned out, Carmageddon was light on both the car and the “mageddon.” The 405 Freeway even reopened early. That’s what happens when federal, state and local government works together to solve a problem! For me, it was just another Southern California weekend. For the rest of the world…

Sounds like times are tough for the banksters after all, right? Well maybe not so much. Fortune had this post which called the Bank of America $8.5B settlement a “win,” apparently because it allows BoA to “look forward” and all that. According to this from Reuters, BoA will take write-offs of a bit over $20B in total in the 2nd quarter of the year, giving them a loss for the quarter. It is figures like that that show just how skewed things are. One bank takes a write-off/loss of over $20B in a fiscal quarter and will still most likely be profitable for the year!

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech yesterday to the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta, GA. Only one speech. Yet looking around the Toobz at the various headlines at news sites on this speech, it must have been an all things to all people speech as I’ve found at least four different perspectives presented, some of them directly contradictory.