Bernie Sanders' provision requiring an audit of the Fed (see our May 3 post, Audit the Fed) appears to have been approved by the Senate, 96-0, which is very good news.
The next task will be to get Congress to pass Blanche Lincoln's provision that would require banks to spin off derivative trading or lose FDIC protection. Here's what Mary Bottari of Bankster had to say (plus an "action alert"):
You can find an article on the topic by Mary Bottari on Common Dreams. And here is part of a HuffPo article from the SAFER economists on the Lincoln provision:
Banks Must Be Barred from Dealing Derivatives: It's NOT a Normal Part of the Business of Banking
D&S blog reader LF has reminded us of the connection between this and food security, and the need to curb speculative activity in commodity markets. For starters, here's part of an article by C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh, from the excellent IDEAS website:
Are we Heading for Another Global Primary Commodity Price Surge?
Read the rest of the article.
And from the (apparently new) website Stop Gambling on Hunger, there's this video explaining the connections between global finance and food (in)security: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suJlyZDnKYU&hl=en&fs=1&]
There's other good material at that website.
Last but not least, there's a two-part interview with Jayati Ghosh at the Real News Network, entitled Global Food Bubble on the Way?.