Newt Gingrich says he will repeal the Dodd/Frank bill, an incredibly weak set of regulations that has done almost nothing to solve the systemic problems in our financial system, because it’s destroying community banks (banks with under a billion dollars in assets). And by destroying them, he means they’ve doubled their earnings.
“Community banks are 12 percent of the banks right now and 40 percent of the loans to small business,” Gingrich said. “And they are being destroyed by Dodd-Frank.”…
The first thing to note is that one year after the passage of Dodd-Frank, community banks are healthier. By convention, any bank with assets of less than $1 billion is a community bank. According to the latest report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, for that group of banks, a key measure of profitability, return on assets, has doubled in the past year, growing from 0.26 percent a year ago to 0.57 percent in the second quarter of 2011. Return on assets has been higher this year than in any quarter going back to the start of 2008 before the great meltdown.
So when his campaign was asked to provide evidence for this claim, here was their response:
We asked the Gingrich campaign to give us the data that informed the former House speaker’s belief. Staffer R.C. Hammond replied “It was his observation. How do you source an opinion?”
Obviously it wasn’t intended to be a factual statement. That explains all the percentages and stuff.
15 comments
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Michael Heath
November 28, 2011 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A perfect illustration of Ed’s point the other day on how conservatives are unintentionally funny.
Bronze Dog
November 28, 2011 at 12:07 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Postmodernism rides again!
Phillip IV
November 28, 2011 at 12:19 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh no, it was intended to be a factual statement, just the conservative way, where you work your way to the facts starting from your dogma. Everyone knows regulation is always bad, so the Dodd/Frank bill must have had negative effects on community banks. No evidence of that outcome is needed, as it follows logically from the first assumption.
The Lorax
November 28, 2011 at 12:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“This is not a statement of fact.”
… yeah, sounds about right. Who needs facts when all you do is advertise?
Raging Bee
November 28, 2011 at 12:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah, how do you source something whose source was a Republican’s ass?
d cwilson
November 28, 2011 at 1:09 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Exactly. In republicanworld, everything is an opinion. If 2+2=5 served republican interests, they would be out there insisting that was the answer. Even if you showed them a clip involving Cookie Monster illustrating with a plate of cookies that 2+2=4, they’d just dismiss that as “your opinion”.
Aquaria
November 28, 2011 at 1:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
What can we expect from any member of a party that has been in the reality-denying business since 1980?
Didaktylos
November 28, 2011 at 1:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
So – the effect of these regulations is to benefit those who have invested in those banks with a view to the long haul while naking thme less attractive to those who simply want to gut them for short-term windfalls.
ouabache
November 28, 2011 at 1:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ed, in the interest of saving everyone time could you just report on the next time Newt actually gets something right?
Lou Doench
November 28, 2011 at 1:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I still run into “independents” who think Gingrich is at least the “smart” candidate. Sheesh…
Dennis N
November 28, 2011 at 1:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well yeah, I could have told you that. My source: I noticed it was coming out of Newt’s mouth, so I concluded the opposite of whatever he said was true.
ArtK
November 28, 2011 at 2:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
But remember Ed, Newt is the GOP’s idea man, not their fact man. He would never spoil a Great Idea™ with facts.
D. C. Sessions
November 28, 2011 at 2:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lou@10: Gingrich is the smart candidate. They grade on a curve, after all.
some bastard
November 28, 2011 at 11:49 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Are you asking Ed to retire?
Ichthyic
November 30, 2011 at 2:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Yeah, how do you source something whose source was a Republican’s ass?
the source is under the luggage.
you have to lift their luggage to find it.