Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

So, there's a hung Parliament in Great Britain. The Conservatives didn't wrack up enough seats and the Liberal Democrats finished a distant third. Apparently, the incumbent Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, gets the first crack at trying to establish a new government. And, that's not going well. I heard Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, on NPR this morning making noises about teaming up with the Conservatives.

The Senate is still debating S.3217, Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. Expect votes on more amendments today. Yesterday, a GOP amendment to weaken the consumer protection aspects of the bill was defeated 38 - 61. Two GOPers, Collins and Grassley, voted with the Democrats. The amendment was offered by Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee. He recently told a gathering of bankers that the best way to kill reform was to elect more GOPers -- and he told them all to give $10,000 to Rep. Roy Blunt who is running for Senate in Missouri. The Republicans are not even subtle about being bought and paid for by the bankers and Wall Street.

And, how about that wild movement of the stock market yesterday? That situation in Greece isn't inspiring investors.

Let's get it started....