Senator Harkin is close to crying on Ed's show...man.

The measure, unrelated to the pending financial reform bill, was introduced by Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, a New York Democrat long known for his friendly relations with banking and corporate interests. It's the House version of a provision introduced earlier this week by Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa.

The provision prevents the Securities and Exchange Commission from regulating equity-indexed annuities, financial products that promise guaranteed returns and other similar products by designating them as exempt from securities regulation -- even though they act like securities. It overturns court rulings and an SEC rule that determined these products were indeed securities, and thus should be regulated as such.

Consumer and investor advocates argue that the measure, which was adopted by House conferees by a 12-4 vote during Thursday's conference to reconcile the House and Senate versions of financial reform legislation, undercuts basic protections for investors and seniors, who often are tricked into purchasing these products under false pretenses.

In a 2008 speech on equity-indexed annuities, former SEC Chairman Christopher Cox referred to the "abusive sales practices often used to promote" them to seniors, and quoted a former head of the North American Securities Administrations Association who said her association's survey of the products revealed a "landscape littered with slick schemes and broken dreams" that had been "devastating" to victims and their families.

Last year the SEC ruled that these products were securities, rather than insurance, and hence subject to SEC regulation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/dem-sponsored-loophole-in_n_624371.html