Financial Regulation

Financial Regulation

Commentary

Why #OccupyWallStreet?

October 07, 2011
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History Repeats Itself on Financial Reform

July 12, 2011

In the decades since the Great Depression, Americans acknowledged the necessity of having safeguards in place to prevent another crash of the financial markets, including the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). When they were first introduced, Wall Street cried foul, according to the new report, “Industry Repeats Itself: The Financial Reform Fight,” found here. 

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The History of Consumer Protection Scares

September 09, 2009

By Tim Fernholz. The American Prospect. September 9, 2009.

The Chamber of Commerce and other business interests tried to kill the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency with 'death panel' tactics -- exaggerating the affects of the legislation and making it seem as though it would harm ordinary Americans. But these kinds of moves aren't unusual. In the 1970s, there was momentum toward creating a Consumer Protection Agency that would act, essentially, as a kind of clearinghouse for consumer complaints, rather than an actual regulator with enforcement powers. Its opponents also reacted with outrageous rhetoric.

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Cry Wolf Quotes

If the CEO of a $50-billion corporation operating in 112 countries is required to sign a document saying he guarantees under penalty of law that all these numbers are correct, there's not a CEO in America that will sign it.

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Thomas Donohue, President of the Chamber of Commerce
07/28/2002 | Full Details | Law(s): Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Dodd bill would push the government into the business of dictating the terms at which consumers and businesses can contract. This has nothing to do with protecting consumers and everything to do with replacing consumer preferences with bureaucrats’ choices.

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“Dodd’s Job-killer”, by Mark A. Calabria
04/20/2010 | Full Details | Law(s): Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Taken together with the Securities Act of 1933 (the 1934 Act) will effectively bar the flow of capital into American business.

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George Houston, National Association of Manufacturers, Vice President
03/13/1934 | Full Details | Law(s): Security Exchange Act of 1934

No corporation director is going to risk existing resources by putting his name on financing under a law that makes him personally liable for the next ten years and adopts the unprecedented principle that he is to be judged guilty unless he can be proven innocent.

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Frank Gordon, president of the Investment Bankers Association
10/31/1933 | Full Details | Law(s): Trust in Securities Act
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Related Laws and Rules

Backgrounders & Briefs

Industry Repeats Itself on Financial Reform

As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, opponents are claiming that the new measure is extraordinarily damaging, especially to Main Street. But industry’s alarmist rhetoric bears striking resemblance to the last time it faced sweeping new safeguards: during the New Deal reforms. The parallels between the language used both then and now are detailed in a report released today by Public Citizen and the Cry Wolf Project.

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Resources

Political Economy Research Institute is a think tank focused on a variety of subjects such as diverse financial regulation, living wages and environmental protection.

Consumer Federation of America defends the consumer interest in fields ranging from housing and financial services to food safety. 

The Service Employees International Union represents workers the public sector and a variety of industries in the United States.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition works against unfair lending and banking practices, particularly those targeted towards low and middle income families.

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