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

[The government involvement in the economy] is so overwhelming and beyond anything we have ever seen, that we risk moving this country away from a government of the people to a government of the regulators.

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Thomas Donohue, President of the Chamber of Commerce
07/14/2010 | Full Details | Law(s): Affordable Care Act, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

We feel that it is not in the public interest to require any and all information respecting the business of any bank be made a public record, and ask that the banks be required to submit information to the Federal Reserve Board only that such information be given confidential status, subject to the discretion of the Federal Reserve Board.

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George V. McLaughlin, NY State bankers association
04/07/1934 | Full Details | Law(s): Security Exchange Act of 1934

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

We have wandered too far off the path envisioned by our Founding Fathers of a government with few and defined powers. Government was supposed to be about doing only a few things; today government is about doing nearly everything. It has intruded in our business and personal lives in ways unimaginable to the wise men who gathered in Philadelphia in the sweltering summer of 1787. And to increasingly little positive benefit.

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Chamber of Commerce’s “This Way To Jobs Campaign.” 2010
01/01/2011 | Full Details | Law(s): Affordable Care Act, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection 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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