Main St. To Wall St. - Big Banks Need To Reform
May 17, 2010
A terrible recession, the loss of eight million jobs, hundreds of thousands of homes lost in foreclosure and trillions of dollars in savings and retirement accounts washed away are part of the heavy toll inflicted on the country. Obviously, the economic damage extended far beyond Wall Street to every community in America.
"The big banks made billions with high-risk investment schemes but when they crashed it was the American taxpayers who had to bail them out before the economy went completely over the edge," said Pallone. "The first thing they should do is pay back the bailout money. Then rules of investment practices are needed to police their practices."
The reform plan approved by the House, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will:
End bailouts by helping ensure taxpayers are never again on the hook for Wall Street’s risky decisions.
Protect families’ retirement funds, college savings, homes and businesses’ financial futures
Protect consumers from predatory lending abuses, fine print, and industry gimmicks
Inject transparency and accountability into a financial system run amok.
The bill will:
- Create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect families and small businesses by ensuring that bank loans, mortgages, and credit cards are fair, affordable, understandable, and transparent.
- End the “too big to fail” financial firms, whose risky and irresponsible behavior can bring down the entire economy.
- Bring tough new rules on the riskiest financial practices that gambled with your money and caused the financial crash, like the credit default swaps that devastated AIG, derivatives and other complex financial products.
- Put an end to predatory lending practices with tougher enforcement and oversight. Provide more enforcement power and funding for the SEC.