Four litmus tests for Congress
According to consumer advocate Ed Mierzwinski, the following four reforms “seem obvious to taxpayers. Not to Wall Street.” I would add that they don’t seem obvious enough to most members of Congress. They should have been passed at least a year ago:
1) Will Congress enact a strong version of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency? [It needs to be independent, needs to regulate all financial products, needs to reinstate federal law as a floor, not a ceiling, of protection].
2) Will Congress regulate the shadow markets, e.g., unregulated derivative, hedge fund, and private equity shadow markets?
3) Will Congress audit the Fed?
4) Will Congress end the too-big-to-fail system that led to taxpayer-funded TARP bailouts?
I agree with Mierzwinski that these needs are obvious. The only reason they aren’t yet law is that Congress is flooded with banking industry money. It’s time for Congress to show whether it has any integrity for enacting these four reforms, which constitute some very low bars, indeed. These are minimum standard that any reasonable person would immediately support. Members of Congress need to show us that they really represent the People of the U.S. by immediately voting for these four reforms.
Paul Volker blasted the bankers:
“I wish someone would give me one shred of neutral evidence that financial innovation has led to economic growth — one shred of evidence,” said Mr Volcker . . . He said that financial services in the United States had increased its share of value added from 2 per cent to 6.5 per cent, but he asked: “Is that a reflection of your financial innovation, or just a reflection of what you’re paid?”
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6949387.ece