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

This financial takeover will strangle our economy and move jobs overseas unless it is repealed.

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Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
04/01/2011 | Full Details | Law(s): Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

I submit, however, that no man who himself has any practical acquaintance with business processes and methods who is not utterly blinded by partisan political considerations can examine the Securities Act, the Stock Exchange Act, the successive revenue acts in recent years, the Social Security Act, the Public Utilities Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act and many of the arbitrary regulations devised under a dozen other recent acts and arrive at any verdict other than they cripple and retard business rather than help revive it. The fact is even so clear that it is hard to keep from wondering if such a result were not actually intended.

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Chamber of Commerce Vice President Philip J. Fay
04/28/1936 | Full Details | Law(s): Securities Exchange Act, the Social Security Act

Facing a possibility of 20 years in jail and $5 million fines, executives are going to spend lots of time going over financial statements, and less time creating, innovating and leading,”

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James Glassman, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
09/20/2002 | Full Details | Law(s): Sarbanes-Oxley Act

America is sinking under the crushing weight of the ever-expanding regulatory state. This burden threatens to disrupt our recovery, hamper long-term growth, undermine our global competitiveness, and suffocate the entrepreneurial spirit so vital to America's success.

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Thomas Donohue, President of the Chamber of Commerce
10/14/2010 | 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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