Main Street Wins: Senate OKs Wall Street Reform, Obama to Sign
In a “historic shift of power” from Wall Street to Main Street, the Senate this afternoon approved sweeping Wall Street reform legislation and sent it to President Obama for his signature.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, says the bill, which will rein-in some of the most reckless Wall Street/Big Bank practices that shoved the nation’s economy over the cliff,
represents a historic shift of power—away from big bankers and CEOs to working families and Main Street. For years, Big Banks have profited on the backs of working families. Millions of working families lost their jobs and still can’t find work because of the reckless and selfish actions of Wall Street and the big banks.
House OK’s Wall Street Reform: Senate After July 4
The House last night gave its final approval to a package of sweeping Wall Street reform measures that is an important step to changing the rules of the game that caused the financial meltdown, for which working families are still paying the price.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says the bill, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, will usher in
an era of transparency for our financial markets, tough oversight of Wall Street, and strong consumer protections on Main Street.
Last night’s vote came after negotiators from the House and Senate put the finishing touches on the conference report that melded bills each chamber had passed earlier. Three Republicans broke ranks with their leadership which opposed the Wall Street reforms and joined in the 237-192 vote. Read the rest of this entry »
House/Senate Conference OKs Wall Street Reform Bill, Full Votes Next Week
After an all-night session, U.S. House and Senate negotiators this morning agreed on a Wall Street reform bill that imposes tough new rules on the way Wall Street and Big Banks do business, including how they handle derivatives. Derivatives are the complex and risky financial products developed by Wall Street and Big Banks that were at the heart of the financial collapse.
The Senate passed its version last month and the House in December. The conference report melds the two bills and is expected to come to votes in both chambers next week. Wall Street lobbyists spent the past several months spending millions—much of it taxpayer bailout money—to weaken the legislation.
Financial Reform Must Maintain Strong Rules on Risky Derivatives
U.S. House and Senate negotiators are expected today to put the finishing touches on a financial reform conference report that melds each chamber’s previously passed reform bills. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka warned lawmakers today any move to weaken provisions governing derivatives would be “a gift to Wall Street.”
Derivatives are the complex and risky financial products developed by Wall Street and Big Banks that were at the heart of the financial collapse. The Senate bill has tougher rules on derivatives than the House version. Trumka says the strong derivatives regulations in the Senate bill are
essential to providing real, meaningful financial reform [and] holding the big Wall Street power brokers accountable….Any provisions or alternate language being offered are a gift to Wall Street. Financial regulatory reform without this strong derivatives language maintains the status quo where Wall Street gets rich on the backs of working families.
Wall Street Reform Passes Senate: Conference with House is Chance to Strengthen
Three weeks after more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and just days after thousands more marched on K Street demanding Wall Street reform, the Senate last night (59-39) passed legislation to rein-in Wall Street Big Banks’ reckless behavior that crashed the economy.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the Senate vote was a “sweet victory” for the “tens of millions of working families who lost jobs, homes and income at the hands of the big Wall Street banks.” He also said it was “reassuring” that
the Senate took this step to protect consumers despite the swarms of finance industry lobbyists who converged on Capitol Hill and outlays of $1.4 million a day to block reform. Read the rest of this entry »
The Gift America Needs Most: Manufacturing
In Columbus, Ohio, a 5-year-old girl jumped onto Santa’s lap last month and asked if he could give her dad a job as an elf.
Mike Smith, who works the Santa station at the Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, asked why, the Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl in the Dora the Explorer sweatshirt responded:
Because my daddy’s out of work, and we’re about to lose our house.
Happy Holidays, America!
The gift this country needs most this holiday season is an economy built on a solid foundation, one that will provide middle class, family-supporting jobs now and into the future.
Showdown in Chicago: Thousands Protest Bankers
UPDATE: Check out photos and a video from today’s rally.
More than 5,000 people are packing the streets of downtown Chicago this morning, chanting, marching and rallying against Big Bankers and financial institutions that have taken taxpayer money and are using it to give big bonuses to CEOs and to lobby against financial reforms that would ensure they don’t go back on the public dole.
The crowd is marching to the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, site of the American Bankers Association meeting, to protest the banking industry’s greed and irresponsibility that crippled our economy, leaving millions of workers behind.
After the house of cards they built collapsed, bankers and the financial industry took $700 billion in taxpayer funds for a bailout. But rather than reform their failed practices, they want to go back to business as usual—with the chance of again precipitating another financial collapse and need for taxpayer bailout in coming years.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who is joining union members and allies at today’s events, has a clear message to bankers: You work for us.
Showdown in Chicago
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I’m in Chicago for the American Bankers Association meeting. Oddly, I haven’t been invited to the Roaring ’20s dance party I hear they’re having.
Why wouldn’t they celebrate the era of wild money and hot times (which slid into the Great Depression)? After all, the bankers are doing well these days.
They’re doing well because after financial institutions caused the global economic crisis, we bailed them out, to the tune of some $700 billion.
Now they’re in good enough shape to pay the suits $7 billion in bonuses for driving working families and our economy to our knees—to the verge of a second full-fledged depression.
Things might be turning around for the bankers, but for the rest of us, unemployment heads toward 10 percent and home foreclosures continue to devastate families and communities. Working families have lost health care, pensions and savings—and in exchange we’ve gotten predatory lending, outrageous overdraft fees and sky-high credit card interest rates.
Dancing with Jay and Daisy
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When you’re a member of the American Bankers Association (ABA) meeting in Chicago amid the worst U.S. jobless crisis and most disastrous economy since the 1930s Depression, what’s the logical move to make?
Dress up in a Roaring ’20s costume and party like it’s 1929.
Proving yet again that not only do taxpayer-bailed-out CEOs have no shame, word has it that they plan to flaunt their taxpayer-fueled wealth in our faces, the ABA is sponsoring its Roaring ’20s party in conjunction with its Oct. 27–29 meeting.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will lead thousands of mad-as-hell Americans in a rally outside the ABA meeting on Oct. 27, demanding financial reform and re-regulation that will allow us to rebuild our communities, our lives and our economy.
(If you’re in Chicago, join us Oct. 27 at 10:30 a.m. CST. The march departs from the corner of East Wacker Drive and Stetson Avenue. After about a 15-minute march, the rally will be outside the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers at 301 E. North Water St.)
Because when they’re not stocking up on Jay and Daisy attire, Big Bankers and financial institutions are using the $700 billion in taxpayer bailout money to attack proposals like the Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would actually help working people while decreasing the chance of another Big Bank-fueled financial meltdown. Of course, they’re not using all of our money to fight reform. Some of it—about $7 billion—is going to bonuses for top CEOs.
