President Donald Trump announces Federal Reserve board member Jerome Powell as his nominee for the next chair of the Federal Reserve in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
'Needlessly Gambling' With Taxpayer Money, Trump's Fed Moves to Gut Big Bank Safeguards
"Deregulating some of the largest banks in the country will make the financial system less safe, less stable, and less protected from another crash."
Just months after Republicans and Democrats joined hands to gut key Wall Street safeguards, President Donald Trump's Federal Reserve began doing its part to loosen restrictions on massive American banks on Wednesday by voting to approve a plan that critics condemned as a dangerous step toward yet another financial crisis.
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved."
--Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen
"Today's actions by the Fed are as unjustified as they are unwise," Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, said in a statement. "Deregulating some of the largest banks in the country will make the financial system less safe, less stable, and less protected from another crash."
Noting that the nation's largest banks have been raking in record profits since the passage of the Republican tax plan last year, Kelleher argued that the Fed is "needlessly gambling with taxpayers' money."
Under the Fed's plan--which the Wall Street Journal called "one of the most significant rollbacks of bank regulations since Trump took office"--banks that have between $250 billion to $700 billion in assets would face far less stringent regulations than even the GOP-controlled Congress backed in March.
Additionally, as CNN reports, "institutions that have assets between $100 billion and $250 billion will no longer have meet two liquidity buffers, meaning they won't have to hold assets they can sell quickly for cash, and would only be subject to the Fed's stress test exercise every two years."
"Banks with $250 billion in assets are systemically significant," Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate with Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division, noted in a statement. "Collectively, they control a quarter of all the industry's assets. Failure by several of these large, regional firms would spark economic mayhem, especially in America's heartland where most of them operate."
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved earlier this year," Naylor concluded. "Banks may falter after their loans go bad, but when they can't find the cash to pay their own bills, they die and leave economic wreckage in their wake."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Just months after Republicans and Democrats joined hands to gut key Wall Street safeguards, President Donald Trump's Federal Reserve began doing its part to loosen restrictions on massive American banks on Wednesday by voting to approve a plan that critics condemned as a dangerous step toward yet another financial crisis.
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved."
--Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen
"Today's actions by the Fed are as unjustified as they are unwise," Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, said in a statement. "Deregulating some of the largest banks in the country will make the financial system less safe, less stable, and less protected from another crash."
Noting that the nation's largest banks have been raking in record profits since the passage of the Republican tax plan last year, Kelleher argued that the Fed is "needlessly gambling with taxpayers' money."
Under the Fed's plan--which the Wall Street Journal called "one of the most significant rollbacks of bank regulations since Trump took office"--banks that have between $250 billion to $700 billion in assets would face far less stringent regulations than even the GOP-controlled Congress backed in March.
Additionally, as CNN reports, "institutions that have assets between $100 billion and $250 billion will no longer have meet two liquidity buffers, meaning they won't have to hold assets they can sell quickly for cash, and would only be subject to the Fed's stress test exercise every two years."
"Banks with $250 billion in assets are systemically significant," Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate with Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division, noted in a statement. "Collectively, they control a quarter of all the industry's assets. Failure by several of these large, regional firms would spark economic mayhem, especially in America's heartland where most of them operate."
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved earlier this year," Naylor concluded. "Banks may falter after their loans go bad, but when they can't find the cash to pay their own bills, they die and leave economic wreckage in their wake."
Just months after Republicans and Democrats joined hands to gut key Wall Street safeguards, President Donald Trump's Federal Reserve began doing its part to loosen restrictions on massive American banks on Wednesday by voting to approve a plan that critics condemned as a dangerous step toward yet another financial crisis.
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved."
--Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen
"Today's actions by the Fed are as unjustified as they are unwise," Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, said in a statement. "Deregulating some of the largest banks in the country will make the financial system less safe, less stable, and less protected from another crash."
Noting that the nation's largest banks have been raking in record profits since the passage of the Republican tax plan last year, Kelleher argued that the Fed is "needlessly gambling with taxpayers' money."
Under the Fed's plan--which the Wall Street Journal called "one of the most significant rollbacks of bank regulations since Trump took office"--banks that have between $250 billion to $700 billion in assets would face far less stringent regulations than even the GOP-controlled Congress backed in March.
Additionally, as CNN reports, "institutions that have assets between $100 billion and $250 billion will no longer have meet two liquidity buffers, meaning they won't have to hold assets they can sell quickly for cash, and would only be subject to the Fed's stress test exercise every two years."
"Banks with $250 billion in assets are systemically significant," Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate with Public Citizen's Congress Watch Division, noted in a statement. "Collectively, they control a quarter of all the industry's assets. Failure by several of these large, regional firms would spark economic mayhem, especially in America's heartland where most of them operate."
"Ten years after Wall Street crashed our economy, President Donald Trump's bank cops at the Federal Reserve are proposing to remove even more safeguards than directed by the dangerous law that the Republican-controlled Congress approved earlier this year," Naylor concluded. "Banks may falter after their loans go bad, but when they can't find the cash to pay their own bills, they die and leave economic wreckage in their wake."