May, 14 2012, 02:23pm EDT
JP Morgan's Risky Misdeeds Demonstrate that Banks are Too Big to Fail
Campaign for America’s Future Urges Senators to Support SAFE Act 2012
WASHINGTON
Campaign for America's Future's co-director Robert Borosage said that the recently announced losses by J.P. Morgan Chase are yet another demonstration of the danger of banks and investment houses that are too big to fail.
Borosage urges Senators to support legislation introduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) that would protect American taxpayers by placing sensible size and leverage limits on America's largest financial institutions. The Safe, Accountable, Fair & Efficient (SAFE) Banking Act of 2012, would hold Wall Street accountable, prevent future bailouts, and protect American homes, jobs, pensions, and businesses.
"The recent J.P. Morgan Chase debacle proves that financial markets do not self-regulate. They are given to excesses and to crackups. When banks are so big they assume government will bail them out, the excesses can be catastrophes. It's time for the government to place sensible limits on the big banks," said Borosage, "Sen. Brown's SAFE bill is a good first step in insuring that banks are not too big to fail."
Borosage added that with the nation's six largest Wall Street banks controlling assets equal to 64 percent of U.S. GDP; the time for this safeguarding legislation is now.
Sen. Brown is the Chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection; he introduced similar legislation in 2010.
The Campaign for America's Future is the strategy center for the progressive movement. Our goal is to forge the enduring progressive majority needed to realize the America of shared prosperity and equal opportunity that our country was meant to be.
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