Financial Reform
Financial Reform There is no question that over the last two years our economy faced the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Years of Wall Street pursuing short term profits at any cost was in large part responsible for the eight million jobs lost and $17 trillion in retirement savings and personal investments that disappeared. Millions of Americans, including thousands of folks across my district, have suffered greatly and continue to struggle to make ends meet. Although our economy is showing signs of recovery, much work remains to rebuild our financial system in a way that protects consumers and prevents future crises from occurring I am a firm believer in a free-market capitalist economy, but I was deeply troubled to learn that much of the economic crisis was due in large part to risky behavior and decision making by both financial firms and consumers. The outdated regulatory architecture put in place to protect our economy as a whole failed us. Sadly, without the proper oversight and transparency there are very few incentives for protecting consumers and maintaining responsible business practices. On July 21, 2010, the President signed into law H.R. 4173, The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which will bring vast reforms to our financial regulatory system, aiding consumers and ending business practices that have failed us for far too long. This legislation will rein in Wall Street, put safeguards in place to help prevent future bailouts of big banks and other financial institutions, and create a consumer financial protection bureau. It’s an historic piece of legislation, and I’m proud to have supported the bill. Specifically, H.R. 4173 will: Since the financial crisis began, I’ve said that we must enact these changes in order to minimize the risk that we have to bail out big banks again. I would have liked to see stronger rules to prevent banks from becoming “too big to fail,” but this bill puts many good protections in place for the American people. The bill is not perfect. But it does take a big step forward in putting protections in place for average Americans, and safeguard against future bank bailouts. We can never again make the American people pay for the excesses of Wall Street. If you would like to learn more about the details of the Frank Dodd Act please visit http://financialservices.house.gov/singlepages.aspx?NewsID=3&RBID=775 Related Documents:
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