What Financial Reform Means

May 28, 2010

Big business, big banks, Wall Street, and the CEOs of America’s top companies said that passing health care reform would amount to a “government takeover” of our nation’s health care system. The facts proved them wrong.

Now they’re saying that the financial reform bill currently discussed in Congress will entail a “government takeover” of our financial industry.

In other words, the same people whose shoddy financial practices led us to the worst economic crisis in a generation expect us to once again listen to their gloom and doom warnings.

If this was not enough, they’re doing all they can to stop reform. According to a report by Reuters:

“Securities and investment firms, commercial banks, insurers and others with a material stake in reform have spent over $286 million lobbying Congress since the financial reform debate began in earnest in the House of Representatives last summer.”

Fortunately, legislators are doing their job. The U.S. Senate passed legislation last week to rein-in Wall Street’s reckless behavior and a Senate-House conference committee will now negotiate the text of a final bill.

What would financial reform do for Americans?

Far from a government takeover, the bill would allow government to prevent the collapse of major financial institutions and, as we saw in 2008, threaten to drag down the nation’s economy. It would also create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to write and enforce new rules and protect consumers from deceptive financial practices like the ones that led to the subprime mortgage crisis.

Does that sound like a government takeover? Or does it sound like telling the financial industry we’ve had enough of them gambling away our pensions in the stock exchange or concocting risky investments and then expecting taxpayers to bail them out?

To America’s working families, the answer is clear. As the House-Senate panel hammers out the final version of the Wall Street overhaul, let’s make sure legislators see it our way too.