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Hi friend,
As the regular season in baseball winds down and football season is about to kick off, the rivalries are heating up. Even if you’re not a sports fan, there’s one thing on which I’m sure we can all agree—everyone should play by the rules that are fairly enforced by independent, unbiased, and expert umpires or refs. The problem is that nowadays in the U.S. many corporations don’t play by the same rules, especially Wall Street’s biggest banks and the country’s financial firms who rig the economy and financial system to benefit themselves and the top 10%. Worse, the refs under the Trump administration aren’t independent or unbiased (even if they might be experts). In fact, most of them are biased financial industry allies who unsurprisingly bend the rules to benefit, you guessed it, Wall Street’s biggest banks and financial firms. That’s why no matter how hard they work or try, most Main Street Americans just can’t get ahead. That’s also why the top 10% have 67% of the wealth of the country and the bottom 50% only have about 2.5%.
At Better Markets, we fight for Main Street Americans and against Wall Street and its allies rigging the economy and the financial system. The measure of success shouldn’t be Wall Street profits; it has to be economic security, rising living standards, and increasing wealth for Main Street families. When Main Street does well, everyone does well including Wall Street – the reverse definitely isn’t true.
As you’ll see below, that means Better Markets opposed the banking agencies’ sweetheart deal to give Wall Street’s biggest banks a $250 billion break which will just boost executive pay and further enrich the top 10% (who own more than 90% of the value of the stock market). This means shining a light on former industry insider SEC Chair Paul Atkins cheerleading for crypto when the SEC is supposed to be protecting investors, markets and financial stability. It also means fighting against the financial industry stuffing high risk, dangerous, illiquid, and often mispriced private market investments and crypto into retirement funds that hardworking Americans need as they get older. And it means calling out the false claims that the recently passed stablecoin crypto GENIUS Act does anything but make it easier for the average consumer to get fleeced by the crypto industry.
Our work is enriched by the scholarship of many academics, including in particular those who are members of our incredible Better Markets Academic Advisory Board (BMAAB). On September 19, it’s holding an inaugural BMAAB State of Economic & Financial Policymaking Conference—I hope you’ll join us for that! This full-day event will bring together leading scholars and policymakers to explore today’s most urgent economic challenges—from financial regulation and banking reform to economic justice and inclusive, broad-based growth.
We should all be on the same team here. Preventing crashes, having clear rules, unbiased umpires, and an economy that works for everyone isn’t a left-right or a partisan issue. It’s an American issue. When financial firms follow the rules, the system works better for everyone—protecting and growing jobs, savings, and communities. Together, we can achieve smart safeguards today for a brighter economic future tomorrow.
Dennis
Dennis Kelleher
Co-Founder, President, & CEO
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