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As this unprecedented presidential campaign heats up, it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that policy, politics and governing have become so divisive and partisan that no one ever agrees on anything.

That’s one reason I was happy to co-author an op-ed in Politico Magazine with Mark Calabria, a senior adviser at the Cato Institute and former official in the Trump administration;  Tom Hoenig, a distinguished senior fellow at the Mercatus Center and former Republican Vice Chair of the FDIC; and Aaron Klein, a Senior Fellow and Miriam K. Carliner Chair at the Brookings Institution and former official in the Obama administration.

We come from different ideological viewpoints and often disagree on policy, but we respect each other and discuss consequential policy issues that are important to the country regardless of party or partisan politics. Frankly, my view has always been that most financial and financial regulation issues are wrongly put into a left-right political frame and reported through a partisan lens. For example, preventing financial crashes, avoiding taxpayer bailouts, punishing corporate lawbreakers, and protecting consumers from financial predators simply are not left or right or partisan. The 16 million foreclosure filings to throw Americans out of their homes and the 27 million Americans who were thrown out of work as a result of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the 2008 financial crash were not Republicans, Democrats, independents, and nonvoters. They were just everyday Americans victimized by an underregulated and fragile financial system that didn’t care who was harmed by its lucrative, but very high risk, reckless, and, often, illegal activities.

That’s really why the four of us wrote the Op Ed: we agree that – regardless of who wins the White House or any other office – the government must stop bailing out bankers, financiers, investors, and creditors, creating upside down incentives, and putting taxpayers on the hook. Specifically, our op-ed opposed a recent Treasury Department proposal on mortgage servicers that would expand and further entrench the structural bias to privatize gains for the already rich via bailouts and shift the costs and losses to the Americans people. This is nothing more than a government subsidy and wealth transfer (starkly illustrated by Wall Street increasing its bonuses by more than 17% – to more than $20 billion – for 2009 after it crashed the financial system in 2008, received trillions of dollars in taxpayer backed bailouts, caused sky high unemployment, ignited a foreclosure crisis, and inflicted so much more misery across the country). We argued that instead of accepting that bailouts are inevitable — or actively promoting them — policymakers need to use their power to strengthen the oversight of our mortgage markets and make clear that if a mortgage servicer or any other financial institution fails, it will be private investors and creditors who lose money, not taxpayers.

In the current political and media environment, it’s easy to forget there are many issues most Americans agree on. This includes policies and rules that protect and empower hardworking Main Street Americans, while holding Wall Street and powerful financial institutions in check and accountable. Other examples include standing up to special interests looking to hijack the policy process and preventing our democracy from being corrupted by allowing betting on elections. These are not partisan efforts. They are fundamental to protecting our democracy, so that our government works for all Americans. The key is not to be distracted by special interests and their lobbyists and high-paid PR gurus who enrich themselves by polarizing issues and dividing Americans.

With your help, we can continue to rise above the false narrative of partisanship and deliver results that make a difference in the lives of all Americans, who just want a financial system that provides products and services at fair prices, responsibly supports the real economy, and creates broad based wealth. Americans deserve no less.

Dennis

Dennis Kelleher
Co-Founder, President, and CEO,

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