FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or njacobs@bettermarkets.com
Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, released the following statement following the release of the Treasury Department’s first report on financial protection rules.
“Dismantling the financial protection rules put in place to prevent Wall Street from crashing the financial system and causing a second Great Depression is like taking down the flood prevention system put up to protect New Orleans from another Hurricane Katrina. That would be stupid. The financial protection rules are like New Orleans’ flood prevention system: you hope you never need it, but you better have it when disaster strikes.
“There is also no valid basis for weakening the financial protection rules. The pretext is slow economic growth, which the rules are being blamed for. But that is untrue. Bank lending and profitability are reaching all-time highs. The problem is not a credit supply problem; it is a credit-worthy demand problem because the economy and the American people are still recovering from the historic wreckage caused by the last financial crash.
“Of course, some financial protection rules could be done better or differently, but this Report isn’t the product of a neutral process to evaluate what should be done better. It is the result of an executive order from a President who has demanded that the financial protection rules be smashed and that Wall Street be unleashed. If that’s what happens, then there will be another devastating financial crash, sooner rather than later and worse than the last one, and taxpayers will be on the hook again for bailing out Wall Street. That would be a needless tragedy of historic proportion.”
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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies – including many in finance – to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.
