FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Contact: Jeff Gohringer, 202-618-6430 or jgohringer@bettermarkets.com
Better Markets Statement on Hillary Clinton’s Proposal to Rein in Wall Street
Washington, DC — Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s proposal to hold Wall Street accountable and prevent future financial crashes:
“Anyone who wants to be President of the United States owes the American people a detailed, comprehensive plan showing how they will protect the American people from Wall Street’s recklessness. Hillary Clinton deserves credit for doing that. We’re encouraged that her plan targets predatory high frequency trading that is ripping off too many investors and killing public confidence in our markets, helps reform broken practices at the SEC, and recognizes the need to strengthen the Volcker Rule to keep Wall Street from gambling with taxpayer dollars.
However, everyone knows that Wall Street and its army of lobbyists will continue trying to evade regulations meant to end their high-risk gambling that endangers the country. That’s why any effective plan to rein in Wall Street must have different layers of protections: regulatory, supervisory and structural. We’ve done that before, which is what protected the country for 70 years after the Great Depression. Failure to have all three pillars or an overreliance on any one pillar puts the American people needlessly at risk. One key concern with the Clinton plan is the lack of a strong structural firewall and what appears to be an overreliance on regulators. Wall Street will continue finding every last loophole to avoid regulations meant to hold them accountable. That’s why the next President must prioritize supervisory and structural changes, not just strengthening regulatory tools. We’ll be studying her proposal and look forward to hearing more about her specific plans for protecting Americans from another Wall Street crash in the weeks and months ahead.”
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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.
