Wall Street’s Latest Desperate Attacks on Financial Reform are Irresponsible

                                                                                                                                                  

“Derivatives and US financial companies’ derivatives gambling overseas were at the center of causing the 2008 financial crash. AIG is the poster child for this type of irresponsible behavior: its derivatives bets were in London, but the US taxpayers got the bailout bill while the AIG executives got the bonuses. The financial reform law sensibly rejected Wall Street’s attempt to create an ‘AIG loophole’ and it prohibited this type of cross border betting, which was great for Wall Street profits but terrible for everyone else,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets.

 

“But, some of Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks never give up and are trying to evade the law. Thursday’s CFTC advisory prohibits their latest gambit. Attacks on staff and over-heated rhetoric should not distract the CFTC from implementing this law, which will protect Main Street from Wall Street and prevent more bailouts. The CFTC staff are the derivatives cops on the Wall Street beat and they should be fully funded and supported for all their hard work,” Mr. Kelleher concluded.

 

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Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.