Wall Street, not Main Street, Behind U.S. Chamber’s Attacks on CFPA

by admin in Statements and Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Michael Gehrke, 202-721-6077

DATE: December 9, 2009

AFR: Wall Street, not Main Street, Behind U.S. Chamber’s Attacks on CFPA

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cloaks its multi-million dollar assault on the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act (CFPA) in false rhetoric about small business.  But its agenda is directed and paid for by the same Wall Street firms that fueled the financial crisis with their risky, incomprehensible and incoherently regulated consumer financial products.  The truth is that CFPA is good for small business as well as consumers.

That is the message Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) delivered today in a letter urging members of Congress to support the CFPA when it comes before the House this week.  AFR is a coalition of more than 200 national, state and local consumer, labor, retiree, investor, community, civil rights and business organizations who are campaigning for real reform in our nation’s financial system.  Among the facts highlighted in AFR’s letter:

  • The Chamber’s December 1 letter opposing the CFPA from “2,100 businesses, chambers and individuals” is the culmination of a scare campaign that ultimately cost the Chamber at least $952 per signatory.
  • The Chamber purports to represent small business, but 25 members contributed a staggering $54 million in 2008, accounting for 39 percent of its $140 million in total contributions.
  • Both Charles Schwab and Edward Jones are on the Chamber’s board, offer a variety of consumer financial products, and have been the subject of recent regulatory actions for deceptive business practices.  Their records of abusive customer practices underscore the need for the dedicated regulatory oversight of consumer financial products that the proposed CFPA promises.
  • Wall Street titans Bank of America, BlackRock, Citibank, J.P. Morgan, New York Life and Prudential Financial are among the other Chamber members the CFPA would actually regulate.  Once the CFPA is enacted, these firms will no longer have free rein to engage in the abusive and risky consumer practices that caused the financial crisis.
  • The Chamber’s attack on the CFPA is a disservice to the small businesses it purports to represent.  Because many small businesses rely on consumer financial products to help finance their businesses, they have precisely the same need to make informed decisions about transparent, coherently regulated financial products as ordinary consumers.

The AFR letter is available at http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2009/12/wall-street-not-main-street-is-behind-the-u-s-chambers-cfpa-scare-tactics/.

Please contact Mike Gehrke at 202-721-6077 for comment.

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