Fight Club fans take note! AFR Executive Director Heather Booth wrote up the rules of real financial reform for the Huffington Post. Here are first few:
The first rule of real financial reform is that you can’t stop fighting for it.
The second rule of real financial reform is that you CAN’T STOP fighting for it.
Big banks must be held accountable, consumers must have independent regulators looking out for their interests, and the casino economy must be ended. However, there will be no accountability, there will be no protection against future crises, and there will be no end to reckless greed and speculation unless people keep shouting and demanding it.
Last year, when the country was outraged over executive bonuses at AIG, a frightened House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass new restrictions on bank bonuses. But, when the outrage faded from the news, the bank lobbyists were still on Capitol Hill and the Senate failed to take any action. Those restrictions never became law, as the Senate continues to dawdle.