This letter comes from Rashmi Rangan, from Newark.  Click here to read it on Delaware Online’s website. Want to write your own letter to the editor?  Click here for instructions!

Thank state’s congressional leaders for financial reform

President Obama will sign the landmark Financial Reform Bill into law, and it seems the consumers of financial goods and services now have an independent advocate on their side.

The $600 trillion derivatives market will now operate in the open. The government will have the authority to step in and safely shut down any failing financial firm, not just banks. Hopefully, taxpayers are off the hook for future bailouts.

The bill puts a stop to the casino culture of gambling with the customers’ money by separating derivatives trading operations into affiliates.

For the first time lenders are prohibited from making loans borrowers cannot repay. Brokers will have to act in the best interests of their customers. Credit rating agencies will no longer have a vested financial interest in giving high ratings to risky investments.

The Federal Reserve Board’s emergency lending programs from the financial crisis will be audited to see where the money went.

It was a proud moment for all advocates of fair lending to hear Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman’s impassioned floor speeches on the issue of too-big-to-fail. He echoed our chants of many decades that fell on deaf ears.

Even in this current bill, the only hope we have is that the Council of Regulators will perform the task of addressing the issue of the size of our financial institution.

Sen. Tom Carper preserved Delaware’s prominence as a popular destination for financial institutions, and Congressman Mike Castle, representing the banking state as a Republican, had the most difficult task of casting his courageous yes vote.

As Delawareans, we should all be proud of Rep. Castle, Sen. Carper and Sen. Kaufman — for doing the right thing.

Rashmi Rangan, Newark