team, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

Fact Sheet: Private Equity Industry Poised to Profit from the Federal Reserve’s New Lending Programs

Private equity funds could access government assistance for their portfolio companies while avoiding any responsibility to repay any debt or obligations to the public purse. Private equity firms could also tap government aid to finance leveraged buyout purchases of additional companies, using public money to load target companies with debt and drain their assets while avoiding any responsibility for paying that debt back.

Letter to Congress: 17 Organizations Urge Immediate Bipartisan Action to Begin Oversight Functions of the New House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis

It’s crucial the new House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis start oversight work as soon as possible. By doing so, the Subcommittee can make recovery efforts more effective and guarantee that government agencies are good stewards of public money.

News Release: New Bipartisan Poll Shows Strong Support for Student Loan Debt Cancellation During COVID-19 Pandemic

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) released a bipartisan poll today showing that Americans around the country and across partisan identities strongly support student debt reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Letter to Congress: Letter in Support of the Medical Debt Relief Act

AFR and our partners sent a letter in support of including the Medical Debt Relief Act as part of future covid-19 relief.

Joint Letter: Fed and Treasury Should Freeze M&A Activity as Condition of Aid Money

The Fed must aggressively attempt to retain institutional credibility as a neutral actor in our economic order with regards to the distributional effects of its policies. It should not help finance a merger wave that leads to large-scale consolidation of companies which would have been healthy competitors but for temporary impacts of the current crisis.

Letter to Congress: 27 Organizations Support the Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act.

Public advocates sent a letter to Congress in support of the Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act, a proposal from Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to prevent big corporations and Wall Street investors from exploiting the pandemic to further consolidate their economic and political power.

In The News: How Private Equity Firms Will Profit From COVID-19 (The American Prospect)

Unless Congress and regulators act, private equity will shed its nonperforming assets and feast on new ones. J. Crew is the latest example.

NEWS RELEASE: Private Equity Looting Drove J. Crew Bankruptcy

Private equity firms loaded J. Crew with debt and hid assets away from investors and creditors.

Polling Memo: Strong Support for Capping Interest Rates Amid Pandemic

Americans of all partisan identities, and across all regions of the United States, strongly support enacting new consumer protections on high-interest lending during the coronavirus crisis. Americans are highly supportive of prohibiting all high-interest loans during the crisis and of capping interest rates for consumer loans, according to a new bipartisan poll from Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting.

FACT SHEET: J. Crew Succumbs to Bankruptcy after Private Equity Debt, Financial Looting

Preppy retailer cannot survive retail and coronavirus economic downturn saddled by private equity-imposed financial burdens.