Two SEC proposals have billionaire activist hedge funds up in arms and pulling out all the stops—including falsely claiming organized labor is opposed to the important proposals. Industry opponents will showcase their disdain at an upcoming Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) meeting scheduled for Sept. 21.
Schumer uttered those words as the Senate was on the brink of passing the Inflation Reduction Act—the compromise reconciliation bill that resulted from prolonged, heated negotiations amongst Democrats. The version that will go to President Biden includes something brand-new in U.S. economic policy: a one percent excise tax on stock buybacks, which reached an astonishing $882 billion last year.
We are well into the Biden administration and approaching a pivotal time in his Presidency where all hope could be lost on an issue I care a lot about: student debt. We are facing the possible flipping of Congress, student borrowers are in constant flux–unaware of when their loan servicers will be unleashed on them in the midst of a broken repayment system… and I’m afraid. I, like the rest of us, am still waiting for a portion of federal student debt to be canceled, one of Biden’s biggest campaign priorities. And despite the chatter of this announcement being forthcoming, we’re still on standby.
Americans for Financial Reform and the Take on Wall Street campaign gathered several experts on July 1 to lay out the multiple ugly truths about crypto and addressed a few reasons why we should not take the promises made by its most enthusiastic advocates at face value, and why regulators need to use the authority they already have to oversee this market.
At long last, private equity is getting the attention it deserves from antitrust authorities as a force for consolidation, higher prices, and less consumer choice.
Having a rapacious business like private equity watching over particularly vulnerable people has never been a good idea. Still the evidence is mounting that Wall Street has pushed the envelope in recent years. Nursing homes, youth facilities, and homes for disabled adults have all fallen under the ownership of an industry with a track record of prioritizing wealth extraction over running companies well, to say nothing of caring for people in need.
In much of America, owning a car is necessary to participate in the economy, and to live a full and vibrant life. However, this ticket to opportunity comes at an increasingly steep price – as of 2021, Americans owe $1.42 trillion in auto loan debt.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposals on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) provide retail investors with much greater investor protections, which is welcome news to AFR, as we have been urging such changes for more than a year.
In a House Financial Services Committee hearing from the beginning of March, both Representatives and witnesses discussed how Wall Street and private equity are causing housing prices to soar and driving inflation.
Wall Street’s private equity barons smashed previous records to complete $1.2 trillion worth of acquisitions in the United States in 2021, an all-time record. Globally, the industry gobbled up companies worth $2.1 trillion. The new acquisitions and the massive debts the industry generates is creating the risk of “the dotcom boom meeting with the financial crisis,” according to one insider.