Category Archives: Events

Event: The Hidden Racism of the Tax Code: a Fireside Chat with Dr. Dorothy A. Brown & Dr. Darrick Hamilton

The Take on Wall Street campaign of Americans for Financial Reform hosted a virtual fireside chat with Dr. Dorothy A. Brown, Professor of Law at Emory University and author of The Whiteness of Wealth and Dr. Darrick Hamilton, director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, to discuss the white supremacy inherent in our tax code and how American tax policies impoverish Black Americans while enriching white Americans, and how we can restructure our system to focus on justice and equity.

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Event: Americans for Financial Reform Hosts a Conversation with Professor Art Wilmarth

AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst Renita Marcellin hosted a conversation with Professor Art Wilmarth, author of Taming the Megabanks: Why We Need a New Glass-Steagall Act. Professor Wilmarth discussed why structural protections, such as a modern Glass-Steagall Act and the separation between banking and commerce, are necessary in the banking system. They also examined how the erasure of these laws have led to many of the challenges we are currently facing in the financial system including ILCs/special purpose charters, the rise of Fintech firms, and stablecoins and highlighted the urgency of revisiting laws on structural separations in the banking system.

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Event: Americans for Financial Reform and Allies Protest Fed Chair Powell Sleepwalking on Climate Chaos, Racial Inequality, and Wall Street greed

Americans for Financial Reform and allies today rallied in front of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to highlight Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s failure to protect the U.S. economy from major systemic threats like climate change, racial and economic inequality, excessive risk-taking from the big banks, and private equity firms extracting wealth from communities and workers across the nation.

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A Wall Street street sign

Event: Stop Wall Street Looting Act Townhall

Ricardo Valadez from Americans for Financial Reform and Jessica Newman from United for Respect co-hosted a Stop Wall Street Looting Act townhall that featured speakers from Center for Popular Democracy, CASA Montgomery County, United Mine Workers of America, Communications Workers of America, and videos of Senator Warren and Representative Mark Pocan.

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Event: Stock Buybacks Tax Hill Briefing

Take on Wall Street/AFR, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, and United for Respect hosted a briefing for Hill staffers on September 23, 2021, to explain why Wall Street needs an excise tax on stock buybacks and why now is the

sign for the CFPB outside a building

Webinar: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 10th Birthday, with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Chairwoman Maxine Waters

The creation of the CFPB was a crucial, hard-won victory for the thousands of advocates, activists, allied organizations, and community leaders in AFR’s coalition. On Monday, July 19, these groups and individuals  gathered virtually to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the CFPB and celebrate the bureau’s leadership in fighting for a just financial system. 

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Brookings Institution Webinar: The Future of Bank Overdraft Fees 

On Thursday,  July 15, Linda Jun, senior counsel at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, spoke on a panel about the harms of bank overdraft fees and alternatives to the current system. She was joined by other consumer advocates and representatives from banks and financial technology firms that are creating alternatives to bank overdraft fees. The panel focused on new tools and technologies designed to help consumers avoid overdraft fees while maintaining flexible banking options. 

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