Reports, Fact Sheets, Background Papers Archives - Page 3 of 7

Report: Pandemic-Related Assistance a Backdoor Bailout of Biggest Banks

While it’s true that the largest banks currently look solvent in the face of economic stress, this is in significant part because they have benefited greatly from regulatory forbearance and from Federal Reserve intervention in financial markets. This report, based on analysis of regulations and bank financial reports by Americans for Financial Education Fund and Risky Finance, lays out some of the clearest ways in which the nation’s six largest banks have benefited from regulatory forbearance and the Federal Reserve’s financial market interventions.

Policy Memo: SPAC-tacular for Wall Street, For the Rest of Us, Less So

The folk legend Robin Hood was, as every child knows, the legendary outlaw who robbed from the rich to give to the poor. But in a reincarnation of a long-running Wall Street scheme, it is the wily financiers who rob from the ordinary folk holding investment accounts at Robinhood.

Report: The Deadly Combination Of Private Equity And Nursing Homes During A Pandemic

New Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund report found that private equity owned and backed nursing home chains have higher resident infection and death rates and a larger share of Coronavirus cases and deaths compared to their share of residents relative to for-profit, non-profit, and public facilities in New Jersey.

FACT SHEETS AND REPORTS: Big Banks Should Not Be Permitted to Pay Dividends in the Current Crisis

At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, big banks will be paying some $13 billion in shareholder dividends. If this level of dividends continues for the rest of 2020, big banks could be permitted to pay out over $50 billion in dividends for 2020.

Policy Memo: Federal Reserve Lending Facilities for Private Companies and Securitizations

AFR Education Fund released the following policy memo analyzing the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented move to provide direct credit to states and localities. A pdf copy of the memo is available here. Review of New Federal Reserve Facilities On April 9th the Federal Reserve announced six

Policy Memo: Federal Reserve Lending Facility for States and Localities

AFR Education Fund released the following policy memo analyzing the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented move to provide direct credit to states and localities.

Fact Sheet: Massive Payoffs to Shareholders Laid the Groundwork for the Current Bailout

The CARES Act stimulus continues a pattern of permissive regulation of large corporations that has enabled them to channel their income to providing capital payouts to wealthy shareholders and top executives, rather than support for workers or investment towards the long-term stability and success of the firms.

covid-19 particle Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

AFR EF and NCLC’s Policy Recommendations to Protect Consumers during the COVID-19 Crisis

The recommendations below are focused on direct relief for consumers and individuals with debt burdens, which should be in addition to other efforts to provide broader fiscal relief and to support small businesses.

fence with a yellow sign that says 'danger' = Photo by JF Martin on Unsplash

Report: Private Equity’s Chemical Catastrophe in Texas

The day before Thanksgiving, a chemical plant operated by the TPC Group exploded in Port Neches, Texas spewing contaminants, forcing over 50,000 people to evacuate, and leaving the community with the lingering aftereffects of an industrial disaster. The TPC Group is owned by two private equity (PE) firms, SK Capital Partners (SK) and First Reserve. The private equity owned chemical plants in Texas held by SK Capital have a long record of environmental violations — not just the TPC Group factories but other SK Capital portfolio firms.

Report: Pirate Equity: How Wall Street Firms are Pillaging American Retail

New report revealing how in the last 10 years, a staggering 597,000 people working at retail companies owned by private equity firms and hedge funds have lost their jobs. An estimated additional 728,000 indirect jobs have been lost at suppliers and local businesses, meaning Wall Street’s gamble on retail has led to more than 1.3 million job losses in total.