“The bill’s critics, including POGO, the AFL-CIO and Americans for Financial Reform, also wrote a letter to lawmakers warning of its impact on whistleblower protections. The bill, the letter said, ‘is an extreme approach that would silence would-be whistleblowers, endanger critical inside informants, undermine investigations, hamstring enforcement at the SEC and [Commodity Futures Trading Commission], and provide lawbreaking financial firms with an escape hatch from accountability.’”
“Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform, a consumer advocacy group, did not want to comment on Lew specifically. But he said the ascension of another official with big bank experience is a sign that the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington continues to swing. ‘Many political elites in both parties have moved through Wall Street,’ Stanley said. ‘In some cases, they worked at the same institutions as those lobbying against effective implementation of Dodd-Frank. I hope and expect that in a government role they can set that past aside and implement the law as written.”
“The final regulations are a ‘significant weakening’ of the CFTC’s original proposal, Marcus Stanley, policy director of Americans for Financial Reform, which includes AFL-CIO and other labor unions, said in an e-mail today. ‘The numerous opt-outs, exceptions, and safe harbors in the final rule can effectively give swap dealers a free pass out of compliance with key statutory protections,’ Stanley said.”
“Another consumer group shared Roper’s concerns. ‘These rules, unlike the initial proposal, are simply not sufficient to fully implement the Dodd-Frank protections,’ Americans for Financial Reform said in a release.”
“‘No one wants to say out loud they’re unsophisticated,’ said Marcus Stanley, policy director of the Washington-based nonprofit Americans For Financial Reform, a coalition of unions and civil rights and consumer advocates.”
“In other places, it is known as a ‘Robin Hood Tax’ and ‘Tobin tax,’ named for Nobel laureate James Tobin, who proposed in the early 1970s a tax on currency conversions. …A scaled-back tax of 1% would raise more than $200 billion, according to Americans For Financial Reform.”
