Read our letter supporting a financial transaction tax here, or below. —————————————————————————————– October 21, 2011 Representative Jeb Hensarling 129 Cannon House Office Building Washington DC 20515 Senator Patty Murray 448 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20515 Re: Financial Speculation Tax Dear Senator
In a letter to Congress, AFR urges Senators to oppose the Crapo Amendment 814 to HR 2112, which would inhibit financial regulators ability to oversee the shadow markets in derivatives.
“Wall Street driven excessive speculation in commodities market has increased prices – and price volatility – for everyday commodities including oil and food. It is costing US consumers hundreds of billions of dollars, driving up costs and uncertainty for producers, holding back economic recovery, and causing increased hunger and privation in the poorest parts of the world.”
An AFR congressional briefing regarding how a small tax on financial transactions could raise tens of billions of dollars a year and curb dangerous high speed trading.
Independent Consumer Regulator Or Unaccountable Agency? Prominent Academic Experts Discuss the Powers, Checks and Balances, and Structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
Click here to view this week’s highlights and lowlights in Wall Street Reform – October 8, 2011 – October 14, 2011.
Here is a compilation of all the press coverage AFR received around the release of the Volcker Rule proposal.
The oil price spike of the past year, which saw gasoline prices increase by over a dollar from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2011, will drive household expenditures on gasoline to a record average of $2900 this year. Crude oil is about $30 higher than costs or historic trends justify, generating needlessly high prices for petroleum products that will drain about $200 billion out of the economy.
Today’s House Agriculture committee hearing is a loophole festival for the big swaps dealers. The Committee is considering seven different pieces of legislation. Almost every one of them would carve a significant loophole in the new derivatives protections created by the Dodd Frank Act.
Ben Protess (DealBook/NYT)
October 11, 2011
“Unfortunately, this initial proposal does not deliver on the promise of the Volcker Rule or the requirements of the statute,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director of American for Financial Reform, an advocacy group. …“The vagueness of the proposal, and the hundreds of questions it includes, also demonstrate that we are still in the middle of this process,” said Mr. Stanley. “It’s important to use this opportunity to strengthen the rule – and to prevent Wall Street lobbyists from weakening it still further.”