“…This legislation would be better dubbed ‘Wall Street’s CHOICE Act’, as it would have a devastating effect on the capacity of regulators to protect the public interest and defend consumers and investors from Wall Street wrongdoing… This nearly 600-page bill is a radical piece of legislation…”
“Wall Street banks are already expert tax-dodgers. According to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy data, nine of the largest and most profitable U.S. banks paid an average federal tax rate of only 18.6% between 2008 and 2015–far less than the statutory rate of 35%. …Tax plans from President Trump and House Republicans would only make it easier for Wall Street to rig the tax code and avoid paying their fair share.”
A new “Retirement Ripoff Counter” unveiled today at an event with Senator Elizabeth Warren and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka shows how important it is that the fiduciary rule be fully implemented. Bad advice costs Americans $46 million a day, $1.9 million per hour, and $532 a second.
“Today, consumer and civil rights groups, leading legal scholars and members of Congress will submit amicus briefs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the case of PHH Corporation v. CFPB in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The diverse amici urge the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to maintain a strong, independent agency to protect American consumers. …’In the five years since it opened its doors, the CFPB has worked tirelessly to enforce the laws that went ignored in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, and has done more than any other federal agency to empower consumers against predatory, deceptive, and outright fraudulent behavior by bad actors in the financial industry…,’ said Wade Henderson, president and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.”
Judge Gorsuch’s stated views suggest his appointment would also help financial companies’ efforts to eliminate the rules necessary to protect the economy from another financial calamity induced by Wall Street’s recklessness
AFR submitted the comment letter linked and excerpted below that strongly opposes the Department of Labor’s proposal to delay fiduciary protections for retirement investors.
AFR and dozens of other organizations weigh in against the Department of Labor’s proposed delay of the fiduciary rule.
The Department of Labor’s proposal to delay the fiduciary rule is clearly part of the Trump administration’s plan to undo it altogether. Blocking this common-sense, long overdue rule, which requires retirement advisers to act in their customers’ best interests.
“’People know that financial companies were running amok, and that kind of behavior takes money out of people’s pockets and was the cause of a financial crisis,’ said Lisa Donner, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform. ‘President Trump campaigned on standing up to Wall Street, and I don’t think his voters are looking for putting Goldman Sachs even more in charge.’”
We can, and will, fight at every step against Wall Street burning it all down — again. And we’ll fight for a financial system that serves an economy that works for the rest of us.