Tag Archives: Wall Street

In The News: Who’s Afraid of Saule Omarova? How a Joe Biden nominee became the target of a ludicrous red-baiting campaign.

“The administration settled on a smart person with a background in the banking industry and in government as well as path-breaking scholarship on financial regulation,” said Carter Dougherty, a spokesperson for Americans for Financial Reform. “In less polarized times, somebody appointed by a Democratic president who worked for a previous Republican administration and for a Wall Street firm would be the kind of candidate everyone can agree on. But we’re at a moment where a candidate acceptable to Wall Street is a candidate that does the bidding of Wall Street. And that’s not acceptable to the public interest.”

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.

News Release: Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Mark Pocan Join Town Hall, Build Momentum for  Halting Private Equity Abuses of Workers, Communities

At a town hall hosted by United for Respect and Americans for Financial Reform, workers and leaders across industries came out strongly in support of the Stop Wall Street Looting Act. The event focused on the devastating impact of private equity firms on the quality and quantity of jobs across industries.

Report: Private Equity and Hedge Fund Money in Politics in 2019-20

Wall Street private equity and hedge funds pumped at least $627 million into the political process – campaign contributions and lobbying – during the 2019-2020 election cycle. The sum, amounting to about $858,000 each day, reflects the meteoric rise in the size and scope of the private funds industry, which has come to control vast swaths of the American economy over the last decade.

In The News: Progressive Opposition to Jerome Powell Clouds His Chances for Second Term as Fed Chairman (The Wall Street Journal)

Reappointing Mr. Powell “would be disappointing” for those who care about Mr. Biden’s agenda to address financial regulation, climate change and racial wealth gaps, said Erik Gerding, a senior fellow at Americans for Financial Reform, a nonprofit that argues for tougher financial regulation. “Having Jerome Powell continue would just mean one less vote for sustained and healthy regulation of the banking system.”