Wall Street Archives - Page 5 of 18 - Americans for Financial Reform

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.

Letters to Congress: Organizations Support Omarova as Comptroller of the Currency

AFR joined a letter to Congress in support of the nomination of Professor Saule Omarova to serve as the next Comptroller of the Currency.

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.

In The News: Private equity, hedge funds accounted for over $625 million in political spending during 2020 campaign, study says (CNBC)

“Whether it is preserving favored tax loopholes or forestalling more comprehensive reform, private fund executives spend on politics for the purpose of getting richer at the expense of everyone else,” Ricardo Valadez, private equity campaign manager at AFR, said.

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.

News Release: Private Equity Reform Needed to Curb Worker Abuse as Industry Explodes

The Stop Wall Street Looting Act would rewrite the rules that shape the private equity industry, which now has about $7.1 trillion in assets and wealth under its control, so that regulation and market incentives promote productive, sustainable investment, not the wealth extraction that now is all too common.

News Release: AFR Applauds the Confirmation of Rohit Chopra to the CFPB

AFR applauds the confirmation of Rohit Chopra as Director of the CFPB.

News Release: Companies Backed by Giant Private Equity Firms Received $5.3bn in COVID-19 Stimulus Funds

Hundreds of companies owned or backed by some of the most well financed private equity firms in the US secured an estimated $5.3 billion in public funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), reveals a new investigation published today.

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.”

Statement: AFR Mourns Passing of AFL-CIO President Trumka

Americans for Financial Reform mourns the passing of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, and our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the workers for and alongside whom he fought for decades. President Trumka was committed to the fight for Wall Street accountability as an important ingredient of advancing worker rights and racial and economic justice, and under his leadership, the AFL-CIO has been a key pillar of the fight for a fairer, financial system. We will continue to be inspired by him as we continue to work for economic justice and racial equity.