Public Citizen – Bringing the heat of reality to a GOP freeze on public safeguards

The U.S. House of Representatives refuses to let up on its quixotic mission to destroy public safeguards. Its latest incarnation is H.R. 4078, the “Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012,” a misguided bill that seeks to halt regulatory protections until the unemployment rate is equal or less than six percent. It was the topic [...]

U.S. PIRG – We Tell the Financial Regulators: Don’t Let Big Banks Make Taxpayer-Backed Bets

U.S. PIRG and the AFL-CIO joined Americans for Financial Reform in a detailed comment letter urging issuance of a strong Volcker rule by the financial regulators. It’s a 72-page pdf comment letter that basically comes down to one simple thing. We tell the financial regulators: don’t let big banks make taxpayer-backed bets. The rule implements [...]

Public Citizen — The Power to Break Up the Big Banks

The idea that behemoth banks should be broken up is widespread and bipartisan, embraced by regulators and politicians alike. Regulators—past and present—including Simon Johnson, Richard Fisher and Thomas Hoenig have offered public support for downsizing and reforming “too big to fail banks.” The latest to publicly embrace the idea is Sheila Bair, the Republican-appointed FDIC [...]

DEMOS — State of the Union: Holding the Powerful Accountable for Bad Behavior

President Obama made a strong stab at outlining a progressive narrative last night that envisions a nation where “everybody plays by the same rules.” It’s a pretty simple idea, tapping the powerful American ideal of egalitarianism — that all of us should get a “fair shot” and that nobody is too high and mighty to [...]