We can’t afford to let Wall Street keep taking us for a ride: Americans need a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to bring fairness and accountability to the financial sector.
Occupy Wall Street has already accomplished a great deal by shifting public discourse in this country. Instead of focusing on the need for austerity and deficit reduction, attention is rightly being directed at economic disparities and the deep structural problems that the United States faces.
One grievance of the protesters targeting Wall Street is that financial elites wield way too much power in our democracy. That complaint is hardly new, but the latest figures on money in politics tells a truly troubling story about the vast resources that Wall Street has put into shaping both the legislative process and elections.
Last month, the White House introduced a program that would effectively overhaul the tax code and, as Robert Kuttner put it, "locked [Obama] in as a defender of social insurance and working Americans." The five-pronged tax plan would cut rates and inefficient and unfair tax breaks, increase investment and growth in the United States, reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years and -- most contentiously -- institute the "Buffett rule."
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a pair of decisions affirming campaign finance disclosure provisions in Maine and Rhode Island. I let out a sigh of relief when I read them.
Boston, MA - Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit -- covering Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island -- issued a decision upholding Maine's campaign finance disclosure provisions, which had been challenged by the anti-gay marriage National Organization for Marriage. In response, Lisa Danetz, Demos Senior Counsel, issued the following statement:
A commission appointed by the Massachusetts legislature is considering the creating a state Partnership Bank to boost the local economy by increasing community development lending.
New York – Today’s narrow 5-4 decision in McComish v. Bennett continues the Roberts Court’s retreat on fairness in elections, striking down trigger provisions that allowed publicly financed candidates in Arizona to receive additional funds for their campaigns when their spending was outstripped by their privately financed opponents.
New York, NY – 'Shadow Market' investment products have come under scrutiny following the banking meltdown, but they continue to be aggressively marketed to clients who can least afford the potentially catastrophic losses. Millions of American seniors could see their golden years turn bleak if the poorly regulated derivatives underpinning their investment plans implode, according to "How Safe Are Your Savings? How Complex Derivative Products Imperil Seniors' Retirement Security."
New York, NY – On the eve of Earth Day, a new report by the policy center Demos spotlights the dangerous effects of the millions of tons of electronics that are thrown away each year by American households.
NEW YORK, NY – The idea of regulation — of using the institutions of government to set and enforce rules for the world of business — has come under fierce attack. This week, House committees will hold four separate hearings based on the premise that our nation’s economy is chafing under the restraint of excessive regulation and overly powerful regulators.
New York, NY — On Black Friday, a massive amount of highly polluting, future consumer electronic waste is about to be unleashed, according to a new report by the national policy center Demos. The Consumer Electronics Association says 74 percent of Americans buying gifts this holiday season will likely purchase consumer electronics, spending an average of $230 each on hot ticket items such as tablets, notebooks, e-readers, and smart phones. About 11 million flat screen televisions will be sold in the final quarter of 2010 alone.
Washington — SenatorAl Franken (D-MN) has introduced a financial-reform amendment that finally addresses the root problem of the credit rating agencies—their built-in conflict of interest. The "Restore Integrity to Credit Ratings" amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), substantially embraces a remedy set forth in a recent Demos policy paper on this subject.