Wall Street Reform

The economic crisis is among the greatest challenges that the United States has faced. There’s plenty of blame to go around, from past administrations and Congresses who cared more for special interests than to appropriately protect the public interest, to American consumers, a few of whom actually abused the system themselves. Too many others were simply uninformed and didn’t take the necessary steps to assure that they were making the proper financial decisions. A lax financial regulatory system and a Federal Reserve system enabled reckless behavior. On balance, the entire system failed and our country is paying the price and will continue to do so for years to come.

That said, we have taken important steps to make our our nation more fiscally fit.

Wall Street Reform passed into law a set of financial product protections as an important step towards re-balancing priorities and strengthening the foundations in our financial system to deal with families, consumers and the integrity of our institutions. Although legislation that outlines some of the protections was recently signed into law, it is just the beginning of long term reform. It creates new federal regulations to protect consumers and the global economy from the risks of the systemic failure of large, interconnected financial companies.

The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) is an important part of this system. Just as American consumers are protected from products that can cause serious physical harm, they should also be protected from products that can cause financial ruin. The CFPA will extend to financial products, such as mortgages, credit cards, and “payday” lenders, the consumer protections already given to everyday goods and will closely examine lending practices to ensure that consumers are treated fairly. It will also require that banks prominently display information regarding the fees and charges associated with their overdraft protection programs.