http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:57:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Letter to President Obama on Professor Elizabeth Warren Dear President Obama: It is time for you to give taxpayers, consumers, and investors a reason to believe that you are truly interested in consumer protection by nominating Professor Elizabeth Warren to be the Director of the much-anticipated Consumer Financial Protection ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=152 One of the most important measures we can advance to protect consumers and taxpayers is embodied in an amendment drafted by Senator Charles Schumer. Senator Schumer’s amendment (SA 3772) provides a facility to establish an independent non-governmental nonprofit Financial Consumers’ Association (FCA). FCA has broad support from leading ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=102 The Financial Consumers’ Association Over the last ten years the financial industry has spent, through lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions, over $5 billion pushing for and winning deregulation. This deregulation has come at a huge cost to taxpayers and consumers who currently have little voice in the regulatory debate. To protect ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=112 From the letter: The nation’s financial industries have a significant effect on the daily lives of the nation’s consumers. Consumers need both a strong regulatory agency to oversee financial services products and also an independent consumer voice to monitor the actions of financial corporations. A Financial Consumers’ Association would ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=120 Senate Amendment 3772 At the end of title X, add the following: Subtitle I--Financial Consumers Association SEC. 1121. SHORT TITLE. This subtitle may be cited as the "Financial Consumers Association Act of 2010'' SEC. 1122. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. (a) Findings.--Congress finds that-- (1) financial services consumers and depositors are an integral part of the financial system and ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=137 WHEN: Monday, January 25, 2:00 p.m. EST WHERE: Cannon House Office Building, Room 121 (Independence Ave. & First St., S.E.) Washington, DC WHO: Robert Weissman (president of Public Citizen - moderator); Dean Baker (co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, analyst and commentator); Robert Pollin (professor and co-director of the Political ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=97 What to do with Fannie and Freddie Roundtable Discussion 9:00: Coffee & Bagels 9:25: Welcome by Ralph Nader 9:40: Sarah Rosen Wartell, Executive Vice President, Center at American Progress 10:10: William Shear, Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment, Government Accountability Office: "Analysis of Options for Revising the Enterprises' Structures" 10:40: Peter Wallison, Arthur F. Burns ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=87 This Wall Street Watch Working Paper emphasizes the significant role of the major private credit rating firms in creating the housing bubble and subsequent financial crash of 2007-2008. M. Ahmed Diomande, Secretary of the New York State Senate Finance Committee, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst Profesors James Heintz and Robert ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=76 In this Wall Street Watch Working Paper, Jane D'Arista of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, details the industry concentration in the U.S. financial sector over the last several decades, analyzes the problem of "too big to fail" institutions, and recommends measures to address industry ... http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=73 This Wall Street Watch working paper by Professors James Crotty and Gerald Epstein, of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, urges that complex financial products be required to obtain approval from a government regulatory authority before they can be marketed. Download A Financial Precautionary Principle: New Rules for Financial Product Safety (PDF) http://wallstreetwatch.org/blog/?p=70