Wednesday, the President finally signed the Wall Street Reform bill. . At the signing ceremony for the financial reform bill after months of debate, Obama called Wall Street reform “the strongest consumer financial protections in history.”. If you ask republicans their opinion, the bill will hurt community banks and make for more unemployment within the country by bailing out Wall Street over and over.
Financial reform bill changes the laws
Two years after runaway Wall Street greed nearly collapsed the U.S. economy, the president signed the bill after months of debate. The bill barely passed in Senate although Politico reports Democrats wanted a bipartisan financial reform bill. Most Republicans argued the bill failed to address the root cause of the 2008 financial crisis- the lending policies at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Rules in place might cause many jobs to be moved overseas with the financial reform bill.
Who attended the signing ceremony
At the signing ceremony for the financial reform bill, Obama was flanked by the senators who authored the bill- Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, as well as others from Congress who contributed to the reform efforts. The Washington Post tells us that what will tell us most about the bill is not those who attended; rather, those who didn’t attend will tell us more. The event didn’t send out invitations to the following- Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, John Stumpf of Wells Fargo, Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase, and James Dimon of Morgan Stanley.
Reforming Wall Street almost
During the ceremony, Obama challenged criticism from Republicans and Wall Street. In his remarks about the bill he believes strongly in, he said the financial system “only works – our markets are only free – when there are clear rules and basic safeguards that prevent abuse, that check excess, that ensure that it is more profitable to play by the rules than to game the system.” The president also said the meat of the financial reform bill will be left to regulators and that Wall Street greed will nevertheless have wiggle room to maneuver. It may be longer than a year for many of the regulations in the bill to start taking place.
Republicans think we are just bailing out Wall Street?
The financial reform bill overcame strenuous opposition from Republicans, who charged that by targeting Wall Street greed, it did not address the root issues that caused the meltdown. CBS News reports that in a statement following the signing, House Republican leader John Boehner (who did not receive a signing ceremony invitation) said the bill “provides permanent bailouts for his Wall Street allies at the expense of community banks and small businesses around the country, when doing nothing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government mortgage companies that triggered the financial meltdown by giving too numerous high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford them.”
Additional info at these websites
Politico
politico.com/news/stories/0710/40027.html
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/21/AR2010072101614.html?hpid=topnews
CBS News
cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20011201-503544.html
