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.”. Republicans called the bill a permanent Wall Street bailout that would hurt small community banks and send jobs overseas.
Financial reform as law
The U.S. economy was severely hurt by Wall Street two years ago, and after months of debate, Obama has finally finished signing the bill. Politico reports that Democrats hoped to produce a strong bipartisan financial reform bill, but in the end it barely passed in the Senate with a handful of Republican votes. Most Republicans argued the bill failed to address the root reason for 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.
Signing ceremony guest list
Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut were at the signing ceremony along with other Congress who supported the bill. But the Washington Post reports that the individuals who weren’t there speak volumes about the bill. Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase, John Stumpf of Wells Fargo, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley weren’t even invited to the event.
Reforming Wall Street almost
Republicans and Wall Street have given Obama a lot of criticism which he challenged. 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 that the meat of the financial reform bill can be left to regulators and that Wall Street greed will nevertheless have wiggle room to maneuver. It may be longer than a year for numerous of the regulations in the bill to start taking place.
Bill just to help Wall Street out?
Republicans believe that the bill doesn’t address the real problem of the financial meltdown when targeting Wall Street. It was reported by CBS News that House Republican leader John Boehner who was not invited to the signing feels that 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 many high-risk loans to people who couldn’t afford them.”
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
