WG/Strategies/Finanacial Regulation

Use the Discussion tab for this page to discuss proposed goals involving regulation of the financial industry. Place reference information on this topic here on the Page tab. To find another topic, return to the Strategies, Proposals, Positions page.

Proposals

(Numbers show the order in which they were added. Some proposals have been moved to the bottom or to another page.)

1. Break up the monopolies.The so-called "Too Big to Fail" financial companies – now sometimes called by the more accurate term "Systemically Dangerous Institutions" – are a direct threat to national security. They are above the law and above market consequence, making them more dangerous and unaccountable than a thousand mafias combined. There are about 20 such firms in America, and they need to be dismantled; a good start would be to repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and mandate the separation of insurance companies, investment banks and commercial banks. - Matt Taibi in My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters,

2. Pay for your own bailouts. This proposal is moved to the bottom since there has been no support on its discussion thread.

3. No public money for private lobbying. This proposal is moved to End Corporate Personhood, where it fits better.

4. Tax hedge-fund gamblers. This proposal is moved to Tax Reform, where it fits better.

5. Change the way bankers get paid. We need new laws preventing Wall Street executives from getting bonuses upfront for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later. It should be: You make a deal today, you get company stock you can redeem two or three years from now. That forces everyone to be invested in his own company's long-term health – no more Joe Cassanos pocketing multimillion-dollar bonuses for destroying the AIGs of the world. - Matt Taibi in My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters,
In addition...

6. Audit FINRA. FINRA is a non-governmental entity tasked with minding the financial markets, and it's awful at it's job. It had Madoff and associates peppered throughout during the height of his Ponzi scheme and has a reputation for being too cozy with the private sector it's supposed to be monitoring. FINRA needs to be audited for practices and, if necessary, folded into the SEC for direct government oversight.

7. An army of accountants. America is willing to pony up a few billion to beef up our financial regulatory agencies with accountants. The SEC needs to have as many eyes, hands and calculators as necessary to perform their jobs.

8. Reinstate Glass-Steagall type legislation. Separate investment banking from commercial banking. This piggy backs of Proposal 1. Break up the monopolies. This issue need also address direct lending of financial institutions from the Federal Reserve discount window.

9. Pass campaign finance reform - Possible solutions: limiting contributions from corporations, accepting only small donor contributions, publicly funded elections, overturning citizens united

Serious Concerns

Please put most concerns and questions into the Discussion tab, and only summarize items here when they are clear, short and serious.

Unsupported proposals:

2. Pay for your own bailouts. A tax of 0.1 percent on all trades of stocks and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on all trades of derivatives would generate enough revenue to pay us back for the bailouts, and still have plenty left over to fight the deficits the banks claim to be so worried about. It would also deter the endless chase for instant profits through computerized insider-trading schemes like High Frequency Trading, and force Wall Street to go back to the job it's supposed to be doing, i.e., making sober investments in job-creating businesses and watching them grow.
- Matt Taibi in My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters,

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Based on: SPP Finanacial Regulation at wikispaces