Obama signed the Wall Street reform bill Wednesday. The financial reform bill should change the financial industry more than other things since the Depression. 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. The bill barely passed in Senate although Politico reports Democrats wanted a bipartisan financial reform bill. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were agreed by numerous to be the cause of the 2008 financial crisis, making the bill inaccurate. Republicans also said the bill would force financial firms to move jobs overseas to stay away from stricter oversight.
Attending guests at 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, also 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. Among those who did not receive a signing ceremony invitation were Wall Street titans James Gorman of Morgan Stanley, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, John Stumpf of Wells Fargo and Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan Chase.
Reforming Wall Street almost
Republicans and Wall Street have given Obama a lot of criticism which he challenged. 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 financial reform bill will leave room for regulators and Wall Street to make their own decisions still. Plus, a number of parts of the legislation won’t take effect for a year or more as regulators implement new rules.
Bailing out Wall Street as outlined by Republicans?
The financial reform bill overcame strenuous opposition from Republicans, who charged that by targeting Wall Street greed, it did not address the root problems that caused the meltdown. It was reported by CBS News that House Republican leader John Boehner who wasn’t invited to the signing feels the bill “provides permanent bailouts for his Wall Street allies at the expense of community banks and small companies 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 individuals who couldn’t afford them.”
Additional details 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
