Big Bank Takeover

As the debate heats up over Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I took a step out on my own. I got a divorce. I am no longer a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank. more »

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It's a wet, rainy day in Washington D.C. Enough to soak anyone who stands outside long enough. But it wasn't enough to put out the fiery anger of hundreds of activists who took to the streets of the capitol today, to deliver a message to Wall Street's K Street lobbyists: Stop standing in the way of financial reform, and start taking responsibility for your failure.

The "Main Street lobbyists," as AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Schuler dubbed them, crowded Franklin Square in numbers greater than the Wall Street lobbyists who are the focus of the new Campaign for America's Future report "Big Bank Takover: How Too-Big-Too-Fail's Army of Lobbyists Has Captured Washington." The report's findings include:

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Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., has proposed an amendment to the financial reform bill that would severely weaken consumer protections to the point where it is understood to be one of the more destructive changes to the bill. more »

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In 2008, economist Nouriel Roubini popularized the term "shadow banking system" to describe the non-bank financial institutions that eventually helped spur the collapse of the financial system: highly-leveraged hedge funds, investment banks, and the like. more »

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Over the course of the financial reform process, the six biggest banks and their trade associations have waged an historic assault on democracy, hiring hundreds of revolving door lobbyists and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to push their legislative agenda according to a report released today by the Campaign for America's Future. more »

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Two-hundred and forty former legislators, bank committee staffers, and Treasury officials deployed to lobby. $600 million spent in lobbying, trade association activity and political contributions since March 2008. And that is just from the six biggest banks. The entire financial industry is spending an estimated $1.4 million a day, hiring 70 former members of Congress to make their case.

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