President Obama now turns his attention to financial reform after his victory
last month on health care.
He met Wednesday with congressional leaders from
both parties at the White House. Republicans and Democrats differ on what to do.
But the president says there are some areas on which both sides can
agree.
BARACK OBAMA: "If there's one lesson that we've learned, it's that
[an] unfettered market where people are taking huge risks and expecting
taxpayers to bail them out when things go sour is simply not
acceptable."Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wrote in the Washington Post that
the deep financial crisis is close to the end. But he said the nation must not
forget the near-collapse of the banking system in two thousand eight without
fixing its causes.
On Tuesday, he told the American Society of News Editors
in Washington that no one is arguing against new financial protections. The
debate now, he said, is more complex.
The aim is to find a way to let big
financial companies fail without harming the economy, or do little harm to the
economy, such as impact crusher
economy.
In December, the House of Representatives passed the Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act. That bill would create a new consumer
financial protection agency. It would also increase investor protections and let
shareholders vote on the pay of top company officials. And it would create a
group to identify and regulate companies that are so big, their failure could
threaten the economy.
Republicans opposed the bill. That was also true last
month when the Senate Banking Committee approved its own version. That bill
would not create an independent consumer agency, but instead a new office at the
Federal Reserve, the central bank.
The full Senate must now debate the
measure. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says it would make future
bailouts more likely, not less.
Both measures in Congress call for a system
to supervise derivatives. These contracts are used for different purposes,
including investment and protecting against loss. The largely unregulated market
in derivatives is estimated at six hundred trillion dollars.
Government
rescues of banks considered "too big to fail" angered the public and helped fuel
a conservative movement. The Tea Party also opposes the new health care law and
argues for lower taxes and less government.
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