Tom Carper and Chris Coons are currently working to undo everything good that happened after the finical meltdown of 2008. In an attempt to take us back to the bad old days and undo many of the regulatory reforms achieved under Dodd-Frank, Tom Carper and Chris Coons have presented the regulatory roll back as relief to small and regional banks. But that doesn’t pass the “If it walks like a duck” test.
Former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair, and a wide array of Wall Street watch dogs, say that it goes too far and will, in fact, “substantially reduc[e] the regulation of 25 of the 38 largest banks to which [enhanced prudential] standards now apply,” as well as harm consumers.
The public apparently agrees with the (re)deregulation skeptics.
According to the latest polling from PPP. Their results show there are two simple reasons for the public’s strong support for the regulations and distrust of the banks: “they think effective regulation of banks is needed to avoid another financial crisis, and they think big banks already have too much influence in Washington.”
- Fully 64% of voters think big banks and finance companies continue to require tough oversight to avoid another financial crisis. Only 25% think Congress went too far in regulating the financial services industry after the 2008 crisis.
- Overall, 59% of voters support Dodd-Frank, the law Congress passed to regulate Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis. Only 21 percent oppose it. And 20 percent are not sure.
- Only 17% of voters support loosening regulations on banks with between $50 billion and $250 billion dollars in assets, to 67% who are opposed. Democrats (11/80), independents (15/63), and Republicans (25/54) are all strongly against that provision.
- Only 22% support provisions to loosen the rules on mortgage lenders, to 65% who are opposed. There is a strong bipartisan consensus against that as well with Democrats (17/76), independents (18/64), and Republicans (33/53) in agreement it’s a bad idea.