On the recordMay 25, 2010
As financial reform takes shape, we must ask: Do Wall Street banks serve America or themselves? In these last years, we've seen the answer, and it is no surprise. Wall Street serves Wall Street. It could care less about the lives they ruin while seeking profits and bonuses. The Bush administration allowed Wall Street banks to chase profit by building their growth on a weak foundation of risky debt. Their scheme collapsed. They held America's savings hostage. Congress could not afford to let them fail, so they couldn't lose. Of course, they didn't. America lost. The International Monetary Fund estimates these gambles have destroyed nearly $3 trillion of economic value. Recently, economists have estimated the entire cost of World War II to be, roughly, the same. In other words, Wall Street banks devised a way to make billions in profits and bonuses while wiping out the savings of millions of Americans. They cannot be allowed to do that again. The final bill must end their gambling and protect our savings.
