Rob Andrews: “I thank my very good friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, so you are in the lunchroom at work. This guy comes in from the…”

“I thank my very good friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, so you are in the lunchroom at work. This guy comes in from the investment house, and he shows 18 slides about the red fund-- smiling people who are on fishing trips and on European vacations. They are really happy people. {time} 1545 He shows one slide about the blue fund at the very end and finishes his presentation. The red fund looks pretty good. What he doesn't tell you is that he gets 2\1/2\ percent of every dollar you put into the red fund, but \1/2\ of 1 percent of every dollar you put in the blue fund. He neglects to mention that. So people rush and put their money in the red fund. Now, should his interest be aligned with you or should his interest be aligned with his own interest? That is the question that is raised by this bill. The Department of Labor is writing a rule that for the first time would say that that person standing in front of you in that room has a fiduciary obligation to the person listening, that is to say that he has to put the interest of the listener ahead of his own financial interest. Self-interest is the malignancy that brought the U.S. economy to its knees 5 years ago. People who made mortgage transactions and insurance transactions benefited them and not the people they are supposed to be representing. To permit the cancer of self-interest to invade the second most important asset people have in their lifetime, which is their pension, would be an enormous mistake.…”