Political Quotes

“Madam President, most of my colleagues might look at these pictures and think they depict facilities owned by ExxonMobil or BP, but this is, amazingly enough, a picture of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley, to most Americans and most people in this Chamber, if they know of it, is a bank. Morgan Stanley used to be an investment bank and now it is just considered a bank. Let me explain. Morgan Stanley owns a company called TransMontaigne, a petroleum and chemical transportation and storage company, and Heidmar Inc., which reportedly manages more than 100 oil tankers--tankers that look like this. Today I held a banking subcommittee hearing, which the Presiding Officer attended, as did Senator Merkley and Senator Toomey, to examine how the line between banks and commercial enterprises is blurring. Increasingly, these large institutions combine banks and trading firms and energy suppliers and oil refiners and warehouses, as well as shipping firms and oil tankers and mining companies. Federally insured bank holding companies, once in the business of providing checking and savings accounts to workers or loans to small businesses, are now also in the business of owning physical commodities, including aluminum, oil, and electricity. Witnesses testified at the subcommittee hearing that these risky Wall Street practices are artificially inflating prices for manufacturers and consumers.…”