On the recordApril 22, 2010
As we prepare to consider legislation that includes some of the strongest reforms of Wall Street ever, it is important that we not lose sight of exactly what is on the line for the American people; that we will not allow complicated financial products and terminology to distract from the fact that this is a debate about fairness, about family finances, and protecting against another economic collapse; that we remember for Wall Street lobbyists, this may be complex, but for the American people it is pretty simple. For them this is a debate about whether they can walk into a bank and sign up for a mortgage or apply for a credit card or start a retirement plan. Are the rules on their side when they do that, or are they with the big banks on Wall Street? For far too long, the financial rules of the road have favored big banks and credit card companies and Wall Street. For far too long they have abused those rules. Whether it was gambling with the money in our pension funds or making bets they could not cover or peddling mortgages to people they knew could never pay, Wall Street made expensive choices that came at the expense of working families. Wall Street used its 'anything goes' rules to create a situation where everybody else paid, and Wall Street created a system that put their own short-term profits before the long-term interests of this country. The simple truth is, it is time to end this system that puts Wall Street before Main Street.
