Editorial by Hillary Clinton: My Plan to Prevent the Next Crash

[riversedge]

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-08/hillary-clinton-s-plan-to-prevent-the-next-crash

My Plan to Prevent the Next Crash


526 Oct 8, 2015 3:05 PM EDT
By Hillary Clinton

Seven years after the financial crash, despite important new rules signed into law by President Barack Obama, there are risks in our financial system that could still cause another crisis. Banks have paid billions of dollars in fines, but few executives have been held personally accountable. “Too big to fail” is still too big a problem. Regulators don’t have all the tools and support they need to protect our economy. To prevent irresponsible behavior on Wall Street from ever again devastating Main Street, we need more accountability, tougher rules and stronger enforcement. I have a plan to build on the progress we’ve made under President Obama and do just that.

In the years before the crash, as financial firms piled risk upon risk, regulators in Washington either couldn’t or wouldn’t keep up. Top regulators under President George W. Bush posed for a picture literally taking a chain saw to banking rules. Before the crisis hit, as a senator from New York, I was alarmed by this gathering storm, and called for addressing the risks of derivatives, cracking down on abusive subprime mortgages and improving financial oversight. Unfortunately, the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress largely ignored calls for reform. The result cost 9 million Americans their jobs, drove 5 million families out of their homes and wiped out more than $13 trillion in household wealth.

Too Big to Fail

Thanks to President Obama’s leadership and the determination and sacrifice of the American people, we’ve worked our way out of that ditch and put our economy on sounder footing. Now we have to keep going.

First, it’s time for more accountability on Wall Street. Stories of misconduct in the financial industry are shocking -- like HSBC allowing drug cartels to launder money or five major banks pleading guilty to felony charges for conspiring to manipulate currency exchange rates. This is criminal behavior, yet the individuals responsible often get off with limited consequences -- or none at all. I want to change that.

People who commit serious financial crimes should face serious consequences, including big fines, disbarment from working in the industry and the prospect of imprisonment. As president, I will seek to extend the statute of limitations for major financial crimes, enhance whistle-blower rewards, and increase resources for the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate and prosecute individuals. We should also hold financial executives accountable for egregious misconduct by their subordinates. They need to lose their bonuses and, in some cases, their jobs................

[stonecutter357]

1. K&R!

[SunSeeker]

2. Sounds good to me!

[oasis]

3. K and r

[quickesst]

4. A big....

....K&R!!

[JaneyVee]

5. Now she's even writing editorials?

Are any other candidates going to even release policy proposals on this issue before the debate, or are they just going to stand on the sidelines and throw mud?

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I like, and agree with, and support this plan ...

What I like most about it is that most of it can be accomplished within the office of the President!

The one part that I am skeptical of is the High Frequency Trading Tax ... it would require Congress and I am, still, uneasy with the prospects of unintended consequences, as they, if any, will fail heavily on the middle class, retirees and local governments (affecting the working class and the poor).

But overall, in my estimation, it is a great plan.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Love the way she's rolling out her campaign!

Excellent

[magical thyme]

8. So Hillary plans to go after her biggest donors?

Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc Agree to Plead Guilty In Connection With The Foreign Exchange Market and Agree to Pay More Than $2.5 Billion In Criminal Fines
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-major-banks-agree-parent-level-guilty-pleas

Credit Suisse Pleads Guilty in Felony Case
As part of a deal announced on Monday, the Swiss bank met the demands, agreeing to one count of conspiring to aid tax evasion in a scheme that “spanned decades.” Credit Suisse, which has a giant investment bank in New York and whose chief executive is an American, will also pay about $2.6 billion in penalties and hire an independent monitor for up to two years.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/credit-suisse-set-to-plead-guilty-in-tax-evasion-case/?_r=0



Citigroup $824,402
JP Morgan $696,456
Credit Suisse $318,120

https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00000019

[Exilednight]

9. Anyone who actually knows economics will see this as evidence that

Hillary has no understanding of what happened during the Great Recession, nor what is happening now.

This kind of ignorance should not be allowed near the White House.