Main Street Wins: Senate OKs Wall Street Reform, Obama Signs

In a “historic shift of power” from Wall Street to Main Street, President Obama approved sweeping Wall Street reform legislation.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, says the bill, which will rein-in some of the most reckless Wall Street/Big Bank practices that shoved the nation’s economy over the cliff,

represents a historic shift of power—away from big bankers and CEOs to working families and Main Street.  For years, Big Banks have profited on the backs of working families. Millions of working families lost their jobs and still can’t find work because of the reckless and selfish actions of Wall Street and the big banks.

Just this April, more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and in May, thousands more marched on K Street in Washington, D.C., demanding Wall Street reform. We also generated tens of thousands of e-mail messages and phone calls and rallied outside banks and Wall Street financial institutions. Such mobilization helped ensure that many of the Wall Street reforms working families advocated are in the final product.

The bill includes new rules on how banks handle derivatives. Derivatives are the complex and risky financial products developed by Wall Street and Big Banks that were at the heart of the financial collapse. The bill regulates banks’ hedge fund operations and gives shareholders more of a say on corporate governance.

It also creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rein in subprime mortgages, payday lending and abusive credit practices. The bill protects taxpayers from footing the bill for failing financial institutions by giving government regulators the authority to liquidate the companies by breaking them apart, selling assets and forcing creditors and shareholders to take losses—not the taxpayers.