Blue Mass Group

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Coakley Delivers Plan for Financial Regulatory Overhaul

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 “I firmly believe that we cannot afford to wait to take action on these problems – the time for reform is now,” said Attorney General Coakley.

“Real economic recovery is dependent on our ability to regain the public’s confidence in the markets.  I am very proud of my office’s work to address the subprime crisis and its impact on the economy as a whole here in Massachusetts; and, in Washington, I will continue to protect consumers at the federal level.”

Less than 50 days before the Primary- it's time to stop playing a pandering game of sound-bite patty-cake and time to deliver a detailed plan of action. Coakley has done just that.

Coakley's suggestions include:

  • Focusing on the safety and soundness of the market as a whole, not simply individual entities, by requiring institutions to maintain sufficient capital to keep them safe in times of system-wide stress.
  • Fighting for stricter regulations for securitization by imposing robust reporting requirements on the issuers of asset-backed securities, reducing investors’ and regulators’reliance on credit-rating agencies, and requiring the originator of a securitization to retain a financial interest in its performance.
  • Supporting the creation of the new Federal Consumer Protection Agency which will focus on providing support to consumers while allowing the states to work with the Federal Government to prevent unfair and deceptive tactics by banks and credit card companies.
  • Providing the federal government with the necessary tools to contain and manage a future financial crisis by allowing Treasury to appoint the FDIC or Securities and Exchange Commission as a receiver for any large financial holding company that poses a threat to financial stability; and
  • Opposing federal preemption of state regulation that would restrict states’ abilities to prevent and remedy misconduct by financial institutions.

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Comments

  1. I suggest the rest of you wonks read this, as well.

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    p>All the noise about health care does not change the reality that the current economic collapse is due to unregulated greed and rapacity by an inbreed elite that doesn’t care at all about the rest of us – and needs to be reined in.

  2. I would like to see how they address the following three highest and most urgent national, local, and (in my case) personal priorities:

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    p>

    1. Transportation infrastructure
    2. Health care
    3. Education

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    p>These priorities have been articulated by President Obama and by Governor Patrick. They reflect the priorities of a majority of the American and Massachusetts public, and an overwhelming majority of progressive Democrats.

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    p>Please help me connect the dots from this plan of Ms. Coakley to these three top priorities.

    • But most of us, I think, would see addressing the causes of the financial crisis and consumer protection, which this plan of Coakley’s addresses, and environmental and climate issues ahead of transportation reform.

      • President Obama cited energy as our top national priority in his State of the Union message:

        We are a nation that has seen promise amid peril, and claimed opportunity from ordeal.  Now we must be that nation again.  That is why, even as it cuts back on the programs we don’t need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future:  energy, health care, and education.

        It begins with energy.

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        p>Energy is inseparable from transportation. I’m happy to substitute “Energy” for “Transportation infrastructure” as our top priority; in my view, they are interchangeable.

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        p>Here is what Governor Patrick said on February 20, 2009 (emphasis mine):

        A modern transportation network, adequately funded and professionally managed, is essential to our economic and social future.  Just as the Internet serves as a platform for modern communication, our roads, rails and bridges serve as a platform for commerce and economic growth.  If we are going to attract and retain the kind of investment that assures opportunities for ourselves and our children, a high functioning transportation system is no luxury – it is a necessity

        And it matters to all of us.

        It matters to all of us who need to get to work every day and home again safely and reliably.

        It matters to students who need to get back and forth to school.

        It matters to elders who want a measure of independence and mobility.

        It matters to emergency workers who need to reach people in distress.

        It matters to tourists and other visitors who need convenient access to the Commonwealth’s many cultural and recreational attractions.

        It matters to businesses which need to be able to move goods and services around, across and through the state to markets.

        And it matters to the thousands of diligent, dedicated and responsible employees in each one of the transportation agencies today who are just as embarrassed as the rest of us when some foolishness by one of their colleagues reflects badly on everybody else.

        For everyone’s sake, the days of avoiding the truth and the consequences must end and end now.  We are all out of time.  Now is the time to reform and renew our system from top to bottom.

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        p>These are the priorities articulated by President Obama and Governor Patrick, in their own words. These are certainly my own priorities. I suppose we will have to agree to disagree about the extent to which these priorities are shared by fellow progressives.

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