The American polity is infected with a serious imbalance of power between elites and masses, a power which is the principal threat to our democracy.
Paul Wellstone
former U.S. senator, Minnesota
The American polity is infected with a serious imbalance of power between elites and masses, a power which is the principal threat to our democracy.
Paul Wellstone
former U.S. senator, Minnesota
"My view of financial institutions is colored by my years as a prosecutor...None of this surprises me. They are profit-driven corporations that seek to maximize profitability without much regard to social gain."
Neil Barofsky
former inspector general, TARP
We can either have a rational resolution to the foreclosure crisis or we can preserve the capital structure of the banks. We can’t do both.
"One of the biggest concerns about this (financial reform) legislation, which we support, it relies on its success on regulators to do, effectively, what they did very poorly in the run up to this crisis."
Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America
"The recent financial crisis was not a natural disaster; it was a man-made economic assault...People did it. Extreme greed was the driving force. And it will happen again unless we change the rules."
Sen. Carl Levin
"Even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car."
Neil Barofsky, January 2010
"After a crisis of this magnitude, it amazes me that some of our reform proposals effectively maintain the status quo in so many critical areas, whether it is allowing multi-trillion-dollar financial conglomerates that house traditional banking and speculative activities to continue to exist and pose threats to our financial system, permitting banks to continue to determine their own capital standards, or allowing a significant portion of the derivatives market to remain opaque and lightly regulated."
Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Delaware, March 11, 2010