Kemper right on bank rules

Many thanks to congressional candidate Nancy Jo Kemper for shining needed light on banking reform. While the topic fails to make headlines in competition with the political season fireworks, it affects all of us when bubbles burst, as in 2008.

Most remember the promises from both sides of the aisle to prevent such a thing from happening again, and Dodd-Frank was one attempt to fulfill the promises. Almost unbelievably, the heads of the merged banking/finance industry have argued that more deregulation is needed to prevent another 2008, and the titans of the “too big to fail” corporations have been busy behind the scenes ensuring regulations on their activities are being removed faster than they’re being instated.

As of now, analysts tell us there are fewer restrictions on the risky financial practices of the “too big to fail” banks than there were leading up to 2008. When the bubbles burst — as they inevitably do — rarely is it the financial institutions that come to the rescue. It’s us, the taxpayers.

The rewards of risky behavior are pocketed by the titans, with no benefit to society or Main Street, and the taxpayers pay for their mistakes. All of this is made perfectly legal through legislation of the type Kemper is exposing.

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Kemper right on bank rules."