Clinton Cracking Down on Wall Street
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her plan to combat the “abuses of Wall Street” in a statement released on Thursday.
“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,” Clinton said. “We can’t go back to the days when Wall Street could write its own rules.”
Her proposal includes increasing fines that can be charged by regulators requiring executives to foot the bill, closing the hedge-fund loophole in the "Volcker rule" and setting a new tax on high-frequency or “Spoof” trading. The plan also calls for stiffer penalties for financial executives and corporations when they break the law and regulations. She said it would protect “the integrity of our markets and uphold basic fairness.” In addition, Clinton wants to reduce “dangerous risks in the financial system” and ensure that it will serve the best interests of investors and consumers, “so that everyday Americans can save and invest with confidence that they’re getting a fair shake.”
“We can’t go back to the days when Wall Street could write its own rules.”
In the summary, Mrs. Clinton would also consider granting more power to the Financial Stability Oversight Council. She says there needs to be “more transparency in the shadow banking sector, a better understanding of the risks it poses, and stronger tools to tackle those risks.” Shortly after releasing her reform proposal, Clinton penned an Op-Ed for Bloomberg to thoroughly lay out her “Plan to Prevent the Next Crash.”
In the past, Clinton has been accused of being too close to Wall Street and is no stranger to financial firms' support. Here is a breakdown of donors for her 2008 campaign and 2016 thus far:
On the FOX Business Network in June, former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, who previously supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy in 2008, said her idea to topple the 1% is “all politics and trying to get elected to get the nomination.”
Mack went on to say: “If you are running you have to win -- when you have 20 people in the field you have to get attention and I think it’s just politics.” He said he will continue to back Secretary Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Clinton’s direct Democratic competitor, Senator Bernie Sanders, has made regulating Wall Street one of his primary campaign issues. Sanders has consistently supported breaking up the largest financial institutions and wants to re-institute the Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed under President Bill Clinton. In a recent poll conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist, Sanders outperformed Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire match ups.