RAW STORY– US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to grant the Federal Reserve a dramatic expansion of its regulatory powers and to establish a new consumer protection committee to help safeguard Americans from Wall Street’s excesses.
“These reforms are essential,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.
“As I’ve urged over the past year, we need common-sense rules that will allow our markets to function fairly and freely while reining in the worst practices of the financial industry.”
On Monday, the Senate banking committee will debate a proposal by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd that is designed to halt what he sees as abuse and excess by financial firms.
Dodd’s bill would empower the Federal Reserve to conduct oversight across the financial sector, putting insurance companies and even smaller lenders under their sway.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has disclosed in public that with the bank’s expanded framework, it assumes the coming elimination of “minimum reserve requirements” for banking institutions.
Unhinging banks from even basic deposit standards would essentially create a class above the daily requirements of capitalism, resting atop a pool of funds with infinite depth, removing the need for what’s currently known as “fractional reserve banking.”
Read full article about Obama Urges Senate Action on Finance Reforms.
© 2010 RAW STORY
This video was published to the Internet by the White House on March 20, 2010.
