Americans for Financial Reform
September 14 — Financial Reform Summit
Financial Reform Summit
Making it Work for New Jersey:
A Statewide Education and Implementation Summit
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 —
10am to 3:30pm
Rutgers University Student Center
126 College Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Map and Directions
Please RSVP by Friday, September 10, 2010
History has been made! — This summer, President Obama signed one of the most significant pieces of financial regulatory legislation passed since the Great Depression. These reforms will bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street and protect consumers on Main Street. Let's ensure that this historic law is implemented effectively and that all New Jerseyans are informed as programs are established and new rules and guidelines are set.
With compromises being made by all sides, it is now time to roll up our sleeves and make this law work for New Jersey. The success (or failure) of financial reform will depend on how well we understand, publicize and implement the law and the opportunities it presents. It is vitally important that all sectors of the population who will be touched by this legislation continue to work together in a strong partnership as this new law becomes a reality.
Please join stakeholders of financial reform — including consumer advocates, community leaders, elected officials, bankers, regulators, labor leaders, seniors, academics, students and members of the public — gathering to discuss what's in the law, what's not in the law and where we go from here.
Speakers will outline the major provisions of the new law, the policy options, and the impact on consumers, investors and small business owners. State and national reform experts will also discuss the establishment of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how it will expand consumer safeguards. Additionally, panelists will explore the effect of the new law on the flow of capital back into our communities and the impact it will have on asset building opportunities. See this event's complete At-A-Glance Agenda (click here).
Please RSVP by Friday, September 10, 2010
Admission is free. Seating is limited. Please RSVP online (click here) to reserve your space; or RSVP by phone at 732-246-4772 Ext. 18. Please include your name, organization or business, title, phone, email, and address including city, state, and zip code.
Distribute the Flyer (click here) and spread the word — Thank you!
NJCA Celebrates Main Street's Victory Against Wall Street!
On July 15, 2010 NJ Citizen Action, having spent the past year fighting for Financial Reform legislation, celebrated the Senate passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, one of the last hurdles before President Obama signs it into law. The legislation will take unprecedented steps to clean up Wall Street:
- It will protect consumers buying homes.
- It will create new rules of the road for credit to protect families and small businesses.
- It will rein in the casino economy and stop speculators from operating in secret.
- It will provide the tools to stop future bailouts.
- It will make our economy more secure and more stable.
Learn more:
- Press Release.
- News Coverage: "Holt Advocates Wall Street Reform Bill In South River" (Sentinel – July 22, 2010), "Financial Reforms In Eye Of Beholder" (Asbury Park Press – July 22, 2010), "Congress Passes Overhaul To Prevent Future Bailouts" (Asbury Park Press – July 15, 2010), "State And Local Bankers Criticize Landmark Reform Bill" (Press of Atlantic City – July 13, 2010)
No More Taxpayer Bailouts of Wall Street!
Senator Menendez, NJ Citizen Action and Consumer Groups Want a Bailout Prevention Fund
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) held a press conference on April 12, 2010 in Hoboken to urge support of an increase in a proposed fund to avoid future big bank bailouts paid for with taxpayer money. Senator Menendez was joined by representatives from NJ Citizen Action and Consumers Union, as well as New Jersey resident Edward Heaton, who as a taxpayer has contributed to the big bank bailout but is still waiting for permanent loan modification to save his home currently in foreclosure.
"Simply put: we can't have a system where big Wall Street banks take huge gambles, knowing that they can keep the gains if they win, but that we will pay the costs if they lose," said Senator Menendez. "We need to require the big banks to pay up-front to insure against any future failures, and shore up our financial system so that American families' lives are not devastated by another foreclosure crisis, and on top of that are left footing the bailout bill. This fund will not be used for bailouts; it will only be used to dissolve failing institutions. If Wall Street banks behave recklessly they should gamble with their own money, not the hard earned cash of the American taxpayer."
NJCA organizer Leslie Schlesinger, present at the event, noted that "This will be a powerful deterrent to the high-profit, high-risk environment that Wall Street has become today."
- Senator Menendez's Press Release.
- News Coverage: "U.S. Sen. Menendez Pushes For Passage Of Bailout Prevention Fund" (The Jersey Journal — April 12, 2010).
NJCA Pickets Morgan Stanley Jersey City Offices
On January 29, 2010, members of New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) and community leadership representing affiliate organizations held an informational picket at the Jersey City offices of Morgan Stanley to demand the bank put an end to multi-billion dollar bonuses, reject the "Too Big To Fail Doctrine," and use their anticipated $14.4 billion bonus pool to help New Jersey families facing foreclosure and small business generate jobs.
"The Big Banks — especially Morgan Stanley — need to stop the greedy and reckless behavior. It's outrageous that after taking 25 billion of our tax dollars, Morgan Stanley is back to business as usual, paying huge bonuses and fighting against reforms that would protect us from their abuses in the future." said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA). "Now is the time for them to start making amends for past transgressions and hold the big banks accountable. A good first step would include directing a significant portion of their $14.4 billion-dollar bonus pool to a fund to help prevent foreclosure. It's the least they could do."
Today's informational picket was the latest in a series of nation-wide mobilizations to try to rein in Wall Street and hold them accountable for the current financial crisis. Today's action followed similar NJCA pickets of the Jersey City offices of Goldman Sachs and AIG in 2009. Full details in our Press Release.
Make Goldman Sachs Stop Paying Bonuses!
Really Goldman? Enough is Enough!
On November 24 , 2009 NJ Citizen Action sponsored an Informational Picket in Jersey City to urge Goldman Sachs to stop paying out multi-billion dollar bonuses and spending millions of dollars lobbying against real financial reform.
Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, bailed out by our tax dollars, are back to making record profits and are committed to handing out multi-billion dollar bonuses. Meanwhile, millions of regular folks are suffering from job losses, foreclosures, depleted pensions, and skyrocketing credit card rates and overdraft fees caused by the financial meltdown.
We demand that Goldman Sachs give its $23 billion in bonuses to foreclosure prevention programs, increase its lending for job creation and stop fighting real financial reform.
- Press Release.
- News Coverage: "Talkin' Turkey" (The Jersey Journal – November 30, 2009), "Activist Group Pickets Goldman Sachs JC Headquarters" (The Hudson Reporter – November 29, 2009), "N.J. Citizen Action Plans Picket Of Goldman Sachs" (NJBIZ — November 24, 2009).
NJCA Calls for a Stop to Excessive Overdraft Fees
Bank overdraft fees cost New Jersey approximately $499.8 million over the past year, according to a new report by Americans for Financial Reform.
Nationally, last year banks made $38.5 billion from overdraft fees. "That number is likely to increase without new, clear rules of the road for banks and their customers and a real consumer watchdog in Washington to enforce them", said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, "Overdraft Bank Fees Fall Under Scrutiny" (Press of Atlantic City – October 24, 2009), executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action working with the Americans for Financial Reform coalition.
Read the full details here. Press Coverage: "Fed Provides Customers Relief From Bank Overdraft Charges" (Press of Atlantic City – November 13, 2009), "Banks Try Self-Regulation" (The Record / NorthJersey.com – October 25, 2009), "Overdraft Bank Fees Fall Under Scrutiny" (Press of Atlantic City – October 24, 2009), "New Jersey Citizen Action Applauds The Creation Of Consumer Financial Protection" (NewsBlaze – October 22, 2009), "NJ Citizen Action Calls For A Stop To Excessive Overdraft Fees" (NewsBlaze – October 8, 2009).
NJCA Organizes for Financial Reform — Accountability, Fairness, and Security
For too long, the rules of Wall Street have been written by the bankers themselves. This year, that has to change. New Jersey Citizen Action has joined Americans for Financial Reform.
AFR is a coalition of nearly 200 national, state and local consumer, labor, retiree, investor, community and civil rights organizations campaign for real reform in our banking and financial system. We aim to hold our New Jersey elected leaders accountable, and to insist on a strong role for the public in making crucial decisions about our economic future.
We call for:
- Congress to put in place a real system with the resources and authority to police Wall Street.
- A consumer watchdog who can give the American people the security they expect and deserve when making financial decisions.
- Reforms that keep people in their homes and prompt smart investment in communities and businesses that create good jobs and strong neighborhoods.
Accountability, fairness, and security must be linchpins of financial reform.
In the face of a full-blown global economic crisis, bold action is needed now by leaders in Congress, the Administration and the federal government to repair our nation's broken financial system, establish integrity in the financial markets, and facilitate productive economic activity that benefits all segments of our communities.
It is only in doing these things that we can meaningfully address the public's shattered confidence in the fairness of the financial marketplace and establish a healthy, robust and productive economy.
Visit the national campaign website of Americans for Financial Reform at http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/