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Fed Chair Yellen Rejects Trump Bank Deregulation

August 25, 2017

Fed Chair Yellen Rejects Trump Bank Deregulation

Statement of Bartlett Naylor, Financial Policy Advocate, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

Note: In a Jackson Hole, Wyoming speech this morning, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen defended Wall Street reforms. “Today’s strong economy” relies on “the reforms that strengthened our financial system,” Yellen said. Read her speech here.

Yellen correctly and courageously rejects the deconstruction of key financial safeguards supported by many on Trump’s team of Wall Street-sourced bank regulators.

Fed Chair Yellen understands that human damage from financial sector recklessness caused the most severe financial panic and recession since the Great Depression. New reforms, from greater corporate capital requirements to enhanced supervision through the Financial Stability Oversight Council, contribute to a safer system. We can’t return to the days when Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan’s profit opportunities determine financial policy.

Yellen also appropriately questions the role of “algorithmic” high speed traders who may be unreliable in stressed markets. Public Citizen supports a financial transaction tax to reduce this overheated speculation.