To: Ben Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve
Tell Wall Street: Stop the J.P. Morgan Loophole
Don't let Wall Street lobbyists water down the statutory ban on high-risk trading in banks. Keep the J.P. Morgan loophole out of the Volcker rule firewall so high-risk trading doesn’t wreck our economy again.
Why is this important?
Bankers on Wall Street wrecked our economy by taking reckless risks in pursuit of massive paydays. And, as J.P. Morgan has made clear, Wall Street learned nothing and is still gambling.
There's nothing wrong with high-risk trading, but if the bets go bad, only the people who made the bets should have to pay. That's why this gambling should happen in hedge funds, not in the federally-insured banks that families and small businesses depend on.
That’s why I successfully fought, with your help, for a ban on high-risk trading by big Wall Street banks. This rule, called the Volcker rule firewall, is meant to ensure that Wall Street’s bad bets blow up, you and I don’t get burned again.
But for the last two years, Wall Street's legion of lobbyists have been trying to blow holes in that firewall. Now they want the Fed to write the “J.P. Morgan loophole” into law.
We can’t let that happen. Join me in urging Ben Bernanke and the Fed to close down the JP Morgan loophole.
Senator Jeff Merkley