Comment Text:
My family and I lost a lot of money as a result of the financial collapse of 2008-2009. We thought the people responsible for the financial markets could be trusted, but we found out otherwise. We never again want to be called on to bail out big corporations and Wall Street banks for irresponsible “heads I win, tails you lose” gambles.
Effective oversight of the $700 trillion global derivatives market is a key to meaningful reform. Because this market is inherently global, risks can be transferred around the world with the touch of a button. The proposed guidance you have issued on cross-border application of Dodd-Frank derivatives rules shows that you understand the importance of this issue. But the proposal contains multiple loopholes that could allow foreign affiliates of Wall Street banks to escape regulation. Big U.S. banks and other major U.S. derivatives users are global corporations with hundreds if not thousands of foreign affiliates. If we don’t regulate them everywhere, we can’t regulate them anywhere. Please make this guidance stronger to ensure that new Dodd-Frank derivatives protections will directly apply to the full global activities of all important participants in the U.S. derivatives markets.
The lessons of the 1930's led to regulations and financial firewalls that eliminated bank failures for half a century, and fostered a climate of confidence that resulted in the greatest prosperity the world has ever known. But deregulation since Reagan has brought back financial instability. If government will not regulate the financial markets, we are doomed to return to the boom and bust cycles that culminated in the Great Depression.
