Better Markets

In the The Hill, Dennis Kelleher writes that the #crypto industry is trying to buy special interest legislation in Congress (FIT 21). That's why everyone must ask the tough questions, carefully scrutinize the crypto industry's claims, and determine whether or not #FIT21 helps or hurts Main Street Americans and businesses. "Given the crypto industry’s long RAP sheet of lawlessness, arrests, criminal convictions, predatory conduct, illegal behavior, bankruptcies, lawsuits and scandals, policymakers should view with deep skepticism anything related to crypto, including FIT 21."  https://lnkd.in/evszuyCf

#WallStreet continues to say the sky is falling when it comes to common sense rules to protect Main Street. Dennis Kelleher tells Alexander Saeedy of the The Wall Street Journal, “The banks say that their only option is to pass on their costs to customers, but that’s not true. "Yet again, banks are dressing up their attempts to maximize their own profit under the guise of what’s good or bad for customers.”  https://lnkd.in/e4ViXm_G Learn more about the megabanks’ misleading claims on issues like capital here: https://lnkd.in/gM7WHxBF

Elected officials betting on their own races. Party insiders wagering on the dates of an election. The UK's 2024 election is turning into a nightmare thanks to gambling on elections being legal. https://lnkd.in/ecctYui6 In a Los Angeles Times op-ed before the UK scandal broke, Dennis Kelleher and Lisa Gilbert warned of these types of developments if gambling on U.S. elections was allowed. "the ability to 'win' tens or hundreds of millions of dollars gambling on elections would create powerful new incentives for bad actors to influence voters and manipulate the results to favor their bets." https://lnkd.in/e3K-jx_r

As summer heats up, we're going to continue to see climate and weather events that will test our insurance system and ultimately our financial system. Dennis Kelleher explains that the major untold story behind the #climate crisis is that today’s climate disaster is tomorrow’s #banking crisis: https://lnkd.in/eScQdYjs

The UK is grappling with a sweeping election scandal, which includes elected officials betting on their own races. We simply cannot allow gambling on elections to infiltrate America's democracy as well. https://lnkd.in/eXXber2k That's why our team has been working tirelessly to stop Kalshi from turning our democracy into a casino. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gPrNiyfQ

Diversity in the workplace is essential for fostering innovation, enhancing decision-making, and promoting equality. This is particularly important at financial services regulatory agencies that have the power to combat racial inequality and take on discrimination. Our new report examines diversity at these agencies and why it matters. https://bit.ly/4cEQ33H

Our Legal Director Stephen Hall detailed the dangers of recent #SCOTUS rulings and overturning #Chevron to the NY Times-Breaking News' Deborah Solomon. You can find our full statement on the case here: https://lnkd.in/ev42-P6U

Dennis Kelleher tells Brooke Masters and Stefania Palma that #Chevron being overturned impacts the “government’s ability to protect and serve the American people is going to be curtailed. Every part of Americans’ lives from the meat in their dinner to the airbags in their cars is going to be affected.” https://lnkd.in/exmViSBD

While racial economic inequality is a tremendous challenge facing our country, regulators, policymakers, and concerned citizens have the power to bring about change. This month our team examined how we can do just that: https://bit.ly/4clVkxx

Stephen Hall, Better Markets Legal Director and Securities Specialist, issued the following statement in connection with the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo: “It’s another bad day for every American who depends on our federal agencies to protect them from a wide range of threats to their health, safety, and financial well-being. That means it’s a good day for all of the scam artists, polluters, and sweatshop operators who prey on everyday Americans. The Court has abolished the common sense, longstanding, and legally appropriate obligation of federal judges to respect the way agencies interpret the laws they enforce. That means judges now have the unlimited discretion to substitute their own reading of the law for what the experts say it means. That spells disaster in cases where a statute is vague, as they often are, and ideologically biased judge want to discard the agency’s interpretation to achieve what they see as a preferred outcome. In other words, judges can now shove the experts aside and make their own decisions, without a shred of the deep experience or expertise that agencies bring to their understanding and implementation of the law. This is another setback for all American consumers and investors, as the courts continue their assault on the agencies that work so hard to serve the public interest. “This decision threatens to return the United States to the 1910s when the government had very limited ability to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Americans. It’s going to affect everything from airbags in peoples’ cars to the quality of the food they feed their families and the water they drink. It is going to re-order the relationship between the government and the courts and the American people. It also has the potential to return the country to the control of Wall Street banks, financiers, corporations, CEOs, and the modern-day robber barons because it will be much more difficult for the government to constrain their predatory and often illegal conduct in a timely or effective way. “Even more broadly, the decision is going to disempower the executive branch and empower federal courts and federal judges, who will now substitute their beliefs, ideologies, and biases for the informed views of the agencies appointed by the American peoples’ elected representatives. That’s because almost no laws are self-executing and virtually all laws—especially those relating to health and safety—require agency interpretation and often end up in court challenges. Unless Congress passes a new law restoring judicial respect for agency expertise and interpretation, the courts will now give agencies no deference. That’s why it is also one of the most anti-democratic decisions that any court has made in decades.” https://lnkd.in/ev42-P6U