Two-Thirds of Americans Want Tougher Financial Regulation of Wall Street
Sixty-five percent of Americans support tougher financial regulation, according to a recent ABC News poll and a recent article by Jonathan Berry of Daily Finance, “Organized Labor Puts a Bull’s-Eye on Wall Street.”
The Senate hearings concerning Goldman Sachs have galvanized such support. "[Senator] Levin had a simple narrative to tell: Goldman bet against their clients," Jonathan Tallinn, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School told Bloomberg News. "[Goldman CEO] Blank Fein had these long complicated explanations, but I'm not sure the average person listens or cares about that."
"Wall Street tanked America's economy, killed jobs, took $700 billion in taxpayer bailouts, then went right back to business as usual, choking off credit, handing out $145 billion in 2009 executive pay and bonuses and fighting meaningful financial reform," according to the AFL-CIO.
Pension funds, unions, civil rights groups, and others were among the estimated 10,000 people who marched on Wall Street to express their outrage against Wall Street corruption and support for tough financial reform, according to the article.
"It's time to hold Wall Street accountable," says Heather Booth, executive director of Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of 250 organization including unions, civil rights groups and pension funds who will be at Thursday's Wall Street rally, in an interview. "The American people are outraged that they [Goldman Sachs] bet against the future of America ... and are lobbying against real reform."
While Republicans and Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska have reportedly tried to stall reform, it now appears that some bill will pass. "I don't see how they can hold for much longer," he says. "I expect a deal within the next two to three weeks."
