To restore economic fairness, Democrats will fight against the greed and recklessness of WallStreet. Wall Street cannot be an island unto itself, gambling trillions in risky financialinstruments and making huge profits, all the while thinking that taxpayers will be there to bailthem out again. We must tackle dangerous risks in big banks and elsewhere in the financialsystem. We must make Wall Street work for the job-creating, productive economy—includingby making loans more affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses. We need to prohibitWall Street from picking and choosing which credit agency will rate its products as well as fromimposing excessive fees on consumers. And we must hold both individuals and corporationsaccountable when they break the law. Democrats believe that no bank can be too big to fail andno executive too powerful to jail. Democrats will support stronger criminal laws and civilpenalties for Wall Street criminals who prey on the public trust. We also support extending thestatute of limitations for prosecuting major financial fraud, and providing the Department ofJustice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures TradingCommission more resources to prosecute wrongdoing. “Equal Justice Under Law” will not justbe words engraved on the entrance of the Supreme Court. It will be the standard that applies toWall Street and all Americans.

We will also vigorously implement, enforce, and build on President Obama’s landmark Dodd-Frankfinancial reform law, and we will stop dead in its tracks every Republican effort to weakenit. We will stop Republican efforts to hamstring our regulators through budget cuts, and we willensure they have the resources and independence to fully enforce the law and hold bothindividuals and corporations accountable when they break the rules. We will also continue toprotect consumers and defend the CFPB from Republican attacks. We oppose any efforts tochange the CFPB’s structure from a single director to a partisan, gridlocked Commission andlikewise oppose any efforts to remove the Bureau’s independent funding and subject it to theappropriations process. Democrats will also continue to support the CFPB in enforcingfoundational civil rights laws protecting against discrimination in consumer lending. Democratscondemn predatory payday lending, and will protect consumers by defending the CFPB andimplementing strong new regulations.

Our goal must be to create a financial system and an economy that works for all Americans, notjust a handful of billionaires. We support a financial transactions tax on Wall Street to curbexcessive speculation and high-frequency trading, which has threatened financial markets. Weacknowledge that there is room within our party for a diversity of views on a broader financialtransactions tax.

Democrats will not hesitate to use and expand existing authorities as well as empower regulatorsto downsize or break apart financial institutions when necessary to protect the public andsafeguard financial stability, including new authorities to go after risky shadow-bankingactivities. Banks should not be able to gamble with taxpayers’ deposits or pose an undue risk toMain Street. Democrats support a variety of ways to stop this from happening, including anupdated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall as well as breaking up too-big-to-fail financialinstitutions that pose a systemic risk to the stability of our economy.

We believe that personnel is policy. We will nominate and appoint regulators and officials whoare not beholden to the industries they regulate—people with a track record of standing up topower and safeguarding the public trust. We will crack down on the revolving door betweenthe private sector—particularly Wall Street—and the federal government. We will ban goldenparachutes for those taking government jobs. We will limit conflicts of interest by requiring bankand corporate regulators to recuse themselves from official work on particular matters that woulddirectly benefit their former employers. And we will bar financial service regulators fromlobbying their former colleagues for at least two years.

We will protect and defend the Federal Reserve’s independence to carry out the dual mandateassigned to it by Congress—for both full employment and low inflation—against threats fromnew legislation. We will also reform the Federal Reserve to make it more representative ofAmerica as a whole, and we will fight to enhance its independence by ensuring that executives offinancial institutions are not allowed to serve on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks orto select members of those boards.

At a time when many of the largest banks have shunned communities across America,Democrats believe that we need to give Americans affordable banking options, including byempowering the United States Postal Service to facilitate the delivery of basic banking services.^[10]

The Republican vision for American bankingcalls for establishing transparent, efficient marketswhere consumers can obtain loans they need at reasonablerates based on market conditions. Unfortunately,in response to the financial institutions crisisof 2008-2009, the Democratic-controlled Congressenacted the Wall Street Reform and Consumer ProtectionAct, otherwise known as Dodd-Frank. Theydid not let the crisis go to waste but used it as anexcuse to establish unprecedented governmentcontrol over the nation’s financial markets. The consequenceshave been bad for everyone except federalregulators.

Rather than address the cause of the crisis —the government’s own housing policies — the newlaw extended government control over the economyby creating new unaccountable bureaucracies.Predictably, central planning of our financial sectorhas not created jobs, it has killed them. It has notlimited risks, it has created more. It has not encouragedeconomic growth, it has shackled it.

Since the enactment of Dodd-Frank, the numberof community banks has significantly declined,and the cost and complexity of complying withthe law has created impediments to the remainingbanks’ ability to support the customers they serve.From 13,000 community banks in 1985, only 1,900remain. Still, the majority of agricultural loans andsmall business loans are made by community banks.From start-ups foregone to home loans not made,Dodd-Frank’s excessive regulation and burdensomerequirements have helped contribute to theslow economy we all endure today under PresidentObama and the Democrats.

Community banks are essential to ensuringsmall businesses have easy and affordable accessto the capital they need to grow and prosper.Community banks should be relieved of excessiveregulations. We support removing roadblocks andregulations that prevent access to capital.The worst of Dodd-Frank is the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau, deliberately designedto be a rogue agency. It answers to neither Congressnor the executive, has its own guaranteed fundingoutside the appropriations process, and uses itsslush fund to steer settlements to politically favoredgroups.

Its Director has dictatorial powers unique in theAmerican Republic. Its regulatory harassment oflocal and regional banks, the source of most homemortgages and small business loans, advantagesbig banks and makes it harder for Americans to buya home. Its one-size-fits-all approach to every issuethreatens the diversity of the country’s financial systemand would leave us with just a few enormousinstitutions, as in many European countries.

If the Bureau is not abolished, it should be subjectedto congressional appropriation. In that way,consumer protection in the financial markets can beadvanced through measures that are both effectiveand constitutional. Any settlements arising fromstatutory violations by financial institutions must beused to make whole the harmed consumers, withany remaining proceeds given to the general Treasury.Diversion of settlement funds to politically connectedparties should be a criminal offense.

Republicans believe that no financial institutionis too big to fail. We support legislation to ensurethat the problems of any financial institution can beresolved through the Bankruptcy Code. We endorseprudent regulation of the banking system to ensurethat FDIC-regulated banks are properly capitalizedand taxpayers are protected against bailouts. Wewill end the government’s use of disparate impacttheory in enforcing anti-discrimination laws with regardto lending.^[10]

OUR POSITION

Greens want to reduce the economic and political power of large corporations, end corporate personhood and re-design corporations to serve our society, democracy and the environment.

Unelected and unaccountable corporate executives are not merely exercising power in our society — they are ruling us. Greens will reduce corporate powers and privileges, including by stripping them of artificial "personhood" and constitutional protections. The Green Party supports strong and effectively enforced antitrust laws and regulation to counteract the concentration of economic and political power that imposes a severe toll on people, places and the planet.

Greens believe the legal structure of the corporation is obsolete. At present, corporations are designed solely to generate profit. This legal imperative — profit above all else — is damaging our country and our planet in countless ways. We must change the legal design of corporations so that they generate profits, but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health, workers, or the communities in which the corporation operates.

One point remains unequivocal: our planet cannot afford business as usual any longer. Because corporations have become the dominant economic institution of the planet, we must compel them to serve human and environmental needs, so that our peoples, nations and environment may live long and prosper.

GREEN SOLUTIONS

1. End corporate personhood. A key first step will be federal and state constitutional amendments abolishing the legal fiction of corporate personhood.

2. Federal chartering of corporations that includes comprehensive, strict and enforceable social responsibility requirements.

3. Strengthen the civil justice system to ensure that it holds corporations strictly liable for corporate crime, fraud, violence and malfeasance. This would include revoking the charters of corporations that routinely violate safety, health, environmental protection or other laws.

4. Empower shareholders to stop abuses by the managers they hire through a structure of democratic governance and elections.

5. Enforce existing antitrust laws and support even tougher new ones to curtail the overwhelming economic and political power of large corporations.

6. Increase funding for and strengthen oversight of federal antitrust enforcement.

...

K. Anti-Trust Enforcement

The Green Party supports strong and effectively enforced anti-trust regulation to counteract the concentration of economic power that imposes a severe toll on the economy. The anti-trust division of the Justice Department has had its scope and powers reduced. An explosion of unregulated mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, and leveraged buy-outs has overwhelmed the federal government's capacity to provide effective oversight. Financial and trading markets have become particularly vulnerable to insider trading. Securities and Exchange Commission regulation of these markets has seriously fallen short. Overall, what we see in unchecked market power is self-serving abuse of the democratic political process, price gouging, loss of productivity and jobs, reduced competitiveness, and of predatory and monopolistic practices.

1. The Federal Trade Commission must vigorously oversee mergers where the combined sales of the companies exceeds $1 billion.

2. The Justice Department must redefine"relevant market share" in assessing mergers.

3. The Congress must enact its calls for competitiveness by stopping illegal monopolistic practices.

4. We oppose the largesse of government in the form of massive corporate entitlements.^[10]

Libertarians want all members of society to have abundant opportunities to achieve economic success. A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society.^[10]