Financial Reform Debate to Begin Today





Late yesterday afternoon, the Senate decided to  bring to the floor for consideration the financial regulatory overhaul bill beginning at 12:15PM EST today. We may see a flurry of amendments during this debate process on a variety of subjects pertaining to the financial services industry. I hope that some bold Senator will take the initiative to present an amendment which will move forward the need for those providing financial advice to be held to a fiduciary duty, to require them to provide advice which places their clients' best interest first. If a Senator makes this move, they will likely be attacked by powerful forces in the insurance and investment banking industries. This Senator will require the support of constituents to have any chance of moving an amendment forward. Other Senators will need to hear from their constituents on the importance of such legislation. Please contact your Senators and let them know where you stand. Let them know if you would like to see all professionals providing financial advice to be required to uphold a fiduciary duty. Let them know if you would like to understand who you can trust to provide advice in your best interest.

I thought instead of a long, rambling, ranting post, I would instead provide a series of links discussing the bill before the Senate that I found particularly compelling. I will save the rant for tomorrow following opening debate on the Senate floor. I will also be watching to see if an amendment comes to the floor addressing clients' best interests.

One last request. If you do decide to call your Senator's office, please treat the person answering the telephone respectfully and like a fellow human being. As I sat in the waiting room of a Senator's office last week, I watched two young interns answering telephone calls and being verbally attacked nearly every time they picked the receiver up. These young men showed incredible patience and resolve dealing with these attacks, never becoming flustered and answering questions to their best ability. They deserve to be treated with respect regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the Senator's positions. 

On to the links:


A summary of the bill:
http://bit.ly/cqdTHa

From the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/28/AR2010042803224.html?hpid=topnews

An international perspective from the Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b5bfa24-5327-11df-813e-00144feab49a.html

From the Associated Press:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7ffRdswXTlfgaQS0FCOZmrvbwcAD9FCIUP80

This an interesting piece on the failed cloture votes in Newsweek:
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2010/04/28/financial-reform-cloture-votes-when-losing-is-good-politics.aspx
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