May 20, 2011
I’m writing because my family and I were affected by the economic collapse of 2008, and we don’t want it to happen again. Our house fell in value, but fortunately we still have the house. The austerity that the Republican Party is now trying to put in place is all about the crash. They say we don't have any money, but the government did and is still providing billions and billions of dollars even trillions if you consider the guarantees extended to Fannie May and Freddie Mac. So will we have medicare? To the extend the social safety net is destroyed we can thank Wall Street. We had money for them, but not for actual people? We have created a world of moral hazard. We have no reason to expect Wall Street not to try and make as much money as possible and to again take unacceptable risks. You need to be as aggressive in your oversight of the financial system as you possibly can be.
One way to change the incentives so Wall Street doesn’t collapse our economy again would be for regulators to set up a way for shareholders to grab back ill-gotten gains.
If it turns out that the profits in a given year were built on shoddy practices that become clear in the out-years, those bonus payments should be forfeited.
Thank you for considering my comment,
Laura Simpson