February 8, 2012
I'm writing in support of a strong "Volcker Rule." My family and I were affected by the economic collapse of 2008, and we don't want it to happen again.
Insanity. Government should not insure gambling losses. Get real!
According to the Rockefeller Fdtn. report Shaky Ground, 23% of U.S. households lost over 1/4 of their income in 2008-2009 due to the financial system annihilation. Self-destruction, total fiasco and collapse. You choose the term. Disaster!
From their report: "Nearly seven in ten households saw their earnings substantially fall or their nondiscretionary expenses substantially rise."
By another report, State of Working America's Wealth by U.C. Berkeley professor Sylvia Allegretto, the median household lost 40% of its savings, a drop from $105,000 to $65,000. By the report from the Statistical Abstract of the U.S., Table 722, I believe, the net worth of the country dropped by 20%, from $71 trillion to $58 trillion.
I write an economics blog, and I try to remain emotionally neutral or uninvolved, objective. This is one issue that I find simply insane. The total debt of financial corporations in 1970 amounted to 10% of GDP. Today it's over 116% of GDP, and with the derivative trading included it is probably much greater.
We need you to write a final rule that accomplishes the fundamental goals of the law: separating risky proprietary trading from the traditional business functions of banking institutions, banning proprietary trading at "too big to fail" banks, reducing the risk that financial market gambles present to the safety of our whole financial system, and stopping conflicts of interest like those that saw Wall Street firms selling their customers deals they had designed to fail.
Thank you, Ben Leet