Bill Thwarting Too Big To Fail Is Faltering
Earlier this month, Senator Bernard Sanders introduced S. 2746, a bill informally called the Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act. Put simply, the legislation requires the Secretary of the Treasury to compile a list of finance companies that are “too big to fail” – a phrase used over the last year to describe companies so large, and so important in their influence, that if they were to go bankrupt, the essential structure of the entire economy would fall apart. The Treasury Secretary would then have one year to break these too-large companies into smaller companies which would work at a smaller size so that their failure would not cause the destruction of the American economy.
The Treasury Secretary would then have one year to break these too-large companies into smaller companies which would work at a smaller size so that their failure would not cause the destruction of the American economy. The legislation would prevent the need of further government bailouts of failed financial firms, given that the only excuse for giving private financial firms billions upon billions of public money was that the government had no other choice.
Last week, Maurice Hinchey offered another version of the bill in the House of Representatives. The House bill is listed as H.R. 4142, with the same informal title as the Sanders bill.
Both bills, however, have no cosponsors. As much as other members of the House and Senate complain about being victims of corporations that are “too big to fail”, they aren’t willing to take the action to rescue the American economy from being dominated by these huge yet weak institutions.
Why? Well, these finance companies truly are, in a sense, too big to fail. They’re too big to fail to exert influence over members of Congress, through the work of armies of lobbyists, and through immense programs of financial donations to political campaigns, and to political pressure groups that are able to tilt the process in their clients’ favor.
So far, only two members of Congress are willing to stand up to these huge financial firms. If you’re upset about that, call your senators and your representative in the House, and ask that they cosponsor the Too Big To Fail, Too Big To Exist Act.
