House Republicans, led by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), released their “Path to Prosperity” earlier today—a plan that would end Medicare as we know it and transfer trillions of dollars from working- and middle-class Americans to the wealthiest in our society. But one less-noted (but no less cynical) element of this House Republican plan is that it would deregulate “too big to fail” financial institutions, in what amounts to an enormous giveaway to the largest Wall Street firms that caused the recent housing and financial crises and the resulting economic downturn that is responsible for so many of our current budget woes.
Specifically, Rep. Ryan’s misnamed “Path to Prosperity” would end the necessary financial regulation of big Wall Street financial institutions identified as so large or interconnected that they pose a threat to the financial system and larger economy. This would roll back one of the most important provisions of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank financial reform law and would allow the largest U.S. financial institutions to essentially operate as they did before the twin crises, putting U.S. taxpayers and our economy at enormous risk of another major financial crisis.
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