New America Foundation: A Matter of Trust: Connecting Consumer Protections and Financial Reform

Date: Mar 11, 2010

Location:
Washington, DC

Description:

New America Foundation: A Matter of Trust: Connecting Consumer Protections and Financial Reform

Featuring Elizabeth Warren

The financial sector's leading role in the Great Recession has prompted calls for a re-write of their rules of conduct. The previous regulatory regime did not include sufficient safeguards to protect consumers nor prevent a near total collapse of the national economy. The Obama Administration has proposed stronger consumer protections enforced by a newly created independent agency. The House has already has passed a sweeping reform bill that includes the establishment of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency and Senate deliberations are ongoing. As the debate unfolds, the specifics of this proposal deserve scrutiny as well as the underlying principles which should govern a safer and sustainable marketplace for financial services.

"Banking is based on trust," according to Elizabeth Warren, and the key to meaningful reform is ensuring that consumers have access to transparent credit products with short, comprehensible contracts that allow for real product comparison." She argues that these connections have broken down and continue to threaten the entire economy. Can trust be resurrected once again? Can this be done without a new consumer watchdog? What stands in the way of successful reform? Join the New America Foundation's Asset Building Program for a lively discussion of the connections between consumer protections and financial sector reform.

EVENT TIME AND LOCATION

Thursday, March 11, 2010
12:15pm - 1:15pm

New America Foundation
1899 L Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036

Click here for more information, including full participant list and to RSVP.