Better Markets Month in Review Newsletter - August 2024

Hi friend,

Summer is often a slow time in Washington. Not this year! As the headlines make clear, there’s tons of dramatic and consequential political news. But there’s also lots of economic and financial news below those headlines that directly impact the lives and livelihoods of all Americans. That’s why our team has been crazy busy from the Supreme Court and the Federal Reserve to the SEC and the National Economic Council.

There’s lots going on, with important debates about innovation and technology in finance in the forefront. Some of those—like artificial intelligence—hold real promise, but peril as well. We must all rise to the challenge to work together to get the balance right. Others, however, are predatory and have no legitimate use, like crypto and gamification. Meanwhile, the growing prominence of special interests and lobbying, the manipulation of our courts, and proposals to allow gambling on elections are threatening to weaken our democratic institutions.

We know that powerful financial institutions and their many allies have the money, access and influence to have a say on all the key issues. The question is whether the interests of Main Street Americans will be considered. As you’ll see below, our team is working to ensure that all Americans have a voice in the future of our economy and country.

Our work in these areas aims to ensure that the public interest is represented and that there is an effective counterweight to the special interests that are all too powerful in Washington. While much of that work is fighting over highly technical rules, the overriding goal is a financial system that supports the real productive economy and generates broad-based wealth, which, done right, leads to social, economic, and racial justice.

With your help we will get a financial and economic system focused on wealth creation, not wealth extraction, one that doesn’t exploit hardworking Americans living paycheck to paycheck but one that enables them to have economic security and, ultimately, prosperity.

Dennis

Dennis Kelleher
Co-Founder, President and CEO

Political gaming and gambling undermine the integrity of our elections, foster market manipulation, and inappropriately cast the CFTC in the role of election regulator. The CFTC already has the critical role of regulating commodities and derivatives markets that matter to everyday Americans. This is why we support the CFTC’s push to ban political event contracts. In addition to filing our own comment letter, we also led a joint letter with 22 other organizations.

Earlier this year, the SEC issued a rule that requires companies to disclose the climate-related risks they face and how they are addressing those risks. The rule is exactly what the SEC was created to do 90 years ago: Make sure investors have the information they need to decide how to invest their money and vote their shareholder proxies. Predictably, several business organizations, along with some states, rushed to challenge the rule in court. We filed an amicus brief in support of the SEC and explained that the SEC has broad statutory authority to require company disclosures that protect investors and serve the public interest.

The Supreme Court ended its 2023-2024 term with three exceptionally damaging decisions that undermine the ability of the government to protect the public from a wide range of threats to their health, safety, welfare, and financial well-being. In our analysis, we review these cases and how they will put virtually all Americans at greater risk from the powerful, wealthy, and well-connected.

Banks face enormous risks from the changing climate, but are woefully unprepared to even evaluate those risks, much less actually do something about them to ensure their safety, soundness, and financial stability. The urgency of this situation can no longer be ignored. In a new fact sheet, we detailed how regulators still have not seriously addressed climate-related financial risks’ effect on banks.

Better Markets in the News

People in the crypto industry are doubling down on political contributions. They can see the trend of losing to the SEC in court. The legal walls are closing in, and they want Congress to say digital assets are not securities, so the S.E.C. has no jurisdiction over them. That’s the big ask.

Activities at the Regulatory Agencies

Each month our legal team outlines some of the top cases we're keeping an eye on, the Amicus "Friend of the Court" Briefs we have filed, and why everyone with a bank account, credit card, mortgage loan, or retirement loan should be interested in those cases.

August is typically a slow month in DC and on Capitol Hill, as Members return to their districts and on the campaign trail. While there were no Committee hearings this month, lawmakers still played a role in the regulatory process through letter writing, to both agencies and companies.