The FINANCIAL — Michael R. Bloomberg released a tougher-than-expected Wall Street reform plan. Bloomberg, who has deep ties to Wall Street and made a fortune selling technology to banks, wants to fortify the Volcker Rule. Bloomberg has spent $338.7 million on advertising.
Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday offered his proposals for regulating Wall Street, where he made his billions, promising a return of Obama-era oversight if elected president and invoking the name of one of his rivals, Senator Elizabeth Warren, in an attempt to connect with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. “The financial system isn’t working the way it should for most Americans,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.“ The stock market is at an all-time high, but almost all of the gains are going to a small number of people.” He has also started talking more often about his plan to raise $5 trillion in new tax revenue from high earners and corporations. His message to voters as he campaigns across the country has been, in essence, that the government should raise taxes on people like him because they can afford it, The New York Times reported.
Among Bloomberg’s proposed ideas—in many ways similar to those of some of his Democratic rivals—are a financial transactions tax, merging Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, strengthening consumer protection laws and forming a corporate crime-fighting team at the Department of Justice, among others. Bloomberg’s support of a 0.1% tax on all financial transactions, for example, is a position he shares with many fellow candidates, including Sanders, Warren and Pete Buttigieg, Forbes wrote. The former New York City mayor also said he would strengthen and restore the oversight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bloomberg also called for better banking regulations such as forcing the nation’s biggest financial lenders to hold more capital in reserve to withstand economic downturns, and toughening the Volcker rule, according to Forbes.
Keep in mind that Bloomberg’s name is synonymous with Wall Street. His company sells terminals that allow sophisticated investors to keep a finger on the pulse of financial markets. And Bloomberg News airs on trading floor television screens throughout Wall Street. Bloomberg, who has deep ties to Wall Street and made a fortune selling technology to banks, wants to fortify the Volcker Rule, reinstate consumer protections overturned by the Trump administration, CNN wrote.
The Volcker Rule was initially enacted under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act. It prevented banks from investing their own money in hedge funds and private equity funds. It also tried to remove risk from trading desks at major U.S. banks, according to CNBC.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already spent more on the first few months of his 2020 presidential campaign than former President Barack Obama did on his 2012 bid. Bloomberg, whose estimated worth is over $50 billion, has spent $338.7 million on television, radio, and digital-media advertising as of Tuesday, while Obama spent $338.3 million on ads for his 2012 general-election campaign. Bloomberg officially entered the race in November and began running his first ads that month. The former mayor’s spending far exceeds that of his opponents, including the president. But he and Trump each spent $11 million on single 60-second TV ads during the Super Bowl earlier this month, Business Insider Reported.
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