© Bebeto Matthews/AP.Street in Manhattan, March 3, 2020.
As coronavirus panic hits the U.S.,
a financial lobbying group is attempting to use the crisis to push through the deregulation of its industry. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), a Washington-based lobbying organization representing many of the nation's largest banks,
released a set of proposals this week, the most important of which
recommends that the Federal Reserve lower capital requirements to zero. This would mean banks could lend an unlimited amount
without having any assets or wealth to back it up. It also advocated
relaxing the so-called "stress tests" that force banks to show that they can withstand economic shocks. This, it claims, would help America fight the
COVID-19 virus. The report's lead author was BPI CEO Greg Baer, former Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase.
The recommendations have been
condemned as incoherent and "transparently opportunistic" by Jeremy Krass of the University of Michigan School of Business.
"The whole idea of capital requirements and stress-testing banks is to make sure they have enough cushion to absorb losses" in a period of economic crisis, Kress
told the
Washington Post. Now that the economy has gone into a sudden shock, Wall Street wants those regulations lifted.
Comment: Graham has been nothing but consistent in his warmongering, not just in Syria, but wherever he feels US hegemony is under threat. Rand Paul was right to call him out.