Everybody should go read this bill that was just introduced by Bernie Sanders. I know, bills are confusing and boring to read, with all the legislative language, but trust me, you'll like reading this one.
Heck, I'll even include the whole text of the bill after the fold.
A BILL
To address the concept of ‘‘Too Big To Fail’’ with respect
to certain financial entities.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Too Big to Fail, Too
5 Big to Exist Act’’.
6 SEC. 2. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON INSTITUTIONS THAT
7 ARE TOO BIG TO FAIL.
8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later
9 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
10 Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a list
2
1 of all commercial banks, investment banks, hedge funds,
2 and insurance companies that the Secretary believes are
3 too big to fail (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Too Big
4 to Fail List’’).
5 SEC. 3. BREAKING-UP TOO BIG TO FAIL INSTITUTIONS.
6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, begin-
7 ning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
8 Secretary of the Treasury shall break up entities included
9 on the Too Big To Fail List, so that their failure would
10 no longer cause a catastrophic effect on the United States
11 or global economy without a taxpayer bailout.
12 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.
13 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘Too Big to Fail’’
14 means any entity that has grown so large that its failure
15 would have a catastrophic effect on the stability of either
16 the financial system or the United States economy without
17 substantial Government assistance.
That's it. Shorter than the manual for my iPod. And probably more effective and vital for our economic well-being than any other bill you'll find out there.
This bill essentially gives Congress the power to break up any financial institution the Treasury deems as "too big to fail". It gives Congress the power to break them up any way they'd like, so long as it doesn't damage the economy. And it makes sure that we never have to spend billions of dollars bailing out the asses of morons who put their greed above our nation's economic health.
There's a petition for the bill here, and I encourage everyone to sign it. I'd love to see this bill actually make it to the floor, and we can find out, once and for all, who is on our side in this fight.
Plus, we can be spared the drama of Republicans throwing a huge stack of papers on their podium every time they come up to whine about the bill.