On Wednesday, President Obama announced a remarkably simple and remarkable great new federal rule that simply says retirement financial advisers have to follow a fiduciary standard, which means they have to be guided by what's in their clients' best interests. Which is pretty much how it always should have been, right? But it hasn't until now. Which is pretty unbelievable, but it's Wall Street, so there you go.
Now that it is a rule, a lot of Republicans don't like it, and one of those Republicans is Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL). But you know who really, really likes it? Rep. Tammy Duckworth, and she's perfectly willing to make an issue out of it.
Kirk has filed legislation that he says would protect consumers without denying investors the right to select the adviser of their choice. Among other things, it would require specific congressional approval of any new standards.
In a statement today, Kirk said he's "disappointed the Department of Labor is moving forward with its misguided government takeover of Americans' retirement planning."
Duckworth likes the new regulations.
"The fiduciary rule would curb Wall Street abuse and save families, pension funds and retirees tens of billions of dollars a year," said state Democratic Party spokesman Sean Savett. "Illinois needs a senator who will do what's best for hardworking families, not the bidding of wealthy campaign contributors on Wall Street."
You know what the so-called fiduciary rule is not? It's not a government takeover of anything. But as Paul Waldman writes, saying something is a government takeover is like calling it Obamacare. It's a Republican "way of saying, 'We don't like this thing, but we don't want to say exactly why, so we'll just say it's like that other thing we don't like.'"
What they don't like is anything that gives Main Street half a chance not to be steamrollered by Wall Street. Seriously, these people hate the Consumer Financial Protection Board. It's called "consumer financial protection" for chrissakes! In Kirk's case, it's pretty damned apparent why. He's "a major recipient of campaign donations from the securities industry—nearly $3.6 million during his career."
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