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Where does Jill Stein stand on banks being too big to fail?
The Green Party candidate for President of the United States recently released a 14 point bank reform package. In it Stein supports breaking up banks that are too” big to fail.” Stein’s bank reform package is proactive. Her plan would not wait for a bank failure, but calls for the automatic break up of the larger banks.
This would preempt the ability of big banks to place the federal government in a position to choose between a bank bailout and an economic meltdown.
Additionally, the Green Party would outlaw “taxpayer funded bailouts for banks, insurers and other financial companies.”
Also, Stein believes that bank holding companies should not be allowed to own other financial companies. She supports bringing back “The Glass-Steagall Act.”
Glass-Steagall was the law of the land from 1933 before it was repealed through congressional action in 1999 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA). This legislation was repealed during the administration of Bill Clinton, husband of Stein’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. It prevented banks from setting up a domino effect in financial markets, if there was a bank failure. Many experts believe that had Glass-Steagall been in effect in 2008, the economic collapse would not have been as severe as it turned out to be.
On a level that impacts the average citizen, Stein supports a number of bank reforms that will help low income citizens to access banking services. Her bank reform platform calls for measures designed to “ensure that low- and middle-income people have access to banking services, affordable loans, and small-business supporting capital, especially through credit unions.”
Moreover, Stein aims to “oppose arbitrary or discriminatory practices that deny individuals or small business access to credit.” She supports “development of charter community development banks, which would be capitalized with public funds and work to meet the credit needs of local communities.”
Seemingly, Stein’s bank reform package seeks to prevent future economic failures and to give low income Americans access to affordable credit. While Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have plans to manage the status quo in banking and finance, neither of their plans come close to supporting access to capital for citizens below the middle class level. Given limited public exposure of the Stein campaign, the questions become: (1) Will poor people know that Stein is fighting for them and show up to vote for their best interests? (2) Will the middle class vote for the less fortunate, instead of their own pocketbooks? We will watch and report.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.