Warren’s ‘Smart Regulation’ Theme May Presage Campaign Issue in 2016

The financial services industry may well have gotten a sneak peek recently at how Democrats — including the party’s nominee for president — may well use financial industry reforms as a campaign issue in 2016.



At a conference April 15, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) encouraged those who oppose more regulations of markets and the industry (i.e., Republicans) to embrace “smart regulation” — an approach that, she asserted, ensures a fair and competitive marketplace. (You can watch the entire 36-minute speech here.) This theme “could be an ideal campaign talking point for Democrats accused of being anti-market and anti-capitalist,” the National Journal’s Eric Garcia notes. 



Most of Warren’s speech focused on breaking up big banks and ending the Fed’s practice of making emergency loans to troubled institutions. But she also voiced her support for limiting executive compensation. (As we reported April 13, a new report by Democratic staffers on the Senate Finance Committee takes aim at non-qualified deferred comp plans, recommending “closing [the] abusive loophole” of Code Section 162(m) that permits comp to be deferred until after an individual is no longer a senior exec.) 



And echoing the “income inequality” theme that Brian Graff predicted in NAPA Net the Magazine last summer, Warren charged, “Republicans claim loudly and repeatedly that they support competitive markets, but their approach to financial regulation is pure crony capitalism that helps the rich and powerful protect and expand their power and leaves everyone else behind.” 



“Fighting Bob” LaFollette, call your office.