Special Features

From The Nader Letter Sept. 1997 For years consumer and community groups have teamed up with progressive members of Congress to push for the establishment of “lifeline” banking accounts that would provide low-income families with basic banking services on affordable terms. Invariably, the pro-bank majorities have been able to sidetrack the proposals. Last year Congress…

From The Nader Letter June 1997 In late June, the Banking Committee of the U. S. House of Representatives adopted by anarrow 28 to 26 margin the most far reaching financial legislation since the New Deal. Big news? Not in the eyes of much of the national media which, for the most part, left coverage…

From The Nader Letter May 1997 Much of the Federal Reserve’s power is based on a storehouse of myths that have been carefully nurtured by successive Fed Chairmen over the years. No myth is longer lasting than the often repeated claim that the Federal Reserve Board must have power over bank regulation in order to…

House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach’s performance on banking legislation in the recently departed 104th Congress drew a lot of negative reviews from both the financial community and the consumer movement — albeit for different reasons. But, Leach may be up to some new tactics in the 105th Congress. Even before the new Congress organized,…

THE 104TH CONGRESS IS down to its final days, and the Senate and House Banking Committees need to face up to their number one priority — straightening out the deposit insurance funds. Extending back to the last Congress, the two committees have procrastinated over what to do about recapitalizing the saving associations insurance fund (SAIF).…

From The Nader Letter July 1996 The slash and burn approach of the 104th Congress has produced a long list of foolish, counter productive and, often, dangerous cuts in the federal budget. But, few top the irresponsibility of the budget cutters who have applied a blunt meat axe to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the…

The media gurus love to expound on the glories of the First Amendment and the overriding importance of an open, accessible and accountable government where secrets are limited to only the most critical and immediate national security matters. But, extend these First Amendment arguments to include the Federal Reserve System and much of the national…

From The Nader Letter May 1996 The Clinton Administration and the Congress are in a mad scramble to come up with a solution to the problems created by an undercapitalized Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF) and a growing competitive disadvantage for the thrift industry vis a vis the nation’s commercial banks. The problems could have…

From The Nader Letter April 1996 As coronations go, the confirmation hearings for Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan and two new members of the Board were, if nothing else, a model of efficiency and speed, taking just a little more than three hours of the Senate Banking Committee’s time. So perfunctory was the Committee’s…

From The Nader Letter March 1996 Suddenly basic economic and trade issues are front and center in national politics. Discussions of job security, stagnant wages, corporate ethics and flights of factories to Mexico are pushing out the endless renditions of balanced budgets, deficits and arcane tax proposals as the hot button issues. Belatedly, politicians and…