News Archives » Economic Justice
Seamus Finn, OMI and Faith Consistent Investing Profiled in the Huffington Post May 27th, 2010
Fr. Seamus Finn, Director of the Oblate JPIC Office, along with three other ICCR members, will soon appear on The Daily Show, highlighting their work on banking and financial sector reform. Read this fine profile on Fr. Seamus in the Huffington Post written by Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University: Mission Improbable: Priests on Wall Street.
Senate Financial Reform Bill Passes the Senate May 26th, 2010
Despite huge opposition from the big Wall Street banks, the financial reform bill passed in the Senate on May 20th. This is an important step in reining in the casino economy and in creating a banking system that serves Main Street, not just Wall Street.
Here’s what the Senate bill will do if made law:
- Create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB will be a watchdog for consumers to protect them from questionable mortgages and credit card deals.
- End the casino economy bring the $600 trillion derivatives market into the light of day with the advent of exchange trading (transparency) and capital requirements (insuring accountability).
Read more about the bill on the website of Americans for Financial Reform.
The next step in the legislative process is the House and Senate conference committee which will hammer out the differences between the two bills. (Read about the House version here.) Once the committee agrees on a bill, it must be passed by a majority in the House and by 60 votes in the Senate.
Transparency on Congo Conflict Minerals Folded into the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill May 25th, 2010
With the passage of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act (S. 3217) in the United States Senate, the Congo Conflict Minerals and the Energy Security through Transparency (ESTT) amendments have made it into legislation. However, as neither amendment was in the House version of the financial reform legislation, both amendments will be taken up by the House/Senate Conference committee which will work to reconcile the differences between the two bills. Both amendments were agreed to during the passage of the Restoring American Financial Stability Act in the Senate.
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Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010 Introduced in the US Senate May 14th, 2010
The Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010 (S.3297) has been introduced in the US Senate by a bi-partisan group: Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and John Kerry (D-MA). The bill seeks to create new United States policy towards Zimbabwe.
Current U.S. policy towards Zimbabwe is characterized by the Zimbabwe Economic and Democracy Recovery Act of 2001 (ZEDERA) and an Executive Order declared by President Bush in 2003. Extended by President Obama until March 2011, this lists more than 200 individuals and business entities subject to a travel ban and whose assets have been frozen.
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Goldman CEO Calls for Internal Review; ICCR Derivatives Resolution Garnered 33.7% of Shareholder Vote! May 9th, 2010
ICCR Members Sr. Barbara Aires (Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, NJ), Seamus Finn, OMI, Cathy Rowan (Maryknoll) and Kate Walsh (Tri-State Coalition of Responsible Investors) head to the Goldman Sachs AGM, May 7, 2010
The head of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, at the company’s Annual Meeting last Friday, promised to conduct an internal review of the company’s business practices to make sure it was serving its customers and the public interest. The government has accused the bank of defrauding some clients in a derivatives deal.
The Missionary Oblates, along with other faith-based shareholders, filed a Resolution calling for greater transparency on derivatives trading, which captured 33.7% of the shareholder vote, a significant amount. Similar resolutions filed with Citigroup and Bank of America have won 30% and 39% of the shareholder vote, respectively, despite company opposition.
