Business for Shared Prosperity

U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, S. Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, American Made Alliance, Business for Shared Prosperity, Main Street Alliance, American Business Leaders for Financial Reform and Small Business Owners Nationwide Tell Congress to Pass Strong CFPA

Contact: Bob Keener at 617-610-6766, bobkeener [at] businessforsharedprosperity [dot] org

By Tim Duncan
The Hill, 2/25/10

It’s tough being a banker these days. Everyone from Sarah Palin to Barack Obama is using bankers as punching bags in the national media, and bankers, bonuses and bailouts seem to have become the three most important words in American politics. Wall Street executives have sunk below politicians and lawyers in the eyes of Americans, and college graduates are viewing teaching and the Peace Corp as more attractive options to jobs in finance for the first time in decades.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Frank Knapp, The S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Phone: 803.252.5733, E-mail: Sbchamber [at] scsbc [dot] org

Fixing The Small Business Lending Crisis

Columbia, SC (February 24, 2010) — The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce has announced its support for three Congressional legislative efforts to help re-energize the small business loan market and protect the small business borrower.

By Sewell Chan
New York Times, Feb 23, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration continued its push on Tuesday for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that could regulate mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. The agency has emerged as the main stumbling block in the Congressional debate over legislation to overhaul financial regulations.

The Green Sheet, February 22, 2010

Business for Shared Prosperity, a U.S. network of business owners, executives and investors, prepared a statement containing hundreds of signatures of business people across the nation, requesting U.S. Senate approval of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection agency. In a Feb. 4, 2010, press release, the network said the agency would safeguard businesses, consumers and the American Dream.

By Alain Sherter

What happens if financial lobbyists kill the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency? Then “we’ll be at the mercy of [banks'] lending practices,” says Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Or in other words, we’ll be stuck with the status quo. That’s a disaster for small businesses, meaning the country at large.

By Gary Weiss
Portfolio, Feb 16, 2010
Plans for a consumer financial watchdog agency are in danger of going down in flames.

President Obama’s financial market reform proposals are getting what was known in the Cold War as the “salami” treatment. That’s the name that used to be given to Soviet negotiating tactics, which whittled down the other side piece by piece. So it is with the centerpiece of the market reform plan, a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would protect the public from unfair Wall Street practices.

National Mortgage News, February 10, 2010

By Jeff Muskus
Huffington Post, Feb 10, 2010

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its GOP allies have been busy warning that an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency will hurt small business -- but a growing number of small business owners are saying just the opposite.

When asked to speak for themselves, they say a strong CFPA is the only thing that can protect them from the predatory practices of the corporate titans represented by the Chamber.

Industry News, Feb 10, 2010