The Week in Review
The trading debacle at JPMorgan Chase put a spotlight all week on way-too-weak federal regulations of financial institutions. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday began rounding up backers for a bill to outlaw glaring conflicts of interest at Federal Reserve banks, the government's chief bank regulator. A hearing on Tuesday examined why HIV/AIDS drugs are so expensive in America and explored a way to save patients and taxpayers money. Also on Tuesday, Sanders headlined a protest rally outside a D.C. conference staged by a billionaire whose hobbyhorse is dismantling Social Security. The senator discussed those and other topics in his weekly Friday radio and Internet appearance on The Thom Hartmann Program.
JPMorgan Fiasco
The $2 billion-plus trading loss at JPMorgan Chase raised new questions about whether bank regulations are strong enough or whether Wall Street gambling will once again lead us to financial collapse. Sanders told Wolf Blitzer on CNN that too-big-to-fail banks should be broken up. He said stronger bank regulations are needed. He said it is a blatant conflict of interest for bank officers, like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, to sit on the board of the Federal Reserve, which regulates banks.
Watch the discussion on CNN »
What do you think? Take the poll »
Eye on the Prize
Drug-maker monopolies make HIV/AIDS medicine so expensive that many patients cannot afford treatment and die. One HIV medication, Atripla, costs $25,000 a year in the U.S., but an FDA-approved generic version costs only $200 in the developing world. Sanders on Tuesday chaired a hearing on legislation he introduced to replace the patent system's exorbitant prices with a prize fund. That approach was called "exactly right" by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz during his testimony before Sanders' subcommittee.
Read a Huffington Post article on the hearing »
We Deliver for You
The U.S. Postal Service backed off a plan to close thousands of post offices, many in rural communities, and on Thursday Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe scaled back plans to close mail-sorting centers. His draconian plans ran into widespread opposition from postal customers, unions, small businesses and members of Congress. Sanders helped lead the effort to pass a Senate postal reform bill, which protects rural post offices and strengthens the financial situation of the Postal Service.
Save Social Security
Social Security supporters rallied on Tuesday outside a "fiscal summit" in Washington hosted by Peter G. Peterson, the billionaire foe of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid."I find it rather appalling that a Wall Street billionaire, Pete Peterson, a man who has more money than he knows how to spend, is hosting a conference to call for massive cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs that are of enormous importance to the survival and dignity of millions of our fellow citizens - many of whom are struggling daily just to keep their heads above water," Sanders said.
