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Reining in Wall Street Updates

News Release | NCPIRG Education Fund | Democracy

New Report Released: Auctioning Democracy

Today NCPIRG Education Fund and Demos released a new analysis of the funding sources for the campaign finance behemoths, Super PACs. The findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United decision: since their inception in 2010, Super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.

Report | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Big Banks, Bigger Fees

Since Congress largely deregulated consumer deposit (checking and savings) accounts beginning in the early 1980s, the PIRGs have tracked bank deposit account fee changes and documented the banks’ long-term strategy to raise fees, invent new fees and make it harder to avoid fees. 

Over the last six months, PIRG staff conducted inquiries at 392 bank branches in 21 states and reviewed bank fees online in 12 others. This report, “Big Banks, Bigger Fees: A National Survey of Bank Fees and Fee Disclosure Policies,” examines the following questions: 

- How easy is it for consumers to shop around? 

- Can consumers still find free or low-cost checking accounts or has free checking ended? 

- What can the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) do to help improve transparency in the financial marketplace, an important goal as consumers seek to make ends meet in response to the lingering recession?

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

U.S. PIRG's Wall Street Bailout Briefing #7

When an institution can dish out trillions of dollars without so much as a whisper to Congress, let alone the American taxpayers, it has no incentive to be accountable – to act in our best interest. In fact, the Federal Reserve is, economist Dean Baker recently observed, “by design, more answerable to the banking industry than democratically elected officials,” and by proxy, to the American taxpayers.  

News Release | U.S. PIRG | Financial Reform

Bailout Briefing #1: Comparing Executive Compensation Caps

 The aim of this bailout briefing is to provide our perspective on recent developments and resources for the media, staff and other interested parties.

Tools & Resources

Priority Action

The CUT Loopholes Act would put an end to the price and profit shifting that allows publicly traded companies to engage in pervasive tax avoidance.

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