The CFTC is Losing Their Superman AND Their Batman
One of the MOST important agencies in the last few years fighting for strong financial reform has been the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or the CFTC for short.
The CFTC is run by five Commissioners. They currently have one vacancy (Commissioner Jill Sommers, a Republican, left in January). They’re about to have two more. And the two who are leaving, Chairman Gary Gensler and Commissioner Bart Chilton, are no less than the agency’s key members.
It’s like the CFTC is losing Superman and Batman (Wonder Woman left already), and they’re just gonna be left with…like, Aquaman:
(Original image generously made by the amazing Darth)
The CFTC’s Chairman, Gary Gensler, spent many years at Goldman Sachs but to the surprise of many, has turned out to use that knowledge to fight hard against Wall Street excess. He is the Superman of the agency.
Chairman Gensler’s term expires at the end of this year, and so far a replacement for him has not been found. His departure is a huge loss for the country, as he has been a strong proponent of Wall Street reform.
But to make matters worse, another key member, Commissioner Bart Chilton, just announced that he, too, would be leaving the agency at the end of this year.
That basically leaves the agency completely in the hands of the pro-Wall Street Republican Commissioner Scott O'Malia–who would be Aquaman, if Aquaman were evil–and Democrat Commissioner Mark Wetjen, who is a tepid proponent of reform at times, but is more often than not on the side of the Wall Street banks.
It’s as if Daphne left in January, and we’re losing Velma and Scoobie Doo at the end of the year. That means at the CFTC, arguably the most important regulator of Wall Street, we are just going to be left with…Shaggy and Freddie:
Tell Barack Obama we need a strong leader and a strong replacement for Commissioner Chilton. Don’t banish the CFTC to the wilderness.
Click here to tweet at the president:
.@BarackObama we need strong replacements for Gary Gensler & Chilton @CFTC. Don’t let Wall St run wild http://bit.ly/cftcsuperman cc @whitehouse
