Don't thwart financial reform

Mitch McConnell and his gang of 41 Republican senators are threatening to filibuster to stop meaningful financial reform designed to give the SEC real power to regular Wall Street and prevent another meltdown.

This begs the question of whether or not they will continue to object to every piece of legislation advanced by President Obama or if they are simply receiving too much money from the fat cats earning huge bonuses on Wall Street to do what is good for the average taxpayer and investor.

Surely it is obvious that we need to rein in the Wall Street millionaires who brought us to the brink of disaster, regulate derivatives and make the SEC a real regulatory agency instead of ignoring fraud as it did during the Bush years. Further, the SEC will not be permitted to use taxpayer funds to bail out failing banks as McConnell claims. If necessary, the funds come from a pool generated by the banks themselves.

Perhaps this will make them operated more openly and we can avoid a repeat of 2007-08 where the taxpayer suffered at the hands of greedy bankers that now are working with McConnell and the Republicans to thwart meaningful financial reform.

Tom Minnerick

Elgin