Thread by @RealBankReform

Today @federalreserve Chair Powell will be appearing before the Senate Banking Committee at 10am ET. We will be clipping videos in this thread.

You can watch live here: banking.senate.gov/hearings/06/08…

@SenSherrodBrown: "Across the country, Americans are outraged over the killings of #BreonnaTaylor @GeorgeFlyod #AhmaudArbery #RayshardBrooks & so many other Black Americans. They are demanding justice & an end to the systemic racism that pervades every aspect of society"

We're not just looking at a "theoretical, academic model of a perfect market," as @SenSherrodBrown would suggest.

Systemic racism in our financial system must be taken account for AND addressed in order to have a economic recovery for ALL Americans for #COVID19.

@SenSherrodBrown: "The evils of racism have been woven into the fabric of our nation's history. Look at housing: from Jim Crow to redlining to today's @USOCC dismantling an important civil rights law. We can't rely on the market to sort itself out. It never has, & it never will."

.@SenSherrodBrown: "Some members of House & Senate suggest, in their statements & policies, that Black Americans are uneducated, don't work hard, don't want to save or invest. That's a false, racist narrative. The reason behind the disparities is centuries of systemic oppression"

@SenSherrodBrown: "Let's be clear: government's always intervene in the economy. It's only been a question of who it's intervening on behalf of? Corporations, the wealthy, the privileged, or the people who make this country work?

That contrast has never been clearer"

@SenSherrodBrown: "While Treasury & the Fed help financial markets & corporations, you're not holding up the other end of the deal. We asked you to make sure that working Americans remain employed and safe."

If we are sending people back to work, we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past and not protect workers over corporations, adds @SenSherrodBrown.

Some are all too giddy to bailout Wall Street, but bashful about providing relief for Main Street. Where's that energy now?

@SenSherrodBrown: This Admin & McConnell "want to force people back to work without real safety protections, at the same low wages, while they shield their Wall St friends from liability if any of their workers get sick on the job."

Banking Chairman @MikeCrapo asks for a timeframe for when the Main Street facilities and nonprofit loans will be fully operational.

Chair Powell notes Main Street facility opened for lender registration yesterday. Says they are soliciting comment on the nonprofit loans.

@SenSherrodBrown asks Powell about a letter from @WSpriggs:

"Do you think Dr. Spriggs is correct that the US has failed to grapple with the fact that much of economic inequality is a direct result of institutional racism?"

Powell: "Economics discipline has a troubled history"

Thread got broken; it continues here:

https://twitter.com/RealBankReform/status/1272903062135373825

@SenSherrodBrown
asks Powell if he will commit to a study of how the Fed's policies contribute to systematic racism?

Powell: "I'll take that away and think about it and talk to my colleagues about it"

@SenSherrodBrown cites Raphael Bostic, the "first & amazingly, still the only" Black Federal Reserve Bank President

Brown asks "is the Fed one of the institutions responsible for the unequal outcomes Black & brown workers face?"

Powell: "There is no doubt more all of us can do"

@SenSherrodBrown: "What are you doing to make sure the Fed's response doesn't make income inequality even worse?"

Powell: "A tight job market is probably the best single thing that the Fed can do to support gains by all low and moderate income communities..."

@SenJackReed asks about the impact of budget cuts at the state level.

Powell: "State & local govts amount to something like 13% of the labor force. If states are in tight financial straits, they will cut essential services & lay people off, and all of that will weigh on economy"

@SenJackReed: "14% of state & local employees are African-American, compared to 11.7% in the private workforce. So we'll see a situation institutionally that the bulk of this distress will be laid on the shoulders of" laid-off Black state workers

@SenToomey on the Fed's corporate bond buying, "I worry it starts to look a lot like fiscal policy...or the goal is to lower spreads. We run the risk that we diminish price signals. Why do we need to continue?"

Powell: "This is something we said we would do"

@SenToomey: “Is there a problem with market functioning now?”

Powell: "Market function has improved. It was out of an excess of caution to preserve these gains for market function by following through. We don’t want to be like an elephant running through the bond market.”

@SenatorMenendez asks about the longterm, negative economic impact of losing 40% of Black-owned small businesses. He also asks about the impact of 44% of Black households and 41% of Latino households cannot make rent & are evicted.

@SenWarren: "Are jobs coming back at the same rate for both Black and white Americans? "

Powell: "I think the answer to that is no."

Warren: "White unemployment fell to 12.4% while Black unemployment rose to 16.8%"

@SenWarren: "Is it accurate to say that our economy is 'healthy' when there are serious racial gaps in how Americans are doing?"

Powell: "I think that's a longer-run weakness in our economy"

@SenTinaSmith: “COVID is not the great equalizer. It hits hardest those who don’t have an affordable place to live, low wages, & the generational impacts on Black & brown & Indigenous people & the systemic racism that limits their freedom, their opportunities, & even their lives”

@SenTinaSmith asks what would be the impact if Congress doesn't provide assistance to renters?

Powell: "If people get evicted or foreclosed on, even their ability to get back into the labor market is challenging"

@SenTinaSmith: "Only 25% of Black families in Minnesota own their own home. The number is 76% of white families."

She talks about the importance of the proposal for $100 billion in rental assistance.