The Brian Lehrer Show

Newsmakers meet New Yorkers as host Brian Lehrer and his guests take on the issues dominating conversation in New York and around the world. This daily program from WNYC Studios cuts through the usual talk radio punditry and brings a smart, humane approach to the day's events and what matters most in local and national politics, our own communities and our lives. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy, and many others.

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30 Issues | Barney Frank (of Dodd-Frank) Explains Why Sanders' Plan Won't Work


To wrap up Week 1 of our #30Issues in 30 Weeks series, Barney Frank, a former U.S. Congressman (D-MA) and the author of Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), looks back at The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law he helped introduce in 2010 as a response to the Great Recession.

Frank, a supporter of Hillary Clinton, criticized Bernie Sanders for "vague" proposals. He said Sanders has said the solution is to reduce the big banks to a certain size but has failed to point to an actual number cap.

Frank reacted to the news from earlier this week that the Federal Reserve has deemed the living wills of 5 out of our 8 largest banks unsatisfactory.

"That's a sign it's working," he said, referring to his law. Frank said this shows that the banks are under tough scrutiny and have been put on notice for failing to provide satisfactory living wills, and if they don't improve regulators can step in.

Here's how he explained Dodd-Frank, paraphrased:

Under the old law, if a large institution is unable to pay its debts, the fed would step in, pay, and keep it alive. Under Dodd-Frank, the institution would be allowed to fail and go out of business. At that point, the federal government may decide to pay some of those debts using funds from other institutions.

Frank said that Sanders' plan to break up the banks could result in smaller institutions that are maybe too small to serve international business. "The problem is not size alone. The problem is an institution that is so indebted that it cannot pay it off. And part of what we do is to say: 'You can't get so indebted.'"


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 April 15, 2016  31m