The Great Satan

Seems even conservatives are beginning to challenge that reactionary bastion, The Chamber of Commerce and its opposition to ANY financial reform legislation. As reported by Think Progress, the well-known progressive Larry Kudlow had this to say:

I want to say the Chamber of Commerce is a very negative force on this. Absolutely negative and absolutely wrong in my humble opinion..."

Even a few GOP Senators are getting in on the act:

Sens. Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Bob Corker (R-TN) said they expect Wall Street reform to pass this year. “I don’t think people realize that this is an issue that almost every American wants to see passed,” Corker said, arguing that the GOP made a “strategic error” by refusing to work in a bipartisan manner on the bill.

Miracle of miracles, even the Obama administration has found its voice, and is challenging the Chamber to its face.

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal S. Wolin
Keynote address before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
Center for Capital Markets
Competitiveness Fourth Annual Capital Markets Summit
“The Urgency of Financial Reform:
Why We Should Not Wait for One More Finance
Crisis before Fixing What’s Broken”

The speech is worth a read. After reviewing the regulatory failures that led to the meltdown of the U.S. financial sector, Deputy Secretary Wolin launches into a spirited attack on The Chamber:

The Chamber has also attacked our proposals to bring oversight and transparency to the derivatives market. That opposition is puzzling. The opaque, unregulated derivatives market was right at the center of the recent crisis.
...
And yet, the Chamber of Commerce – funded, no doubt, with a good deal of your money – has launched a lavish, aggressive and misleading campaign to defeat the proposed independent agency.

The Chamber has every right to oppose those policies with which its members disagree. But as a leading, respected institution, the Chamber also has an obligation to be honest – with you, its members, and with the American people.
...
This Center – the Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness – sponsors a website, Stop the CFPA .com. In answer to the question, "what is the CFPA?" that website says the following:

It says the House has passed a bill that would "go so far as to dictate and require `plain vanilla' products, assuming federal bureaucrats know what is best for consumers." That is false. The bill creates no such authority. Neither does the Senate bill.

As the tea-party folks might say, "read the bill." You will not find plain vanilla or anything like it.

Yep - he cites the Chamber's lies and distortions, chapter & verse.

The Chamber of Commerce seems today simply another bastion of rich, white privilege - with little concern for the welfare of its members or the American people.