SENATE BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC POLICY HOLDS A HEARING ON SHORT-TERMISM IN FINANCIAL MARKETS
APRIL 29, 2010
SPEAKERS: SEN. SHERROD BROWN, D-OHIO CHAIRMAN SEN. JON TESTER, D-MONT. SEN. JEFF MERKLEY, D-ORE. SEN. CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, D-CONN.
SEN. JIM DEMINT, R-S.C. RANKING MEMBER SEN. RICHARD C. SHELBY, R-ALA. EX OFFICIO
WITNESSES: JAMES ROGERS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DUKE ENERGY
DAMON SILVERS, DIRECTOR, POLICY AND SPECIAL COUNSEL, AFL-CIO
JUDITH SAMUELSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE BUSINESS AND SOCIETY PROGRAM
J.W. VERRET, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW, GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
[*] BROWN: Welcome to the hearing. The Subcommittee on Economic Policy of the Banking -- Senate Banking Committee will come to order.
Thank you, panelists, for joining us. I know each of you is extraordinarily busy, and several of you had to rearrange schedules to be here, Houston-Astros and I appreciate that very much.
In an age of BlackBerrys and instant messaging and video conferencing, we've become used to shrinking the distance between -- between points A and B. Whether the goal is to gather information or resolve a problem or exploit an opportunity, what was once considered expeditious is now more or less considered the norm.
In that same vein, there's a familiar business impulse and government impulse, frankly, to generate short-term results no matter what the long-term cost. This is the subject, short-termism, that we are considering this morning.
It's a timely subject, given that by hook or crook, the Senate will reform Wall Street and will do it soon. One thing we have or should have learned from the events that led to our current situation is that if Wall Street wheeler-dealers become blindly obsessed with short-term gains, their actions can potentially -- and have -- shattered the economic security of Americans and the nation in which we live.
burberry Over the past year, I've chaired several hearings in this subcommittee to examine the opportunities and the challenges facing American manufacturing. Chief among these challenges is the obsession with quarterly results, the short-term expectations from the world of finance, which too often sacrifice long-term economic growth and job creation.
Short-termism involves a tradeoff between long-term productivity and fast cash. Financial transactions supplement manufacturing is a means of growing the economy at the expense of our nation's self- sufficiency, our ability to make the products we need, generate the energy we use, equip the armed forces upon which we all rely.
Recent trends have transformed quarterly earnings into benchmarks for speculators to make bets. The rise of private equity in hedge funds has deepened that volatility.
A couple of years ago, the middle class community of Tiffin,
Other articles:
http://yq22.com/Blog/View/?875
http://www.juancheng.info/Blog/View/?2417
