Treasury Nominee Mnuchin Promising on Volcker Rule and Fannie and Freddie

Steven Mnuchin would bring to the Treasury Department valuable experience managing entrepreneurial ventures and company turnarounds. He has expressed some encouraging sentiments on housing policy and the regulatory burden on Main Street. CEI looks forward to a comprehensive confirmation hearing at which Mnuchin can share his views on a variety of important issues.

Mnuchin is absolutely right on the need to rein in Dodd-Frank’s Volcker Rule. The rule, which bans banks from making many types of economically beneficial trades, was aimed at Wall Street but has ended up having a much more devastating effect on Main Street, as even some Congressional Democrats have recognized.

Mnuchin is also correct that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in the government-run conservatorship for too long and should be released into the private sector. Yet this release must be done in a way that both respects Fannie and Freddie shareholder rights and gets rid of any explicit or implicit government backing of the two entities.

In this paper on government policies contributing to the “too big to fail” syndrome, I detail the flaws of the Volcker Rule and the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie.

CEI looks forward to a constructive dialogue with Mnuchin and his team on removing government barriers frustrating the greatness of American entrepreneurs and investors