U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the county is better off today because of the 2010 financial overhaul. According to the Associated Press, Geithner defended the action, saying the tighter regulations are helping to strengthen the financial system and make it safer for investors.
“No financial system is invulnerable to crisis and we still have a lot of unfinished business on the path to reform,” Geithner said. “But the American financial system is much less vulnerable than it was.”
Because of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul, banks face tougher requirements on how to guard against losses, including how much capital they must hold before taking on risk, Geithner said during a news conference.
The Treasury secretary also took aim at Republican presidential candidates who hope to repeal Dodd-Frank if they are elected to the White House.
“I would say remember 2008 and 2009,” Geithner told reporters. “Remember the fact that the reason why we’re living with very high unemployment with millions of Americans that have lost their homes, terrible damage to the basic economies of America is because of the failures that caused this crisis in the financial system. And if you want to go back to that, if you want to choose that future, then you should be in favor of the repeal of the law.”
