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Two leading House and Senate committees pledged to hold hearings on the recent gyrations in the stock market as lawmakers voiced bipartisan outrage at platforms that curbed trades in companies like GameStop Corp. that were fueled by the social media site Reddit.
“People on Wall Street only care about the rules when they’re the ones getting hurt. American workers have known for years the Wall Street system is broken — they’ve been paying the price,” incoming Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brown said in a statement. “It’s time for the SEC and Congress to make the economy work for everyone, not just Wall Street.”
Representative Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, also promised a hearing focused on recent market instability and role played by hedge funds.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Official Campaign Website The fight for social, racial, and economic justice has never been more urgent. Representative Ocasio-Cortez believes that in this country, our diversity is our greatest strength. As a proud member of one of the most diverse districts in the nation, she is committed to transformative, empathetic, and just immigration reform.
While neither Brown nor Waters announced dates for their respective hearings, a rare bipartisan collection of lawmakers spoke up to criticize platforms like Robinhood Markets Inc. for limiting trading in some stocks, saying it unfairly disadvantages regular people who should be allowed to trade as freely as hedge funds.
Our staff is currently working remotely. You can contact our team by calling 718-662-5970, Monday-Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM. Our staff is currently working remotely. You can contact our team by calling 718-662-5970, Monday-Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez let excoriated the Republican politicians for their failure to take responsibility for the insurrection and more. See full episodes here. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has some serious concerns. In a previous interview, she said that as she was hiding from.
Response of Ocasio-Cortez, Warren
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called recent trades “interesting,” and said relevant agencies should examine the issue. Progressive Democrats including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as GOP Senator Pat Toomey, said the moves merit closer regulatory scrutiny.
“It’s turned into a casino so that market manipulators come in and they drive markets up or down and make a profit on it,” Warren said of the stock market on CNBC. “The billionaires and some hedge funds are yelling because they’re not the ones, the only ones, who make money when the manipulation works.”
Toomey, who’s poised to become the top Republican on the Senate banking panel, said he’s disturbed by Robinhood and other platforms blocking trades.
“I find it very disturbing that a platform would suddenly freeze out investors,” Toomey said. “People should be free to make the investment decisions they choose.”
Impact on ‘Everyday Investors’
In announcing a plan for action, Waters noted the “long history of predatory conduct” by hedge funds, adding that “private funds preying on the pension funds of hard working Americans must be stopped.”
“I will convene a hearing to examine the recent activity around GameStop stock and other impacted stocks with a focus on short selling, online trading platforms, gamification and their systemic impact on our capital markets and retail investors,” the California lawmaker said in a statement.
Representative Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the panel, said he “wants to open up markets to everyday investors” and is “watching the GameStop issue with absolute fascination.”
“If there has been market manipulation, fraud, or any pump-and-dump schemes, that obviously needs to be fully investigated,” McHenry said.
Ocasio-Cortez, also a member of the House Financial Services Committee, tweeted earlier that “we now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.”
Gensler Nomination Delayed
GameStop’s volatile trading briefly pushed the stock to No. 1 on the Russell 2000 Index on Thursday, despite the trading restrictions. But shares then fell as much as 68% from their high and trading was halted for the second time on Thursday. Shares in GameStop, a retail chain that sells new and used video games, closed down 44% Thursday at $193.60.
Jared Bernstein, a member of President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the trading frenzy. But he suggested the situation was merely a symptom of broader inequality in the U.S. economy.
“For me, and for the president, where this goes is that we’re not going to measure our progress by the stock market,” Bernstein said on CNN. “You’ve got a booming stock market and you’ve got rising poverty. That is at the core of the problem that we are trying to solve, not just in the near term but lastingly.”
The Senate Banking Committee hasn’t scheduled a hearing to confirm Gary Gensler, Biden’s pick to lead the SEC, leaving the agency with an acting chair for weeks — or potentially even months.
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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she didn’t have specific information about Gensler’s confirmation timetable, as the Senate works through Biden’s cabinet-level nominees first.
Democrats assumed control of the Senate last week, and confirmation votes have moved slowly as Democratic and Republican leaders negotiate how to organize committees.
“The president has spoken about the urgency of getting his team in place to address the range of issues we’re facing and I don’t think that would be any different for Mr. Gensler,” Psaki said, adding that Biden is being briefed by his economic team.
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Elected officials, including Bronx/Queens Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are now backing the workers' strike at the Hunts Point Produce Market, where employees have entered day four of a strike over wages.
Some 1,400 employees represented by the Teamsters Local 202 union, comprised of warehouse workers and drivers at the gargantuan industrial site in the Bronx, help move around 300,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables daily. The Hunts Point Produce Market is a cooperative of 30 merchants who purchase produce from farms and importers and distributes the goods to grocers, restaurants, and more. All told, they handle 60% of the city's produce.
On January 17th, members negotiating for a $1 hourly increase went on strike following a stalemate during negotiations with market owners. And with every day that passes, the effects of reduced output from the market will be felt by supermarkets and restaurants that depend on them.
'If you notice that aisles of produce are little low and you see the stuff starting to turn a little bit, you know that's when you're gonna notice,' Raymond Rivera, a driver and union member, said.
'When you're standing on this line, you're not just asking for $1, you are asking for transformational change for your lives, over the lives of every food worker across this country, for kids or food workers across the country,' Ocasio-Cortez said, flanked by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and state Assemblymember Amanda Septimo on a frigid Wednesday night outside the enormous, city-owned property. 'Because there's a lot of things upside down right now in our economy. And one of those things that are upside down [...] is the fact that a person who is helping get the food to your table cannot feed their own kid. That's upside down.'
Negotiations stopped nearly two weeks ago after members had pushed for a $1 increase plus greater health coverage. Owners returned to the table with a 32 cents per hour wage increase, and 60 cents going towards health coverage.
Meanwhile Hunts Point workers continue their strike: https://t.co/CFkpbIL32e
— Rebeca Ibarra (@RebeIbarraC) January 21, 2021On Wednesday night, dozens of workers stood outside their workplace in solidarity, huddled around bonfires as music played and wearing protest signs, with a giant inflatable rat looming nearby. Employees spent the night chatting among themselves, outraged over the company's lack of progress over the union.
For Francisco Flores, a 26-year employee at the site, the counter-offer is a slap in the face for many workers who stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic, which did not halt operations at the site.
'We've had our contract disputes with them [...] it's been different this year with the pandemic and actually seeing and knowing some of your friends that you've worked with in here for 28 years die, and then have friends of yours, not coming to work because they're home quarantined, sick, makes a big difference,' Flores told Gothamist/WNYC. 'And then we're here every day during the pandemic, we try not to miss as much as we can, because we need the money. And we get no kind of thank you.'
Flores, a married father of three kids living in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, said throughout his time working at the company he's been living paycheck to paycheck. He can't even save money. With every day that workers are on strike their pay is docked.
'I've even argued with my father from time to time. He tells me, 'You got to try to save money.' I'm like, 'Dad, I can't. I don't know how you did it,' Flores recalled. 'But in this economy and the way things are going, they don't give you room. And I'm like, even though we might get a little bit of a raise, everything else goes back up. I've been to the supermarket with $100, and I used to come out with four or five, six bags. Now I come out with two or three.'
BREAKING: 21 train cars of merchandise turned back at Hunts Point Market strike line.
“The locomotive engineer said, ‘we’re @Teamsters too,’ turned the freight car around, and headed back to Ohio.”
UNION SOLIDARITY ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏻 #1u#HuntsPointStrikepic.twitter.com/b1zqhT3ARU
Charles Machadio, a trustee with the union, said the offer is only fair since the workers were deemed essential during the pandemic.
'We're not being, like, greedy,' Machadio said. 'The men really deserve a $3 or $4 raise for coming here risking their lives. But we're saying give them $1 raise and pay the health insurance and we do the contract and go home.'
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Campaign Site
In a previous statement, the company said that the current economic climate cannot allow for any increase beyond what was offered.
'Even with the continued uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, we are offering our dedicated workers wage and benefit increases over the next three years that are a multiple of the current annual cost of living,' a statement from Hunts Point Produce Market reads. 'Under our offer we will continue to pay approximately $10K per employee/year for pension benefits, and $15K per employee per year for healthcare benefits in addition to base wage increases. Unfortunately, the union walked away from the bargaining table 12 days ago and since then has focused only on bringing its members out on strike, which is harmful to the members and the community.'
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This article has been updated to reflect the correct counter-offer from the company.
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