Page 20 - Oil and Energy January 2013

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Commission (CFTC) faces tenacious oppo-
sition from the interests on Wall Street as it
works to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act. The banking and investment industries
are undermining the Commission at every
turn by filing lawsuits, lobbying commis-
sioners and using procedural tactics to
cause delays.
Fuel dealers appreciate the CFTC’s
efforts because as bona fide participants in
the commodity marketplace they suffer the
effects of inadequate regulation in the form
of volatile prices, persistent upward price
pressure and high hedging costs. Financial
reform is a top priority for this industry, but
for average Americans, including Oilheat
customers, the issues are esoteric and
poorly understood.
If average Americans understood what
really caused the economic meltdown
in 2008, financial market reform would
be a no-brainer, according to Michael
Greenberger, a professor at the University of
Maryland School of Law and an outspoken
advocate for market reform. Greenberger
knows the financial markets from the inside,
having served as Director of the Division of
Trading and Markets at the CFTC under
President Clinton.
Greenberger works with the Commodity
Markets Oversight Coalition (CMOC) and
other market reformers to promote the
re-establishment of adequate market over-
sight and protect the interests of consumers
and businesses.
Professor Greenberger serves as the
Technical Advisor to the United Nations
Commission of Experts of the President of
the UN General Assembly on Reforms of
the International Monetary and Financial
System. He also serves on the International
Energy Forum’s Independent Expert
Group that provided recommendations for
reducing energy price volatility to the IEF’s
12th Ministerial Meeting in March 2010.
Before joining the CFTC in 1997,
he was a partner for more than 20 years in
the Washington, D.C. law firm of Shea &
Gardner, where he served as lead litigation
counsel before courts of law nationwide,
including the United States Supreme
Court.
Greenberger recently spoke with Oil &
Energy about market reform, Dodd-Frank,
Wall Street ethics and more.
F`c <e\i^p1 Following November’s election,
we have the same president and the same
balance of power in Congress. What does
that portend for the reform movement?
D`Z_X\c >i\\eY\i^\i1 The
results are enormously
helpful.Thealternativewasa
complete retrenchment. We
still have our battles ahead
of us to fully implement
Dodd-Frank and improve
on it, but had Romney been
elected or had the Senate gone Republican,
we would have been in very big trouble.
F <1 Please assess the political will for
effective market reform. Can the nation’s
leaders overcome the resistance from Wall
Street and enact meaningful change?
D>1 The short answer is yes they can, and
the slightly longer answer is I think that
Dodd-Frank, while not perfect, repre-
sents a substantial reform effort that has
already been accomplished. Implementing
Dodd-Frank proves difficult because of
the slash-and-burn mentality of those
unhappy with it, especially Wall Street and
the Republican Party. Also, I think more
progress could be made if the American
people were better informed about the
problems Dodd-Frank fixes.
I always contend that if the average
American understood the tactics Wall Street
employed to cause the meltdown, there
K`^_k\i I\^lcXk`fej N`cc 9\e\Ôk DX`e Jki\\k
If average Americans knew why the economy imploded,
they would clamor for tough market reform
Q&A: Michael Greenberger