Democratic presidential debate
2020 presidential candidates, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota and 2020 presidential candidate, from left, Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey and 2020 presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend and 2020 presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2020 presidential candidate, Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and 2020 presidential candidate, Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California and 2020 presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Beto O'Rourke, former Representative from Texas and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, stand on stage during the Democratic presidential candidate debate in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019. At the third Democratic presidential debate in Houston on Thursday, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren will share a stage for the first time, giving voters and pundits their first chance to directly compare the two candidates. Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg
Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg
On whether the next presidential debate Oct. 15 will include questions about financial services issues:

"Let's play a drinking game. Do a shot every time banking is spoken about in the next Dem debate. Prediction: A very sober evening."

Related: The next presidential debate should include banking
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters
Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California and chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, listens during a bill enrollment ceremony for additional supplemental appropriations for the 2019 Disaster Relief Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. A fiscal 2020 draft measure from the House Appropriations Committee includes $14.1 billion in disaster relief funding that wouldn't count against spending caps under the Budget Control Act. Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/Bloomberg
Anna Moneymaker/Bloomberg
On how Democratic control in California has paved the way for financial policies that are bleeding into other blue states:

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions. In California's case you can add 'economic ignorance'."

Related: California blazing a trail on banking policy for other blue states
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Cattle farmers chat in a pen at a farm after Tropical Storm Barry made landfall in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, U.S., on Sunday, July 14, 2019. Barry risks causing life-threatening floods after making landfall in Louisiana on Sunday, as the tropical storm lashes the state with as much as two feet of rain. Photographer: Nicole Craine/Bloomberg
Nicole Craine/Bloomberg
On a call for regulators to expand and clarify to lenders what qualifies for Community Reinvestment Act credit:

“Be careful what you wish for . . . Without context, CRA will be a one-size-fits-all regimen for which there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Related: CRA reforms must go beyond branch banking
Better times mortgage refi
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Another reader reacts to consumer bankers suggesting reforms to the CRA of 1977:

"CRA should be expanded to include providing credit for opportunity zones for my pals and loans for high-end condos, golf courses for me and my family."

Related: CRA reforms must go beyond branch banking
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Photographer: Markus Gann - htt/magann - stock.adobe.com
On a op-ed demanding that big banks reveal their median gender pay-gap data:

"Perhaps when we succeed in abolishing all gender distinctions, these egregious gaps will cease to exist, and those who bravely battle the perceived injustice can rest at last."

Related: Big banks need to stop tinkering with gender pay-gap data
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On questions about the "net worth sweep" after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they can keep profits for the first time since 2012:

"First, the net worth sweep is still in effect. Second, every cent of supposed retained earnings is to be offset by a debt of the same amount. If the two were paired, it would show no increase in retained earnings."

Related: Fannie and Freddie get to keep their earnings. Now what?
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close up hand of business giving or paying money US dollar bill
suphaporn - stock.adobe.com
On federal regulators taking a deeper dive into why there's so much bank consolidation:

"It is not complicated. Today, most selling banks are heavily owned by private equity. If private equity thinks the currency of a potential buyer is better in the long run, there will be a sale."

Related: More research needed into why banks decide to sell, regulators say
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