When we were told four years ago that the United States had a few banks “too big to fail,” many of us wondered why we weren’t breaking up those banks instead of bailing out the bankers.
Well, in his new book “The Payoff,” Vice President Joe Biden’s former staffer Jeff Connaughton has the answer: Those big banks have bought off the Democrats as well as the Republicans. Bribery keeps the big banks big.
With the threat of antitrust enforcement over their heads, the big bankers are only too happy to funnel campaign contributions to the top Democrats and Republicans in Washington, and the politicians are happy to accept the bribes. For members of Congress, desperate for the jackpot that flow from perpetual re-election, that funding is a lot bigger and a lot more reliable than small donations from average Americans. And with the government bought off, the bankers can rest assured their high-paying jobs are safe no matter how irresponsibly they run their banks.
Banking cover-up. Our leaders pretend to be tough on big banks, but watch how little they do about banks that do wrong. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created a system that produced $1 trillion worth of reckless home loans, but did Congress and President Obama do anything to break up Fannie and Freddie? No. They’re still around, and we’re still paying for their bad bets.
The Democrats notoriously took over Fannie and Freddie in the 1990s and early 2000s, and pushed those mortgage giants to ignore banking standards and back loans to people who couldn’t possibly pay them back. That was bad enough and, except for Bill Clinton and Artur Davis, the Democrats still are covering up that crime.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie were buying off every major politician in Washington, from Democrat Rahm Emanuel to Republican Newt Gingrich. It’s no wonder that both major political parties tolerated the massive malfeasance of those two institutions.
Break 'em up. Connaughton was shocked that Joe Biden dropped from the “banking reform” bill a provision that would have knocked the monster-size banks down to size. I’m shocked he was shocked.
We’ll know our leaders have learned something when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are abolished, when the big banks are split up and when new laws put politicians to jail for accepting any special favor from a bank.
Frank Warner
New laws? This government doesn't enforce the laws in place today. I see no reason to have even more laws. We need to start enforcing every law that is already on the books first. And if current laws aren't needed, get rid of them.
Posted by: CJW | October 27, 2012 at 11:07 AM
I'd like a new law that said you could only run for any particular public office once. There would be no incumbents running for re-election. Nice and simple. Oh, and no retirement benefits. At ALL. I know there are problems with this idea, but like surgery sometimes the cure is painful.
Posted by: mark | October 30, 2012 at 10:07 PM
Certainly term limits would help. Twelve years tops. That probably should apply to all government jobs, elected and non-elected. None of our public servants should look at government jobs as permanent. They should get to know the real world, first and last. They must not become so entwined in government that they learn how to turn it against taxpayers for their own profit.
Posted by: Frank Warner | October 31, 2012 at 03:34 AM
As I said, we don't need new laws-- we need comple enforcement of existing laws.
Despite laws against lying, tall tales have become the norm on the campaign trail, experts say
Posted by: CJW | November 02, 2012 at 07:09 AM