The Fat Cats Fight Back
Wall Street is using its campaign contributions to punish Democrats and reward Republicans, according to a recent article in the New York Times. Apparently, financial industry execs are sore that some Democrats, including the President, have started going ‘populist,’ calling them ‘fat cats,' trying to interfere with their bonuses and pushing for modest financial reforms. Wall Street execs felt entitled to better treatment from the Dems, given that they made $89 million in contributions to the Party in 2008.
So this year Wall Street is shifting more of its contributions to the Republicans. But wait, you say, some Republicans have been jumping on the populist bandwagon, too. They’ve railed against the bailout and vowed to never let it happen again. Wall Street can see the ‘wink, wink, nod, nod’ whenever Republicans get on a high horse about the bailouts. They know that if (or I should say 'when') our financial sector faces another major meltdown, Washington will not let big banks go under if doing so would bring down the entire economy. Which means, making changes in Wall Street’s practices to prevent another meltdown makes a lot of sense. But the Republicans oppose this as meddling in the free market.
The Republicans appear to have no shame about wooing Wall Street away from the Democrats. As Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee puts it, why should Wall Street continue to support the party 'whose main plank of their platform is to punish you?' Cornyn visits Wall Street at least twice a month to cash in on what he calls their ‘buyers’ remorse.’
In a better world, Cornyn’s frankness in courting Wall Street with promises not to ‘punish’ them for bringing our economy to the point of collapse would be a blessing for the Democrats. And the Democrats need a blessing right now. They’ve failed to convince many of us that they sincerely feel our pain during this recession. Despite Wall Street's complaints, the fact is the Dems have done very little to address the causes of the financial crisis. This would be a great time for party leaders to embrace the long-term benefits of weaning themselves off Wall Street money, coming clean and emerging as true champions of working families and low-income communities. But, back here in reality, party leaders are much more concerned about potential losses in the upcoming mid-term elections, and they know Wall Street money is going to make a difference.
Wall Street’s threats against the Dems prove what we’ve known all along: They and Corporate America have an outsized impact on both legislation and elections. In our electoral system, running for national office is very expensive. Republicans will get an electoral boost from this, and Democrats will be under even greater pressure to get back in the good graces of Wall Street. This vicious cycle will continue until we make significant changes in campaign finance laws.
As a friend said recently, both parties suck when it comes to reining in Wall Street and taking on corporate power. Democrats suck a little less than Republicans. For sucking a little less, the Democrats are getting kicked by Wall Street where it hurts most.
---Sandra Hinson
