This article is a bit more specific about the ways the financial industry lobbies Congress to ease financial regulations:
Less than six years after a massive financial crisis drove the U.S.
banking system to the edge of collapse, leading to a $700 billion
government bailout and a recession that destroyed as much as $34
trillion in wealth, bankers and lawmakers are working in concert to
undermine Dodd-Frank, an 849-page law designed to prevent another
failure. There are more than 2,000 lobbyists for financial firms and trade
groups and many are spreading money around Washington, enlisting
like-minded members of Congress to write letters, propose legislation,
hold hearings and threaten agency budgets as they pressure regulators to
ease up on banks.
Regulators say they try to treat input from lawmakers like that from anyone else.
However, “there are all these other factors, like the budget, like
the fact that they can call you up to testify, and they can make your
life pretty miserable,” said the former head of one regulatory agency
who asked not to be identified, as did many of those contacted for this
story.....
In the current election cycle, employees and political action committees of financial companies have donated nearly $149 million to congressional candidates, more than any other industry, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
That’s more than two-and-a-half times the $57 million donated by the health care sector, the second-most-generous industry.,,,
Wall Street's Guys On Capitol Hilll - Business Insider
This is just sad. Unfortunately in our society today, money talks and has too much power. I don't know how feasible it is, but the amount of money that corporations and individuals are allowed to give for elections and PACs needs to be reduced.
ReplyDeletethe idea behind political fundraising campaign sounds like a massive scam and sophisticated bribery (committed by white-collared wall-street individuals). it's hard to wrap my head around the perverse attitude of financial institutions to (political) power and money.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of billionaire venture capitalist Tom Perkins who argued that only taxpayers should have the right to vote -- and that wealthy Americans who pay more in taxes should get more votes.* It's important to note that this was after he compared the prosecution he felt the one percent were getting to the prosecution of the Jew in Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteAll of these things show how self righteous these billionaires are about the corrupting influence they have on democracy. They all think they're doing the right thing!
*http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/14/investing/tom-perkins-vote/
*Jews
DeleteI did not realize that the financial industry has surpassed the health care industry in terms of money spent on lobbying. This does not surprise me too much though because I am guessing that there is far more money in finance than in health care. Unfortunately though, money held by both industries is continuing to go up. Inertia is not in the public's favor.
ReplyDeleteWe are digging ourselves into a bigger hole with every election campaign. It is just impossible for the political parties to ignore the donation as the competition is so fierce. Money is the key to winning this competition of election and if they don't listen to lobbyist after the election their party will be the victim next time. It is just sad like Mark said.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of the individuals who cannot fund any elections end up taking on the losses caused by the 1%. I am not really sure how the government can regulate the amounts that people contribute towards election campaigns. However, there is need for something to be done to ensure that everyone's interests are represented instead of a select few.
ReplyDelete