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The not-as-funny way to make the point Jon Stewart made about the Republican conception of the entitlement society and where it fails to intersect with reality comes from Simon Johnson. The true “moochers” in American life are, not surprisingly, the ones with all the political power and influence, who can grab themselves gifts and goodies from the political class. That would include large corporations and major banks:
…special interests compete for influence through campaign contributions and other forms of political donations. They also run large, sophisticated media campaigns aimed at persuading policymakers and the public that what is good for their special interest is good for the country.
No one has succeeded in the modern American political game like the biggest banks on Wall Street, which lobbied for deregulation during the three decades prior to the crisis of 2008, and then pushed back effectively against almost all dimensions of financial reform.
Their success has paid off handsomely. The top executives at 14 leading financial firms received cash compensation (as salary, bonus, and/or stock options exercised) totaling roughly $2.5 billion in 2000-2008 – with five individuals alone receiving $2 billion.
Just this week, we saw the House vote, in bipartisan fashion, to undermine another element of Wall Street reform, which would roll back requirements for financial advisors for municipalities to register with the SEC and accept fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the municipality and its taxpayers. Barney Frank voted in favor of rolling this back, which would invite the worst kind of ripoffs by bank banks on the muni sector.
The takers in American society line up with those who have the ear of the government they can take from. That wouldn’t be the poor, elderly and disabled. The financial crisis cost taxpayers $12.8 trillion, according to the group Better Markets, almost all of it flowing to Wall Street. A meager food stamp program can hardly compete on a scale with this corporate welfare. And those are just the explicit subsidies; the implicit ones from Too Big to Fail, in terms of added risk thresholds and ability to borrow, is incalculable.
Johnson thinks Romney missed a step by focusing the subsidy issue on the poor rather than at Wall Street. Sadly, that’s not a bug, but a feature.
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Does someone making over $250,000 more likely have his or her taxes reduced by far more (because of bigger deductions and more tax breaks) than an individual making under $25,000 (who ends up having his income tax reduced to zero as a result of deductions)?
So Lobbyists are the most powerful force in the country right now.
Too bad we don’t have lobbyists looking out for out best interests.
That’s because lobbyists wont take food stamps in payment. For Rmoney, who’s daddy said, “here’s a million bucks, don’t lose it”, to denigrate the poor is gag-worthy. What hubris!
So Barney Frank, who is retiring from the House in January and does not even need campaign donations any longer, voted to roll back Dodd Frank, as in Chris Dodd and Barney Frank?
And, on Morning Joe recently, Frank put down Warren indirectly, by explaining that she was behind in the polls because Brown was such a nice guy.
Do I see huge lobbying–I mean consulting– contracts in Barney’s future?
Thanks for spitting in the eye of Massachusetts Democrats who have supported you since 1972, Barney, now that you no longer need their votes.
Sucking up to banksters is bipartisan.
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Running “Progressive, Liberal, Populist” cover for the banks was always a big part of Frank’s routine just as it has been for Schumers, Dimocrap Banksters that are “on your side”.
How did that saying about friends like that go?
Colbert in tails & top-hat, tossing shrimp to the rabble, was a pretty good gag.
Reminds me of the standard right-wing meme that blames the 2008 economic collapse on completely on powerless poor people and nearly powerless Democrats. As if they were running the country during the Bush administration, yeah right.