Steve Bantly: Liz Warren blew whistle on Wall Street handouts
Super kudos to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for publicly blowing the whistle on the House budget deal, where an obscure provision in the bill allows Wall Street banks to engage in risky derivatives trading through banks insured by the FDIC, potentially holding taxpayers accountable for failed deals. Here we go again. Wall Street bankers want to practice laissez-faire capitalism to make money on risky deals, then practice socialism with taxpayers footing the bill when those deals fail. Convenient.
This situation triggered the 2008 Great Recession, the effects we are still feeling, especially unemployment!
There is a larger political question here: Why do some politicians say we cannot afford to help innocent workers and their families adversely affected by recessions, like extending long-term unemployment insurance, yet think nothing of offering $700 billion taxpayer funded bailouts like TARP to banks and investment houses who mismanaged their investors’ money? We know where many Republicans stand on this subject; they brokered this extortionist provision, that, shockingly, was actually written by Citigroup executives! It’s unfortunate some Democrats felt they had to quietly support this Wall Street bank giveaway just to pass a budget.
Except Elizabeth Warren. Something to think about next election.
Steve Bantly, Merced
This story was originally published January 8, 2015 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Steve Bantly: Liz Warren blew whistle on Wall Street handouts."