LOD: Wall Street’s Protection Money

For the first half of 2011, the single largest political donor to the presidential campaigns of Barak Obama and Mitt Romney is the same: the executives of Goldman Sachs! While the two campaigns split $360,000 given by the execs, Goldman Sachs was investing seven time that much, $2.4 million, to lobby Congress for its agenda: Help the wealthy first, last and always. Other big banks and brokerage firms are investing huge amounts to buy politicians and policy and screw you. If you wonder why the power elite in Washington won’t challenge the hypocrisy of “tax cuts create jobs,” this hush money gives you the answer. Congress and the White House have been helping the top 1% get richer and richer for years, and the rich are not creating jobs. Why would anyone give them more tax favors and special treatment? Because there are rewards for those who do? The consumer finance industry has just showered US Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) with tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations. You’ll recall that McHenry badgered and belittled Elizabeth Warren when she came to testify at his committee about the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that she is setting up for the Obama Administration. Bankers hate the agency and successfully blocked Warren from becoming its new head. It turns out McHenry’s wife works for a firm that prepares reports for financial industry clients about how consumer lenders and bankers never do wrong, always help their customers – and they create Jobs! – so give them less regulation, more tax breaks . . . .