Not surprisingly, the banking industry has been very good at making friends on Capitol Hill:
In my weeks of research into understanding how America went from economic lynchpin to a wayward ship drifting on a sea of economic trouble, I find myself baffled and appalled by statements from Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
His anger seems real enough. But the stench of hypocrisy reeks up the room every time he forgets to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars he received in 2008 as campaign donations from these same banks, their management and employees—currently now under receivership of the U.S. taxpayer.
But Sen. Dodd is not alone. He and the biggest names in American politics, including President Barack Obama, are quickly becoming poster children for “moral hazard” and pay-to-play politics. Slap-dash legislation with little or no oversight, by the Bush Administration, rubber-stamped by top Democratic politicians, seems to have made problems worse, not better.
(…)
[T]he Senior Senator from Connecticut who said he personally turned a four-page draft into 80-plus pages of legislation that was passed, has crossed an ethical line. While he was crafting legislation to rescue his friends, Dodd “received $854,200 from the T.A.R.P. companies in the 2008 election cycle, including money to his presidential campaign” according to a recent Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) report.
And, not surprisingly, Dodd was not alone in lining up at the gravy train:
Some of the top recipients of contributions from companies receiving TARP money are the same members of Congress who chair committees charged with regulating the financial sector and overseeing the effectiveness of this unprecedented government program. They include Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (he received $854,200 from the companies in the 2008 election cycle, including money to his presidential campaign) and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, chair of the Senate Finance Committee (he received $279,000).
In total, members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Senate Finance Committee and House Financial Services Committee received $5.2 million from TARP recipients in the 2007-2008 election cycle. President Obama collected at least $4.3 million from employees at these companies for his presidential campaign.”
So the whole time, Americans were being told that a few bad apples where responsible for the economic downturn, it in fact it seems the whole barrel of apple was rotten to the core.
Don’t act so surprised, people. This is how the system works.
You didn’t really believe that “change” did you ?
