"Don’t be fooled," Paul Krugman warns. "When Mitch McConnell denounces big bank bailouts, what he’s really trying to do is give the bankers everything they want."
His talking points come straight out of a memo Frank Luntz, the Republican political consultant, circulated in January on how to oppose financial reform. “Frankly,” wrote Mr. Luntz, “the single best way to kill any legislation is to link it to the Big Bank Bailout.” And Mr. McConnell is following those stage directions.It’s a truly shameless performance...*
The cheapest, dirtiest thing of all is that Wall Street is already back to its old tricks. Derivatives -- and new derivatives enabled by new, lightning fast computers -- are being traded right now. Derivative alcoholism has the financial industry in its grip. Mitch McConnell is not alone in being a beneficiary of the profits.
That's from Media Matters for America.
Krugman writes:
It’s a truly shameless performance: Mr. McConnell is pretending to stand up for taxpayers against Wall Street while in fact doing just the opposite. In recent weeks, he and other Republican leaders have held meetings with Wall Street executives and lobbyists, in which the G.O.P. and the financial industry have sought to coordinate their political strategy.
And let me assure you, Wall Street isn’t lobbying to prevent future bank bailouts. If anything, it’s trying to ensure that there will be more bailouts. By depriving regulators of the tools they need to seize failing financial firms, financial lobbyists increase the chances that when the next crisis strikes, taxpayers will end up paying a ransom to stockholders and executives as the price of avoiding collapse.
*Edited to remove cut/paste error
