Democrats and Republicans working together to deregulate Wall Street

Oh, the joys of bipartisanship!
The media may talk about how Washington is too "polarized", but when it comes to the important stuff - giving the Pentagon more money than it asked for, and spying on the American public - Democrats and Republicans join hands in screwing the working class.

Dems and Repubs find they can work together when it comes to Wall Street as well.

But unlike the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul, which passed along party lines, the effort to loosen the post-crisis rules is somewhat bipartisan. A group of Senate Democrats has joined Republicans to support legislation that would mark the first major revision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, a signature accomplishment of President Barack Obama that has been deemed “a disaster” by President Trump.
...The bill that is working its way through the Senate was brokered primarily by Senator Mike Crapo, the Idaho Republican who chairs the banking committee, and moderate Democrats such as Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Senator Jon Tester of Montana, Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Eleven Senate Democrats are co-sponsoring the bill, making its passage in the Senate likely.

Doesn't all that joyous hand-holding give you a warm feeling inside?

It would be wrong to assume that this is just a few Democratic Senators. It'll all of Washington.

The rebound for the lenders has been so remarkable that Republicans and Democrats in Congress are pushing to scale back financial regulations imposed in the wake of the meltdown — one of the few areas where the two parties agree.
...His Treasury Department has drawn up a series of recommendations for trimming the post-crisis rule book. Even the Federal Reserve, the top banking regulator, is working to relax safeguards.
...“It's past time," said Tester, one of a number of Democrats up for reelection in red states next November. "It's too bad we didn't get this done four or five years ago. But everything has its moment in time.”

It's not a secret that the Trump Administration is full of Goldman Sachs bankers, but what is interesting is how many of them are also Democrats.

His national economic council director Gary Cohn is a Democrat, as is probably his closest advisor, Jared Kushner.
...Mnuchin prefers to lean on a very small, insular group of aides — Craig Phillips, Eli Miller, Justin Muzinich, Tony Sayegh, Drew Maloney and Brent McIntosh — which has generated frustration among career staff . . .
He’s opted to leave vacant a number of key positions — including undersecretary for domestic finance, one of the highest-ranked positions in the agency, and deputy Treasury secretary — while surrounding himself with former Wall Street executives, many of them Democrats.

That's not to say that there isn't some pushback against re-deregulating Wall Street. It's just that progressives like Senators Warren and Sanders are hopelessly outnumbered.

I'll end this essay with one last quote.

One of the best ways to help Trump win a second term would be for the Democratic Party to embrace Wall Street. That surely would convince enough working class voters in key states that the Democrats are totally in bed with financial elites, care little about the destruction of middle class jobs, and will continue to promote and profit by runaway inequality.
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Meteor Man's picture

And they love him right back. XOXOXO! Has Brietbart started giving Centrist Democrats some of that good old fashioned Bill Kristol love yet?

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Wink's picture

fuzzy knowing our the Democratic party can get along with the Repubs.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

will be thrilled with this. At least now they know who's on their side.

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chuck utzman

TULSI 2020

gulfgal98's picture

and the overt cheating conducted by the DNC, I was done with the Democratic party. However, after losing to Trump and losing more seats nationwide, I assumed they (the Dems) would revise their policy stances or actually adopt some real policy stances to try to win voters back. Instead, they continue to double down on lukewarm identity politics. Really, Kamala Harris and Corey Booker as the rising stars in the Dem. party? And a party that continues to be devoid of any policy prescriptions aimed at helping real people seems to believe they can win by "resisting"? Now we see the party is not even resisting bad ideas. Instead, they are jumping in with full support on bills intended to further screw the American people.

The Democratic party has lost a significant segment of the American people who may not formally Dem-exited, but are so turned off by the Democratic party's corruption, arrogance toward it rank and file membership, and lack of responsiveness to the needs of its once mighty base. As a favor to us all, the Democratic party needs to go away permanently.

My anger toward the Democratic party knows no bounds. They are hypocrites...all of them.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

SnappleBC's picture

@gulfgal98

After the 2016 election and the overt cheating conducted by the DNC, I was done with the Democratic party. However, after losing to Trump and losing more seats nationwide, I assumed they (the Dems) would revise their policy stances or actually adopt some real policy stances to try to win voters back.

They don't need to win. They need to ensure the bankers get the money they want. They are quite obviously doing just fine. The one thing they need to do is to stop the 99% from uniting... that's it. It's their sole job. Their working hard on it with their identity politics and McResistance and whatnot.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

gulfgal98's picture

@SnappleBC if they continue to lose seats, they will be no longer needed period. In other words, they have been making themselves such an impotent minority that whatever purpose they served in the oligarchal balance of power becomes moot. IMHO, they are almost there. Only those inside the beltway bubble fail to see that because they do not want to see that. When donor funding dries up, which it appears to be happening, then they are toast.

I agree with your assessment of what their real purpose is, but in order to make it work, they still must get enough people elected to make it work.

I looked at the votes of my own Dem. House member and one Dem Senator on recent issues, and I will never vote for either again. Who needs to vote for a Dem when they align and vote with the Republicans on the most egregious bills?

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98

Well, at a certain point

if they continue to lose seats, they will be no longer needed period. ...

No, especially if the Repubs gain the final seats required for that 'runaway' Constitutional Convention con that ALEC's been after for years, and they can finally 'legalize' the billionaire/corporate wishlist in the rewrite.

Dunno if they'd bother faking elections after this, but unless the CorpoDems are somehow replaced by Progs in the next two elections, I don't see much hope for pacifically stopping this suicidally destructive lunacy, or anything else in time - or at all - unless the UN or some such body would step in on an appeal from enough of the American people, with the leaders of enough countries realizing that this situation isn't survivable for anyone, to ensure free and fair US elections with real choice and information offered the American voter.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

She attacked Frank-Dodd if memory serves.

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SnappleBC's picture

This is, after all, exactly what Hillary told the bankers, right?

Clinton Said That The Blame Placed On The United States Banking System For The Crisis “Could Have Been Avoided In Terms Of Both Misunderstanding And Really Politicizing What Happened.” “That was one of the reasons that I started traveling in February of '09, so people could, you know, literally yell at me for the United States and our banking system causing this everywhere. Now, that's an oversimplification we know, but it was the conventional wisdom. And I think that there's a lot that could have been avoided in terms of both misunderstanding and really politicizing what happened with greater transparency, with greater openness on all sides, you know, what happened, how did it happen, how do we prevent it from happening? You guys help us figure it out and let's make sure that we do it right this time. And I think that everybody was desperately trying to fend off the worst effects institutionally, governmentally, and there just wasn't that opportunity to try to sort this out, and that came later.” [Goldman Sachs AIMS Alternative Investments Symposium, 10/24/13]
-- Read Wikileaks flagged portions of Hillary's Speeches Here

Her position was that the bankers were most knowledgeable about the system so they needed to figure out how to fix it and government needed to get out of their way. Thank god for this deregulation. I'm sure the bankers will get this sorted now!

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

@SnappleBC

Especially since Obama gave the banksters license to steal depositor's money right out of their accounts, any time when they run a little short due to their own criminal activity.

Would not be surprised if the 'cashless' society was to be rolled out shortly in North America, making it easy to be certain that people would starve before being able to file suit or anything - plus Obama gave whichever President the 'right' to shut down internet upon any emergency occurring, which I assume would also include virtual banking, something the wealthy could survive, having the ability to keep supplies on hand, so even if enacted, this loss might not be noticed until after most Poors have starved.

In any event, another incentive to get accounts out of criminal banks and to avoid their services, since some have been known to steal people's houses even when they had no mortgage with that institution and may have owned their home, free and clear.

Yes, I'm a little paranoid; I go by character and previous actions and extrapolate from there. The potentials are not reassuring.

In this final looting stage, I strongly suspect that we're all to be Greeced, most likely in this upcoming crash, where the money will not merely disappear but will go somewhere, to some relative few, while the public seems likely to be drained to the last drop this time.

Wanted to repost some pertinent info I'd put in drafts, but getting nothing but blank pages; need coffee before looking it up again...

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.