Recently Citigroup had to pay a $285 million fine to settle a case in which, with one hand, Citibank sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers — securities that it knew were likely to go bust — and, with the other hand, shorted the same securities — that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust. It doesn’t get any more immoral than that. Our financial industry (actually, their financial industry) has grown so large and rich it has corrupted our real institutions through political donations. 
As Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois said bluntly in a 2009 radio interview, despite having caused this crisis, these same financial firms “are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they, frankly, own the place.” Congress today is a forum for legalized bribery. One consumer group using information from Opensecrets.org calculates that the financial services industry, including real estate, spent $2.3 billion on federal campaign contributions from 1990 to 2010, which was more than the health care, energy, defense, agriculture, and transportation industries combined. Why are there 61 members on the House Committee on Financial Services? Congressmen want to be in a position to sell votes to Wall Street. God bless America.
No comments:
Post a Comment