Democrats are winning their war on big banks — but look who else pays

New York Post ^ | April 21, 2016 | Charles Gasparino

[expat_panama]

With all the fat-cat bashing from Hillary Clinton and her socialist foe Bernie Sanders, you’d think big banks have never stopped ripping off the poor, downtrodden consumer and are laughing all the way to their own bank vaults at Americans’ expense.

The banks, of course, still make money, though increasingly a lot less... ... once-massive industry of huge profit margins and immense power in political circles is in retreat....

...New regulations like Dodd-Frank, championed and imposed by President Obama and his minions, don’t let banks perform simple tasks...

...on top of the countless billions of dollars in settlements banks are still coughing up for alleged misdeeds that may or may not have happened years ago. Banks find it easier and cheaper to just shell out the cash than fight...

...Here in the nation’s welfare-state capital (New York City) finance jobs account for more than 20 percent of private-sector wages, and more than 11 percent of all jobs are in some way related to finance. Much the same goes for the state...

... less of this money is making its way to pay for the goodies our local pols love to hand out.

And things are likely to get worse. Even as the Dow has reached a record 18,000 plus, banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have announced disappointing earnings...

...Then there’s the impact on city and state finances. The economies of New York City and state may have rebounded from the worst of the Great Recession, but given the massive size of their budgets, city and state coffers are always just one small economic downturn away from a massive deficit. ...

[expat_panama]

This "soak the rich" New York attitude is the kind of thing that I'd really not want to believe about Trump. If anyone has a link showing him saying that he doesn't share it I'd be grateful.

[circlecity]

Whut? The large banking interests are Hillary’s biggest contributors. And that doesn’t include the massive speaking fees. You really think they were paying a quarter million dollars a pop just to hear a 30 minute speech?

[expat_panama]

Ouch!  Waking up Friday morning w/ "uptrend under pressure" and a distribution day as the S&P fell a half % in heavier trade!   Ending the week a bit scary, stock futures are mixed/confused although metals are seen up a smidge.  Profit taking maybe as yesterday's econ reports had lower claims and leading indicators up a tad.

 

FR keyword "economy" active threads:

• Sears to close 78 stores this summer
• Picture: Hardee’s Restaurant Installs “Self Order Stations”
• U.S. jobless claims hit 42-1/2-year low as labor market firms

Possible new threads:

Regulators Do Not Want Bankers Paid for Risk - Matt Levine, Bloomberg
Grim '16 Start for Banks Could Easily Get Worse - Ben Wright, Telegraph
The Fed Is Blind to Global Dollar Misery - Jeffrey Snider, RealClearPolitics
How Trump Made Cruz the Establishment Candidate - Larry Kudlow, NR
Disastrous Kansas Tax Cuts Teach Right Little - Jordan Weissmann, SlateYT
UC Berkeley Touts $15 Wage, Then Fires Hundreds - Editorial, Investor's
U.S. Can Meet Climate Goals Sans Supremes - Mike Bloomberg, Bloomberg
Earth Day Shocker: Capitalism Saves the Planet Pt1 - R.R Richardson, TA

[expat_panama]

They must be really into that whips/humiliation bit big time. $250,000/30min. is awfully pricy...

[thoughtomator]

Gasparino is a mouthpiece for Wall Street.

> you’d think big banks have never stopped ripping off the poor, downtrodden consumer and are laughing all the way to their own bank vaults at Americans’ expense

That’s EXACTLY the case.

If it were any different, they’d have the Federal Reserve normalize interest rates. But easy monetary policy is easy money for the banks, no matter the consequences for middle-class savers and retirees.

[from occupied ga]

That’s EXACTLY the case.

So if your boy Bernie doesn't get the nomination will you still vote for Hillary?

[thoughtomator]

How many times do you need to get ripped off by Wall Street to figure out what everyone else has figured out?

[from occupied ga]

How many times do you need to get ripped off by Wall Street to figure out what everyone else has figured out?

I don't recall ever being ripped off by wall street. OTOH I get ripped off by the government every paycheck, every time I get an interest payment, and ever time I make a profit on anything. Are you sure you're on the right forum?

[from occupied ga]

Maybe I don’t understand what you mean by ripped off. HOW has wall street ripped you off?

[rstrahan]

Big Banks love millionares, big corporations, Wall Street. The little guy, the small/micro business, etc, they are a PITA, costs are more than the business is truly worth (when you look behind the curtain). This is why they are looking at ‘negative interest rates’, fees, etc that hit the small guy hardest.

Should the Big Banks be busted up? If Standard Oil, etc warranted breakup, so do the Big Banks.

[CptnObvious]

Yes, just look at your savings account rates for how the Democrats War on Banks has worked out.

The poor don't even get a 1% interest rate and even what they get it taxed.

[thoughtomator]

You sound just like the retreads who were backing Cantor to the bitter end. You know, Cantor of the Wall Street millions.

When Paul Ryan and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spend their days hobnobbing with the guys from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, you can’t make any connection at all?

When the feds tax you up the wazoo to bail out these frauds and gamblers, that doesn’t compute with you?

When the government pays Wall Street hundreds of billions of interest every year to borrow our own currency, where do you think that money comes from?

Wall Street and DC are two tentacles of the same beast. It’s why they love Clinton and Obama and Cantor and Ryan and everyone else who wants to take their money to screw you over.

[thoughtomator]

> HOW has wall street ripped you off?

- Housing bubble
- Zero interest rates
- HFT front-running
- Purchased our representation in government away from us
- Siphoning hundreds of billions every year in debt interest payments
- Outright frauds like ABACUS for which no significant penalty is paid
- Regulatory capture

and a hundred other ways.

If you weren’t already aware of these things and how they affect your life, an education is in order. I prescribe a couple of weeks of Zero Hedge to get you on the right path in understanding WTF is going on.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“I prescribe a couple of weeks of Zero Hedge to get you on the right path in understanding WTF is going on.”

Tyler Durden knows all! Bwaaah!

[from occupied ga]

When the feds tax you up the wazoo to bail out these frauds and gamblers, that doesn’t compute with you?

I'd say that was the government's doing not wall street. When some jackass wants to break up the banks that leaves the root of the problem - a corrupt crony government behind that will just find another willing partner to take big chunks of taxpayer cash and then share it back with the bureaucrats who set up the scam in the first place. The banks may be the recipients of taxpayer loot, but the government is the entity that looted it in the first place. You want to break something up - break up big government.

[thoughtomator]

They’re a bit too doom-and-gloomer for my tastes, however they still have some of the most honest reporting on economic issues there is.

If you prefer something a bit less dramatic, Mish Shedlock is very solid and has an understated, modest style that some may prefer.

[thoughtomator]

> I’d say that was the government’s doing not wall street.

Wall Street is far and away the biggest donor to political campaigns and the biggest source of lobbying dollars.

The government in its ripping you off is doing the bidding of their Wall Street donors.

It’s an anti-free-market racket that makes obscene amounts of money for people who produce no wealth, they merely siphon others’.

Surely you have noticed that the government does not respond at all to your concerns. That’s because you don’t show up with big barrels full of money like the Wall Streeters do.

I spent quite some time working with an alliance of grassroots conservative groups in order to reform the GOP and wrest control from the establishment. At every turn, we were faced with obscenely-well-funded opposition who invariably had pulled millions in donations, donations that were not from the districts where the contests were occurring but from downtown Manhattan.

When Eric Cantor lost to Dave Brat, he had millions in Wall Street cash to spend and it was only the recognition of the source of that corruption that enabled the grassroots conservatives to fight it.

[from occupied ga]

Housing bubble

This was caused by the government forcing the banks to make loans to people who had no chance or in many case even intent of paying them back

Zero interest rate

This is set by the Feds

HFT front running

This is actually one that need addressing,

Purchased our representation in government away from us

Come on now. EVERY industry does this.

Your problem is that you're blaming the wrong entity - the banks. The real criminal enterprise behind all of this is an out of control government.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Surprisingly, Sanders has a simple and very reasonable selling point, that Republicans should consider as a good idea.

If a bank or financial business is “too big to fail” without harming the US economy, then it is “too big to live”, and should be, in an orderly and careful way, subdivided into two or more competing organizations that do not share ownership or management, until they have been “rendered safe”.

And this concept should not be limited to just banks.

[dfwgator]

Any enterprise that is “too big to fail’ is in essence a Public Trust, because the taxpayers will bail them out.