This may come as a surprise to you but all those folks who work on Wall St. Or who own the stocks of those companies on Wall St. Or who do business with those banks on Wall St. ARE taxpayers.
If you want to scream at a segment of the economy, scream at lawyers. They don't add anything to society. At least bankers make things possible (through the wise application of capital)
It is a gamed system. Bail outs for failure? Backstopping bad loans? TARP? Selling securities out the front then shorting them out the back? Risking depositor money that is backed by the FDIC (taxpayers?) How about getting money from the Fed at 0% then loaning back in the form of T-Bills? What about taking that money and earning big profits in the stock market?
The market has been distorted for far too long and the average guy on the street is the one taking it in the shorts. The Wall St. pays taxes as an argument is the same one the unions use when they ask for their welfare from the taxpayers.
no sale