"Vampires Of Finance" And Their Bought Republican Congress

(click on image to enlarge)

(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

The banks, hedge funds and other Wall Street "creators of wealth" -- largely for themselves -- have a right-wing Republican Congress in their pocket, ready to do their bidding, whether it's on tax cuts for the wealthy or deregulation of their industry. Here's Paul Krugman today on what keeps the "vampires of finance" at bay:

Last year the vampires of finance bought themselves a Congress. I know it’s not nice to call them that, but I have my reasons, which I’ll explain in a bit. For now, however, let’s just note that these days Wall Street, which used to split its support between the parties, overwhelmingly favors the G.O.P. And the Republicans who came to power this year are returning the favor by trying to kill Dodd-Frank, the financial reform enacted in 2010.

And why must Dodd-Frank die? Because it’s working.

This statement may surprise progressives who believe that nothing significant has been done to rein in runaway bankers. And it’s true both that reform fell well short of what we really should have done and that it hasn’t yielded obvious, measurable triumphs like the gains in insurance thanks to Obamacare.

But Wall Street hates reform for a reason, and a closer look shows why.

Be sure to read Krugman's op/ed, in which he lists the reforms "the vampires of finance" (and Republicans) hate, that are working thanks to Dodd-Frank, like regulation of derivatives and abusive lending practices.  And the "vampire" analogy?  It's all about the "sunlight:"

... [A]lmost nobody wants to be seen as a bought and paid-for servant of the financial industry, least of all those who really are exactly that.

And this in turn means that so far, at least, the vampires are getting a lot less than they expected for their money. Republicans would love to undo Dodd-Frank, but they are, rightly, afraid of the glare of publicity that defenders of reform like Senator Warren — who inspires a remarkable amount of fear in the unrighteous — would shine on their efforts.

It's yet another issue that defines the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party as working assiduously for the interests of the wealthy 1 per cent against the interests of the middle- and working classes.  It's only progressive fighters like Sen. Warren, who can get the attention-deficit "mainstream media" to take notice, that are keeping them at bay.

Hedge Fund Speculators Fold

"The small but staunch lenders group that stood against the sale of Chrysler disbanded Friday, removing the only major obstacle in the Obama administration's plan to quickly restructure the automaker in bankruptcy court...In a televised speech last Thursday, Obama characterized the holdouts as 'speculators' who 'endanger Chrysler's future by refusing to sacrifice like everyone else.'" News item in today's WaPo.

These pieces of s**t are of the same cloth as those that helped bring about the financial crisis we're in today. Yet these Gordon Gekkos were still out for #1. Masters of the Universe, indeed.