Welcome to DC. Where Big Government policies always end up helping Big Businesses – and hurting the rest of us.
Because, of course, only Big Businesses can afford the direct and indirect costs of Big Government – while they crush the rest of us.
And, of course, Big Businesses are the ones bribing Big Government for ever-more-preferential policies – which screw the rest of us.
Sometimes DCs denizens are nakedly obvious about helping their rich, crony benefactors.
Silence from Congressional Liberals as Democrats Move Toward SALT Tax Cut for Wealthy
But far more often, Big Businesses’ elected officials obfuscate their cronyism. Dressing up ever-more Big Business assistance – in “Help the Little Guy” verbiage.
Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown is excellent at it.
Protecting Ohioans from Predatory Payday Lenders:
“Corporations refuse to pay their workers enough to pay the bills, and the big banks won’t make small-dollar loans to help people with unexpected expenses – so Ohioans are forced to turn to these predatory lenders.”
Why won’t “big banks…make small-dollar loans to help people with unexpected expenses?” Because Big Banks are too busy lending to Big Billionaires.
America’s Billionaires: Borrowing Their Way to Ever More Fabulous Fortunes:
“These loans, the Financial Times observes, currently add up to ’22.5 percent of the banks’ total loan books, up from 16.3 per cent in mid-2017.’…
“What makes banks like JPMorgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley so eager to extend these billions in loans — to the rich — at such low interest rates? One reason: The loans come as close to risk-free as risk-free could be.
“A more important reason: Big banks cherish close relationships with extremely rich people. These rich often run extremely large corporate empires and can steer their corporate banking business to the banks that cater to their personal needs.”
Why isn’t DC doing anything about that? Why are these hacks instead going after Big Banks’ tiny payday lender competitors – who are actually willing to take the risk and loan to non-rich people?
Top Lobbying Clients, 2020
American Bankers Association $11,790,000
Wells Fargo $4,430,000
Citigroup Inc $4,420,000
Top Contributors, 2019-2020
Wells Fargo $5,993,234
JPMorgan Chase & Co $5,026,576
Bank of America $3,844,145
American Bankers Association $3,067,975
Citigroup Inc $2,099,304
But guess what payday lenders didn’t do to us?
Banks Nearly Took Down the Economy in 2008
Big Government didn’t punish Big Banks – they gave them trillions of dollars of our money.
“Most people think that the big bank bailout was the $700 billion that the treasury department used to save the banks during the financial crash in September of 2008. But this is a long way from the truth because the bailout is still ongoing.
“The Special Inspector General for TARP summary of the bailout says that the total commitment of government is $16.8 trillion dollars with the $4.6 trillion already paid out.
“Yes, it was trillions not billions and the banks are now larger and still too big to fail.
“But it isn’t just the government bailout money that tells the story of the bailout. This is a story about lies, cheating, and a multi-faceted corruption which was often criminal.”
Big Government then gave Big Banks a massive crony-government law. That made Big Banks even huger – and murdered thousands of their littler competitors.
Killing Off Community Banks: Intended Consequence of Dodd-Frank?:
“The banks deemed too big are more than 30% bigger than before the Act was passed in 2010, and 80% bigger than before the banking crisis of 2008….
“Meanwhile, their smaller competitors are struggling to survive. Community banks and credit unions are disappearing at the rate of one a day. Access to local banking services is disappearing along with them.
“Small and medium-size businesses – the ones that hire two-thirds of new employees – are having trouble getting loans; students are struggling with sky-high interest rates; homeowners have been replaced by hedge funds acting as absentee landlords.
“And bank fees are up, increasing the rolls of the unbanked and underbanked, and driving them into the predatory arms of payday lenders.”
Get that? Big Government’s Big Bank cronyism killed thousands of small banks – which were the only banks willing to loan to anyone besides billionaires.
So America’s non-wealthy tens of millions – were forced by Big Government to go to payday lenders.
And now Senator Brown and his DC crony cohorts – are back to finish killing off all remaining non-Big Bank lenders:
“It’s why I’m joining a bipartisan group of colleagues to reintroduce legislation….”
Yet again, Ronald Reagan was right….:
“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
So America will be exclusively left with Big Banks lending to billionaires.
And donating to Big Government to ensure no one else is able to loan to anyone else.
And DC is doing all of this – in the name of “Helping the Little Guy.”
Who says politicians don’t have a sense of humor?
Originally published by Less Government. Republished with permission.
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