Their pockets may be deep, but their memories are short.
As we reported a short time ago, via Reuters, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act, a set of Obama era regulations meant to keep banks in line.
The previous administration took the measures to prevent another Great Recession that was largely caused by deregulation.
Republicans claim that the bill seeks to help small and mid-sized banks, but a new NPR report notes that the legislation “would allow banks with up to $250 billion in assets to escape some of the toughest rules put in place” during the previous administration.
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NPR adds: “The bill could also allow large financial firms like American Express and SunTrust to avoid tougher rules of the road, like setting aside a thicker capital cushion to help survive another financial crisis.”
Republicans think the banks need help
According to the same NPR report, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling who runs the House Financial Services Committee said that many banks have “been suffering for years under the weight, the load, the volume, the complexity, the cost of heavy Washington bureaucratic red tape.”
Despite this claim, banks just posted record profits in the first quarter of 2018 – $56 billion to be exact.
In other words, as The Washington Post economic policy report Damian Paletta noted on Tuesday, “It’s a good time to be a banker.”
It’s a good time to be a banker. U.S. banking industry posts record quarterly profits as Congress prepares to roll back some of the post-crisis regulations from Dodd-Frank law. https://t.co/PbztdCwz8b
— Damian Paletta (@damianpaletta) May 22, 2018
And if you’re waiting for Donald Trump – the man who pledged during the campaign to represent America’s “forgotten men and women” – to stand up against this wet kiss for Wall Street, you’ll be waiting for quite awhile.
Trump is expected to sign the bill into law and claim victory.
That victory, of course, is for institutions that are already drowning in cash, not for the mobs of people who showed up at Trump rallies wearing “Make America Great Again Hats.”
It’s no longer a question who Trump stands for. It’s the same wealthy interests to which all Republican administrations cater. The real question is: Will his supporters notice?
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
