Good for Wall Street, Bad for You

wall st

Bank and investor control of candidates is not unheard of, it isn’t even unexpected anymore. Corruption and finances are a natural, if not ethical, partnership, and unchecked business lobbyists are allowed to run rampant in congress with zero consequence. When organizations like Goldman-Sachs are allowed to pay candidates millions of dollars to speak, or make influential decisions, it transcends bribery. At least when a legislator is bribed, they try and keep it secret. What these mega rich, above-the-law corporations actually do is purchase legislation, as well as the loyalty of candidates.

The worst part of this travesty of democracy is that you don’t even care.

American citizens in aren’t knowledgeable or passionate about what happens on Wall Street, mostly because the typical American citizen doesn’t think they have enough cash in pocket for a minute change to affect them directly. The problem here is that minute changes affect all of us in the long run. Low income families who live on a month to month rental basis don’t care about voting for a candidate who would allow a mortgage rate increase, because they don’t own a home.

But, when those mortgage rates expanded and became unsustainable, the market crashed and launched the world into a global recession. The typical, blue collar American citizen was sure affected when that happened. Hell, Canadian citizens were affected, British ones too. It had an effect on the majority of first world countries because those American bankers were working hand in hand with their international counterparts to selfishly, if not intentionally, destroy the economy from the inside.

What is the punishment for bankrupting half of the entire planet?

Apparently, nothing.

In fact, the bankers who were responsible for, what amounted to, the collapse of world economy were granted billion dollar bailouts. They were rewarded and the average citizen, who paid for those bailouts with their taxes, didn’t even bat an eyelash. When organizations that are too-big-to-fail are given carte blanche to operate how they please, the global population is at risk for economic destabilization. Even after global crisis, our government continues to support enormous, independent banks and they continue to operate with impunity. With no government checks or regulations in place, they continue to sponsor candidates and purchase both legislation and access.

They are the single largest campaign donor in the entire United States.

Hillary Clinton, the crowned queen of the hypocrites, has been sponsored by Wall Street for years and her campaign has recently focused on how other nominees won’t be “hard enough on bankers and banks”. In the last few months she has been given over $600 000 in speaking fees on behalf of the largest financial institution in the country, Goldman Sachs.

It’s tough to believe that she is going to be “hard on banks” when the biggest banking organizations have her firmly, and deeply rooted in their pockets.

Of the pack leading Republican and Democratic candidates, there is no option that isn’t friendly with Wall Street. Ted Cruz assisted the wife of a prominent Goldman Sachs employee in closing deals, Clinton, as always, is for sale and has already been investigated for dealing access to federal information, Bush and Rubio are both funded by Wall Street organizations. The only candidate who hasn’t seen dirty bank money is Donald Trump, who has accumulated questionable wealth in other ways.

If I walked into a bank today and stole millions of dollars, I would be imprisoned for years. I might never even see the light of day again. When a banker rigs the market for personal gain and collapses that market, resulting in poverty for millions, homelessness for some and complete economic uncertainty for everybody else, there is no legal recourse.

Well.

There is.

You just don’t care.

Nobody seems to.