Saturday, May 01, 2010

Democrats who don't like Dodd's Wall St. bailout bill

Frank Luntz is a big Demo pollster, which means he keeps an eye on trends. At Huffing Post he says the platitudes, then unloads:
But that doesn't suddenly equate to support for the legislation now being considered by the Senate. In exactly the same way that the public wanted healthcare reform, just not Obama's healthcare reform, they want something done to punish the perpetrators of the financial meltdown, but not at the expense of their own checking accounts -- or American economic freedom. The dirty secret of the Senate financial reform bill is that some of its biggest supporters work on Wall Street. Recipients of taxpayer bailout money have no concerns about the bill -- in fact, the CEOs of Citi and Goldman Sachs have publicly endorsed it, and several of the other big banks have expressed support. It keeps the "too big to fail" guarantees in place for another generation of financial services companies. But here's where it gets really interesting. The Democrats supporting the current legislation have assured an anxious electorate that whatever funds are used to create whatever regulatory scheme created will come from the banks, not the taxpayers. Let me emphasize that so that even casual readers will catch it: the Democrats promise that you won't pay for their legislation, banks will. Really? Since when have corporations ever paid taxes, fees or penalties? Employees end up paying in the form of lower salaries and benefits. Customers end up paying in the form of higher costs. And in this case, every account holder will be forced to pay higher fees on their checking account and savings account. That's you, my friendly reader.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Regarding corporate penalties:

I agree completely about corporations not paying taxes or fines, these costs just get passed along to employees (with lower salaries) and consumers (with higher prices). When a corporation is guilty of some transgression, the reality is that someone (or some group) within the company is responsible. We need to start going after the individuals to pay these fines. Only then will true justice be served.

When a doctor cuts off the wrong leg the hospital is not liable, the doctor is the one paying.