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Republicans remain Wall Street lapdogs; Jonas Rushman; Beaver County Times; December 18, 2014.
This is the 12th letter during the last 10 years I’ve noticed from Mr. Rushman, though it’s the first in over five years. In addition to being a consistent Bush basher, two of those letters claimed there is no liberal bias in the media and that “Fahrenheit 9/11” is a good source of documented facts. In a 2008 letter, Mr. Rushman told us “We have become the USSR.” The 2009 Rushman letter was “Hold right-wing pundits responsible.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Once again, the Republicans in Congress have proven themselves to be the lapdogs of Wall Street.”
[RWC] As you’ll read, Mr. Rushman appears to hope we have short memories.
“This week they added verbiage to the omnibus spending bill that avoided another government shutdown. This verbiage undoes one of the principal regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. That regulation disallows the big banks from using taxpayer- (FDIC) insured money to play the risky derivatives market. Even more sickening, the offending verbiage was written by a CitiBank lobbyist.
“For all the venom they spewed over ‘Too Big To Fail,’ this sets the table for an exact repeat of the financial meltdown of 2008. The bill passed with unanimous Republican support and a handful of Democrats crossing over to once again betray the American public. Shame on you.”
[RWC] Mr. Rushman apparently hopes we forgot what led to “the financial meltdown of 2008.” At the center of the problem were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GOVERNMENT sponsored enterprises and Democrat creations going back to FDR (Fannie Mae – 1938) and LBJ (Freddie Mac - 1968). The idea behind Fannie/Freddie was to promote home ownership by people who were poor credit risks. Further, Fannie/Freddie were not subject to the same accounting rules as the private sector. Remember the 2002 Sarbanes/Oxley bill that was supposed to tighten up accounting rules in the wake of Enron, et cetera? Fannie/Freddie were exempted from those rules. “The risky derivatives market” to which Mr. Rushman was based on the bum loans encouraged and guaranteed by Fannie/Freddie.
As for “the venom [Republicans] spewed over ‘Too Big To Fail,’” we’re also supposed to forget Democrats held the majority in both houses of Congress in 2008 when the bailout (HR 1424) passed. A Democrat introduced the bill. In the Senate, a majority of both parties voted “yea,” though Democrats supported the bill in greater proportion. Among Democrats who voted “yea” were Senators Biden, Clinton, and Obama. In the House, a majority of Democrats (72.3%) voted “yea” while a majority of Republicans (54.3%) voted “nay.” For what it’s worth, I oppose government bailouts of any business.
As far as I can tell, Mr. Rushman wrote no letters complaining about the bailout of Big Auto and Big Union with the government bailouts of Chrysler and GM.
“Those that voted for this abomination are no longer even pretending to be working for the American people.”
[RWC] Now that you read Mr. Rushman’s rant, I suggest you read “The true story of the financial deregulation provision in the cromnibus.” The piece isn’t perfect but it’s the best overall presentation of the issue I’ve seen. You’ll find the story isn’t how Mr. Rushman presented it.
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