The Capitol is seen April 19 in Washington. By Jeff Stein Jeff Stein Economic policy reporter Email Bio Follow April 30 at 8:00 AM Wall Street banks and other parts of the financial sector spent close to $2 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions in the 2018 election cycle, a 36 percent jump from the last non-presidential campaign year, according to a new report released Tuesday.
“The impact of all this money — again and again and again — is that it shapes the playing field. Wall Street and the financial industry get to shape the rules in ways that harm everyday people,” said Lisa Donner, the head of Americans for Financial Reform. “It has a fundamental impact on the way our economy works.”
In March 2018, President Trump signed into law a bill offering a wide range of regulatory relief throughout the banking sector. The legislation, which passed the Senate with the support of 17 members of the Democratic caucus and the overwhelming majority of Republicans, eased regulations for banks with $50 billion to $250 billion in annual assets.
“Tester answered the calls of Montanans to cut red tape on local community banks and credit unions in order to allow them to lend to families and small businesses in rural America," said Sarah Feldman, a spokeswoman for Tester."This bill strengthened consumer protections and did virtually nothing for the largest Wall Street institutions.”
It is inevitable that the rich will spend billions to protect the Trump Tax scam that gave them 1.4 trillion.
All bank profits should go to only the poor, elect Bernie and let's fix things.