The NEW Vicious Cycle

by Ron Daly 

Imagine the Government as a big well from which you can draw as much money as you need. Okay, not YOU, per se, but a huge bank with billions of dollars in bad assets. 

So, they've already received billions from a Government that believes its citizens can't survive without said business. Whenever they run up against a wall, they come back (not by plane, obviously) and they ask the Government for more. The Government gives them more. The consumer gets nothing out of it. And so on. Welcome to the NEW vicious cycle!

There was an outcry of trying to find out how the was/is being spent, but I'm not sure we, the taxpayer/consumer, really want to know. For example, did you know there's someone taking up the time of our congressional leaders, telling those decision makers over and over again how important it is to give money to the big banks? Did you know that person was hired BY the big banks to stress the importance OF the big banks?

Yep, you guessed it - the banks that have been taking all your taxes and jacking up your credit card rates have stooped to lobbying the government for more money and more favors (click here for the AP article). 

Can someone tell me where these banks and lending houses get off hiring some guy to lobby Congress? And why is it even necessary? Every time they come whining to Uncle Sam, he digs into our pockets and tells them to keep up the stellar work. But banks like BofA, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley have spent hundreds of thousands getting the government to look favorably on them - hundreds of thousands that they got from the government in the first place! 

The banks get money from the Government, then spend thousands of dollars getting the government to give them more money. And where does everyone's favorite company, AIG, fit into all of this? According to the AP article: 

AIG also devoted some 16 percent more money to interacting with the government, despite the "no-lobbying" policy it adopted late last year after receiving repeated bailouts.

Does nobody else think this is crazy?!

[Editor's Note -- Special thanks to Elliott Kashner for bringing this story to our attention. If you have a story/topic you'd like the CU Soapbox to cover, send us an e-mail: blogs@digitalmailer.com]

Comments

[Elliott]

Ron,

Now that I've had time to think about it, banks investing in lobbying makes sense. Right now, it is their most profitable business endeavor.