AMERICANS FOCUS ON JOBS WHILE WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES PHONY “WAR ON WALL STREET”
WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ RECORD: PERMANENT BAILOUTS, SPECIAL INTEREST GIVEAWAYS, PAYOFFS, KICKBACKS, AND SWEETHEART DEALS
January 22, 2010 House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
How phony is the new PR campaign the White House has launched against “Wall Street”? Let’s look at the record. Washington Democrats have repeatedly bailed out banks and the automobile industry and proposed permanent bailouts; handed out special interest giveaways to Big Labor union bosses and the insurance industry; cut deals like the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”; and spent taxpayer money with such reckless abandon that it now has to increase the limit on public debt to historic new levels.
In fact, news reports indicate that one prominent Administration official understands that President Obama’s announced plans for new restrictions on American financial firms would hurt the economy. All Americans support requiring financial firms to pay back borrowed taxpayer money, but Secretary Geithner knows the President’s plan goes far beyond that. The last thing American families and small businesses need right now is a new tax that make it harder to save, invest, and hire.
Reuters and ABC News report on the concerns raised by Secretary Geithner, who was once a candidate to run one of the largest Wall Street banks:
- “President Barack Obama’s newest Wall Street crackdown was met with hesitation from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is concerned that politics could be sacrificing good economic policy,” – “Geithner Has Reservations on US Bank Limits,” Reuters, January 21, 2010
- “Specifically, the sources say, Geithner is worried that the proposed limits could damage the competitiveness of US firms with their global competitors.” – “Geithner Has Concerns About President’s Proposed New Bank Rules,” ABC News, January 21, 2010
Geithner’s concerns prompted Politico to suggest that he might be “pulling a Goolsbee” – privately signaling that the White House rhetoric should not be taken seriously:
“Tim Geithner may have, as it were, pulled a Goolsbee — letting bankers know that President Obama’s populist posturing is, more or less, just that …”
“Goolsbee, during the campaign, allegedly mentioned to a Canadian official (accurately, if he did) that Obama didn’t really plan to mess with Nafta.”
Another reason this disingenuous White House campaign smacks of crass political opportunism? Well, as The Examiner’s Tim Carney reminds us, the White House and congressional Democrats ARE Wall Street. Just look at the awfully generous campaign contributions to Washington Democrats:
- For his presidential campaign in which Wall Street regulation was a mantra, Obama’s top source of funds was investment bank giant Goldman Sachs, whose employees, partners, and executives gave him $995,000 — that’s the most any politician has raised from any one company in a single election since the age of “soft money” ended.
- The “securities and investment” industry has favored Democrats by more than a two-to-one margin so far this cycle. The top eight recipients of Wall Street PAC money this election are all Democrats.
What isn’t phony is the common-sense regulatory reform legislation House Republicans introduced last year– the Consumer Protection and Regulatory Enhancement Act (H.R. 3310) – to ensure that (1) the government stops rewarding failure and picking winners and losers; (2) taxpayers are never again asked to pick up the tab for bad bets on Wall Street while some creditors and counterparties of failed firms are made whole; and (3) market discipline is restored so that financial firms will no longer expect the government to rescue them from the consequences of imprudent business decisions. American taxpayers have had enough of open-ended bailouts that have left them stuck with an eye-popping tab in the form of trillions in new debt. This generational theft must end.
In the meantime, instead of focusing on yet another phony PR campaign, maybe the White House and congressional Democrats should start working with Republicans on the issue Americans care most about: jobs. Americans are asking “Where are the jobs?” And as a special election in Massachusetts showed this week, they clearly aren’t satisfied with the answers they are getting from Washington Democrats.
REPUBLICAN LEADER PRESS OFFICE
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH)
H-204, THE CAPITOL
(202) 225-4000 GOPLEADER.GOV
