Report Says Wall Street Ready to Punish Dems over Elizabeth Warren

[KoKo]

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and others have discussed withholding campaign contributions as punishment for populist rhetoric of progressive senator

What could she possibly be doing right?

According to exlusive reporting by Reuters on Friday, big Wall Street banks are so upset with Elizabeth Warren’s call to "un-rig" the economy and proposals for stronger financial regulations that discussions are underway about withholding campaign contributions to Senate Democrats as a form of "symbolic" protest against the freshman senator from Massachusetts.

Citing sources familiar with the situation, representatives of some of the nation's largest banks and financial groups—including Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America—have actively considered putting pressure on the Democratic establishment by making a coordinated threat to withold campaign contributions unless the populist rhetoric coming from Sen. Warren and her colleague from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, is toned down.

Reports Reuters:

Bank officials said the idea of withholding donations was not discussed at a meeting of the four banks in Washington but it has been raised in one-on-one conversations between representatives of some of them. However, there was no agreement on coordinating any action, and each bank is making its own decision, they said.

The amount of money at stake, a maximum of $15,000 per bank, means the gesture is symbolic rather than material.

Despite that seemingly small figure, especially in major election cycles which now cost $1 billion or more, the political implications of the banks actively eschewing the Democrats because Warren or Brown's outspoken criticism cannot be dismissed now that money has become the dominant feature of American democracy.

As recently as Thursday—as the Republicans moved to pass its new budget—Warren could be seen using social media to trumpet warnings about the ways in which Wall Street and the financial industry would benefit by the GOP proposals being put forth.

Meanwhile, Sen. Sherrod Brown has been Warren's close ally in the Senate on such matters. Along with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Brown has been among the most outspoken proponents of breaking up the nation's largest bank and re-instating the rules of the now defunct Glass-Steagall Act which—before it was repealed in the late 1990s under the Clinton administration—forced large financial insitutions to keep their investment arms and commercial banking divisions separate. Many critics blame the repeal of Glass Steagall as one of the key policy decisions that led to the 2008 financial disaster.

Though popular among progressives, the stances of Warren, Brown, and Sanders (who is an Independent but caucuses with the Democrats) have clearly ired Wall Street's power brokers.

And, of course, the larger focus may ultimately fall on the presumed frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2016: Hillary Clinton. Though many on the left have urged Warren to throw her hat in the ring to challenge for the nomination, Warren has repeatedly said she has no intention of entering the race.

Even though Clinton is well known as having a very comfortable relationship with Wall Street and the corporate world, Reuters reports that "political strategists say Clinton could struggle to raise money among Wall Street financiers who worry that Democrats are becoming less business friendly" because of the populist rhetoric of Warren.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/27/what-she-doing-right-report-says-wall-street-ready-punish-dems-over-elizabeth-warren
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[Thinkingabout]

1. She has also taken campaign funds from Wall Street.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Yes, that's awful.

I think she should unilaterally disarm.

Highly interesting, and highly predictable. It certainly highlights the current political situation in the US: One party with two wings that are allowed to differ on social issues that keep the rabble busy trying to decide between them, but that owe their souls to Big Money (Big Oil, Big Banks, Big War).

Wall Street thinks they can dictate Democratic politics with their money.

Unfortunately, we do not know that they are wrong. Surely if the Democratic Party continue to acquiesce to their wishes because of purse-string issues, we are lost. The slow way to Hell still leads to Hell.

Where does the 99% make its stand? Now? In two years? Ten? Every year we spend on the path dictated by the corporate world leads us that much further down the path of irremediable harm to the biosphere and the general welfare of the species within that.

The Corpo-Dem path takes us to hell in a handbasket. The Republican path omits the handbasket.

[Thinkingabout]

3. I understand why the campaign funds are accepted. Warren is an economists, she

understands financing, she knows it takes lots of money to finance a campaign. She knows there are not very many people in the 90% who can make sizeable contributions.

We have a big problem with lobbyists, it isn't only republican members. There are congressional members who claims they want to reform the lobbyists and continue to attend meetings with corporate lobbyists.

[hifiguy]

4. She has all the right enemies.

Run, Liz, Run!

[Jackpine Radical]

5. The best thing we can do probly is to make sure this story gets around.

Turn their paranoid threats into news stories and get free, highly positive coverage for Warren.

Wall St is the one institution that both the right & the left love to hate. Remember that the wingnuts also opposed the bailouts & blamed them on Obama.

[KoKo]

6. Yes..I see other DU'ers are picking up from other sites and posting..Good Stuff

The more we get it out the better to show what the Wall Street/Corporate Crowd is up to.

More Rahm Emmanuel tactics from his Bankster Buddies.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. We really ought to get exposure on this kind of stuff.

The DU Pajamahedin really need to get to work on this one.

The Big Money guys will be growing ever more frantic, providing us with ever more material for this sort of work.

[L0oniX]

8. ...and pissing off all the "right" people.

[L0oniX]

7. They'll punish us by loading up Hillary with campaign millions.