Monday, February 08, 2010

What is the market price of Democracy?

It is sad to note how the weight of money is affecting democratic outcomes.

Here is a report of how Wall Street is now throwing its weight around, as if it had not done enough of late:

..."If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.

Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama’s from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago’s Democratic dynasty.

But this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts"...

Source: NY Times, February 08, 2010

The message is clear. If the Democratic President, Obama, intends to get tough with Wall Street, watch out, we the Wall Street will vote for your political opponents with our money.

It is a sad fact of life that it costs a fortune to run a national campaign. Any candidate with national aspirations has to cozy up to the monied class. Wall Street has the single largest concentration of wealth in USA now.

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