Hillary Clinton would let Wall Street banks fail in move away from bailouts
Hillary Clinton would let Wall Street banks fail in move away from bailouts
Alan Yuhas
The Guardian
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would let Wall Street banks fail and possibly break them up as president, she told comedian Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, even though as a senator she voted to bail out the banks in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis.
Clinton’s new plan for reining in Wall Street is a departure from her more centrist position in 2008, when she voted to bail out the banks, saying in a statement: “The markets must be stabilized to stave off wider turmoil.
In contrast, Clinton’s main rival in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, voted against the bailout and took to the Senate floor at the time to denounce it: “Under this bill, the CEOs and the Wall Street insiders will still, with a little bit of imagination, continue to make out like bandits.”
In the years since the 2008, Clinton has drifted toward center on the issue of financial regulations, and her reputation remains tied to the presidency of her husband, Bill Clinton, who oversaw deregulation on Wall Street and who signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that separated commercial banks from investment firms.
The former president has said his repeal of Glass-Steagall cannot be linked to the financial crisis, but the law’s resurrection has become a sensitive question for the former secretary of state, who has declined to endorse its renewal despite the clamor of progressives. Sanders and senators such as Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren vociferously argued in favor of reform bills in the mold of Glass-Steagall.
Clinton’s history of support from Wall Street and her cautiousness toward regulation have earned her scorn from Sanders and the third Democratic candidate, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. Her plan to regulate the industry, released earlier this month, characteristically walks a centrist path: “risk fees” for institutions deemed “too big to fail” and more powers for regulators, but nothing so far as breaking up the largest banks as Sanders would prefer.
Since stepping down as Barack Obama’s secretary of state in 2013, Clinton has also made millions speaking at Wall Street events, and some of her supporters in the industry have said they feel secure that she has not moved to the left because of the surprising support for her progressive rival.
Seems like no one takes her Wall Street talk seriously.
Related:
Lobbyist: Hillary Clinton will become Mrs. Wall Street if she’s elected
People for Bernie, Wall Street and Other Big Money Interests for Hillary
Colbert: Clinton to Banks- Cut it out!
MATT TAIBBI: Hillary Clinton's Take on Banks Won't Hold Up
Robert Scheer: Go Ahead, Back Hillary Clinton and Forget All About Her Record
= new reply since forum marked as read
