Russ Feingold, the senator from Wisconsin, sums up the failure of financial regulatory reform, unmasking the claim that we have witnessed the greatest overhaul of the system since the Great Depression. It may be the most far-reaching reform, but that’s only because all we’ve done since World War II is back track from the New Deal.
It would be a huge mistake to pass a bill that purports to re-regulate the financial industry but is simply too weak to protect people from the recklessness of Wall Street. That would be like building an impressive-looking dam without telling everyone that it has a few leaks in it. False security is no security at all.
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All the reforms are weak and watered down, from health care to financial reform. The big money, Wall Street, the insurance companies, all the corporations have spent billions to deregulate and to eliminate all the New Deal rules which have been protecting us since FDR's presidency. Heck, in many cases, the corporations have been invited in to help write the new bills. The result is the great recession (depression?). Politicians are beholden to the big corporations for campaign financing since the union movement has been nearly decimated. It's called plutocracy, oligarchy, kleptocracy or corporatism. The needs of the corporations must be met at all costs, ordinary people be damned. The country be damned so that a few rich people can get even richer. And I curse all the right wing nuts and pro corporate shills who cheer on the gutting of New Deal rules and regulations.