Americans United For Change Goes After Wall Street Casinos In Latest Ad

Groups allied with the Obama White House are going up on air again to lay the groundwork for comprehensive financial reform legislation using the political trope of comparing Wall Street CEOs to reckless gamblers.

Titled "Casino," the spot is the latest in a series of regulatory reform ads put out by Americans United For Change, a progressive organization that has become the tip of the spear among groups advocating for Democratic-authored legislation. Joining AUC this time around is American Family Voices, an organization designed as a lobby of sorts for working class interests.

"A few years ago, Wall Street created something called 'derivatives' the ad's announcer says. "They were nothing more than bets - like a casino - bets that the price of oil, or the value of your mortgage would go up or down.

"Then they made bets on the value of the bets... and bets on the bets on the bets. They built a house of cards... that finally came tumbling down... and their recklessness caused an economic catastrophe that cost seven million Americans their jobs.

"Now they're doing it again. Don't let them. Tell Congress to hold Big Wall Street Banks accountable."

Prior AUC ads have referred to the titans of the banking and financial community as "pigs" who were "first in line at the trough for their taxpayer bailout." So, in a sense, this spot is a bit more elevated and policy focused.

The ad, an official with the group says, will run on national cable (CNN, MSNBC, Fox and CNBC) through the week with $210,000 behind it.