I have been writing about the Tea Party, and asking what they will do if/when the DC Republicans betray them.. CAF has set up a page for the Tea Party Getting Played series. This is the latest in the series.
So, how's that new Tea Party Congress working out for Tea Party supporters who expected that the lobbyists were going to be cleared out, the "too-big-to-fail" Wall Street banks brought under control and laws enforced?
The election was Tuesday, and on Thursday the expected new Chair of the House financial services committee warned regulators to lay of Wall Street, particularly Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, and not enforce the "Volker Rule" in the new Wall Street reform law. That's right, told them not to enforce the law.
In the Financial Times, US regulators warned on new bank legislation, (Matthew Yglesias c/o Brad DeLong)
Spencer Bachus, a potential Republican chairman of the House financial services committee, has fired the first salvo in a battle with regulators - warning them against harming US banks by curbing their trading activity.
. . . Mr Bachus says that a ban on proprietary trading - known as the Volcker rule - ... in the new Dodd-Frank financial reform law will "impose substantial costs on the American economy and market participants" with "doubtful" benefits.
. . . The proprietary trading ban, named after Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who proposed it, was opposed by most Republicans when it was passed by Congress in June. It also restricts banks' investments in hedge funds and private equity firms.
Last week, in Tea Party Members VS Tea Party Wall Street Funders, I pointed out that Tea Party supporters expect their politicians to do something about Wall Street bailouts, lawbreaking and "too-big-to-fail" domination of the economy, but Tea Party candidates were receiving a great deal of funding from that very same Wall Street. This set up a potential conflict between Tea Party supporters and Tea Party politicians.
Now that the election is over, we're all just waiting for what we think is coming, and asking: What will Tea Party members do when their politicians betray them?