Big bank CEOs make their most lucrative moves not from their offices on Wall Street but from their DC addresses on K Street and Capitol Hill.
A new report by Campaign for America's Future and the Public Accountability Initiative, shows things are worse than many of us knew.
The report, "Big Bank Takeover," is out today. It documents a revolving door where former Members of Congress and federal employees soon become bank lobbyists who work to undermine democracy and further the interests of Wall Street at the expense of the American people.
The report documents how during the financial reform debate, the financial industry has hired over 70 former Members of Congress and 940 former federal employees to lobby on their behalf. Members of both parties are guilty.
One of the key findings is that the six biggest banks - Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo - account for a disproportionate share of the activity. This provides the answer to why the U.S. Senate has failed to move on the most critical component of financial reform: breaking up the big banks whose size and reach put our entire economy (not to mention our democracy) at risk.
More and more Americans are making the connection between a broken banking system and a broken democracy. On May 17, everyday Americans from 20 states are coming to DC for a Showdown to draw a direct connection between Wall Street banks and other unaccountable corporations, their K Street lobbyists, and the Members of Congress who do their bidding.
Following the actions, hundreds of voters will be heading to Capitol Hill to directly challenge their Members of Congress to say no to big bank contributions and say yes to the American people.
The new report connects the dots--we'll be in Washington next week to see if we can rearrange them.
Follow George Goehl on Twitter: www.twitter.com/streetactionNPA
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