Democrats' Financial Reform Looks Like a Protection Racket

If this was done in the private sector someone would be in jail for extortion, yet we put up with it with our elected officials. Vote all the bums out and hopefully we'll elect fewer bums.

Excerpt: The more Washington does, the greater the need to protect yourself, and the greater the opportunities for profit. A writer for the Huffington Post reported on carve-outs in the financial-reform bill. ‘Obtaining a carve-out isn’t rocket science,’ a Republican financial-services lobbyist told the website. ‘Just give Chairman [Chris] Dodd and Chuck Schumer a [expletive denoting a lot] of money.’ That’s the Democratic appeal writ large. They are running a protection racket. No matter how bad a ‘reform’ is, it could be worse. This is how they bought off the drug companies in the health-care debate—by threatening worse. It is why the insurance companies were conflicted. Yes, they were maligned. But they’d live to fight another day, and in the meantime, the government would mandate that people buy their product. The entanglement of business and government is potentially lucrative for both sides.

So the Democrats can threaten anything from ‘reforming’ to nationalizing an industry, and then collect a boatload of money from frightened corporate executives who want a “carve-out.” It’s like something out of The Sopranos. In the immortal words of Silvio Dante, as he collected his protection money, “You’re only as good as your last envelope.” Democrats' Financial Reform Looks Like a Protection Racket