The Democratic Party is the party of the little guy, right? Wrong. If you need proof, read Charles Gasparino’s new book, Bought and Paid For, The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street.
In it you’ll learn, in Gasparino’s words,
“The presumed bastions of free-market capitalism-the heads of the firms who are responsible for ensuring the free flow of capital throughout the economy-love feasting on the government as much as the laziest civil servant.”
It’s no mystery why government is bloated beyond our ability to afford. There are, in Abraham Lincoln’s words, “too many pigs for the teats.” And a lot of people get rich off of our tax dollars – that’s a surprise to no one.
Neither is it a surprise that it takes a lot of money to get elected to office. This means those who can write big checks and raise even more from others like to do their own form of recruiting. One such individual that is mentioned prominently in “Bought and Paid For” is Andy McKenna, a successful Chicago businessman who sits on the board of McDonald’s.
If that name looks familiar, it’s because Andy McKenna’s son, Andy Junior, was the Illinois Republican Party Chairman for four-and-a-half years and a two-time failed candidate for statewide office. Type the name McKenna into our search bar above to learn about Andy Jr.’s disastrous tenure as IL GOP chairman.
Gasparino reports that men like McKenna (Sr.) found the young Barack Obama impressive and did a great deal to promote his political career. Gasparino writes that the big bankers were looking for a set of “characteristics” in a candidate that they “were looking to purchase.”
“And make no mistake about it, ‘purchase’ is the right word to use: These men, used to evaluating the characteristics of multibillion-dollar deals, approach politics as they do any other trade, and Obama, with his perceived pro-business outlook on life and charisma, not to mention his seeming moderateness and his close ties to Wall Streeters…seem like a perfect fit.”
Again, this seems completely contrary to the narrative fed to us by our culture and the left-wing major media. Gasparino quotes Jack Burkman, an attorney and political strategist:
“People tend to associate Republicans with Wall Street, but the truth is, it’s the Democrats that are in bed with the Street. And that’s certainly true with Obama. He’s been in bed [with them] from the beginning. And that was crucial to his victory. Obama raised a lot of money from individuals, but it was the Street’s initial support that was crucial to his success.”
Obama might call the Wall Street bankers names like “fat cats,” but Gasparino explains that the White House “doesn’t do anything that really costs them money.” Gasparino writes that both sides understand that it’s all just rhetoric.
After they make all that cash, do those Wall Street banks provide loans to small businesses or to companies developing the next miracle drug? No – read the book to learn more about that and other sickening facts about how Wall Street really works.
Despite the topic, the book is an easy read, and as I said yesterday, very informative. Gasparino writes in the closing pages that –
– “the deep and twisted ties between Wall Street and Washington have, over the last few decades, resulted in a financial system that, in the ultimate irony, is among the least free markets in America today…”
The solution to this problem, Gasparino says, won’t come as any surprise to readers of this column. Ordinary Americans, he writes, must “wake up and realize how close we are to destroying so many of the values and institutions that have made this country great.”
