Now that period is over though, as large banks and financial institutions are increasing political donations as major decisions are being mulled over by politicians concerning making regulatory changes in the industry.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have all increased their political donations while ramping up their lobbying as new regulations they’re battling are now coming to the time where they’ll be implemented if there are enough votes to get it done.
This of course was to be expected, as banks that should have been allowed to fail weren’t, and after a little time of quiet contrition, are now ready to resume their swagger and push back against those issues that they don’t consider in their best interests.
Both political parties are receiving increased donations, so the large financial institutions are attempting to cover all bets as they navigate the regulatory waters. Along with donations, they are also increasing lobbying funds in order to sway political opinion and decisions their way. The month of September is when all this donation activity started to increase significantly over the first eight months of the year, where very little funds were exchanging hands.
Again, this is why there should have never been a bailout in the first place, as it was known it would inevitably come down to this showdown between government and business interests. Now the banks are attempting to have it both ways by being rescued with public funds while then rejecting any type of governmental input afterwards. They should have thought of that before they accepted the billions in bailout money.
Don’t get me wrong, I 100 percent oppose the government imposing its will in the areas of compensation for private enterprise, but the banks and financial institutions invited that when they took taxpayers’ money to survive. That has led us to this moment in time where they have to now fight to retain control of their own destinies after they were given temporary reprieve.
The government are trying to use this opportunity to socialize the most important business sector in the world, and it’s possible they may just get their way; the reason the industry is starting to flex their muscles in growing resistance.
To me the bottom line is while this is all being hashed out, there shouldn’t be donations given or received, as no matter what the final decisions are, there will be uncertainty as to the integrity of the process and conclusions, as money flows into politicians’ coffers.
