Saturday, May 2, 2009

Being Anti-Democratic

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois proposed legislation that would assist the "8 million Americans facing foreclosure." Wall Street banks such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo all lobbied Congress in opposition to the bill and all received billions in bailouts.

Twelve Democrats joined Republicans to defeat the bill that ended in a 45-51 vote. There has been no legislation to support homewowners, although TARP was supposed to assist those homeowners who were being foreclosed upon. No legislation was even needed for the hundreds of billions that went to banks.

"The banks that are too big to fail are saying that 8 million Americans facing foreclosure are too little to count in this economy," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois

I'd be interested in knowing the link between campaign contributions and the "no" vote in the Senate. This definitely does pass the smell test. It seems incredibly anti-democratic. This is supposed to be a "government by the people, of the people and for the people." How is it that we elect officials to go to Washington on our behalf and they instead support Wall Street banks that receive billions of our taxpaying dollars?

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