Why No One’s Going to Drain this Swamp

Financial Sector threw $2 Billion at Congress during the Election. Biggest Spenders? Not the Banks.
The Financial Sector – whose products, risk-taking, and shenanigans blew up the sector and everything around it during the Financial Crisis – has finally gotten the memo in a serious way: During the past election cycle (2015-2016), it doused the members of the US Congress with a record amount of money to ‘influence decision making’ and get what they want: deregulation, handouts, and subsidies.
So how much? Over $2 billion.
That’s over $3.7 million per sitting member of Congress, according to a report released today by Americans for Financial Reform. The $2 billion tab fell into two categories:

This post was published at Wolf Street by Wolf Richter ‘ Mar 8, 2017.