Regulate Us–Please!

Scoop Jackson used to be known as the Senator from Boeing; maybe Barack Obama should be called the President from Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs executives and employees contributed more money to Obama’s 2008 campaign than a single company has raised for any politician since the dawn of campaign finance reform.
Does Goldman regret its unprecedented support for Obama and the Democratic Party? Not at all. Tim Carney explains the facts of life at the Examiner. Notwithstanding the populist Goldman-bashing the Democrats are now engaging in, the company enthusiastically supports heightened federal regulation of its business. A Goldman lobbyist explained: “We’re not against regulation. We’re for regulation. We partner with regulators.” That pretty much says it all. In the meantime, Goldman is partnering with the Democrats to pass a permanent bailout bill.
Government regulation is almost always good for dominant firms like Goldman Sachs. It is smaller competitors, innovators and start-ups who tend to get squashed. That’s bad for consumers, but if you’re already on top, the government will help you stay there. As Carney notes, “every competitor [of Goldman Sachs] is smaller.” Still, companies like Goldman take no chances. When Obama’s first White House counsel, Greg Craig–an unreconstructed liberal and Democratic partisan–left the administration, who hired him? Goldman Sachs, of course.
A footnote: we’ve seen this pattern a thousand times, but it bears noting that one of Goldman’s lobbyists is Dick Gephardt, former Presidential contender and for many years organized labor’s most reliable spokesman in Washington.

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