Wall Street Banks Beg Elizabeth Warren To Stop Bullying Them, Or Else

Almost everyone loves watching Sen. Elizabeth Warren yell at the big banks on Wall Street, right? Right! But not everyone. You know who doesn't love it? The big banks on Wall Street:  

Big Wall Street banks are so upset with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.

Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party's tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week. [...]

The amount of money at stake, a maximum of $15,000 per bank, means the gesture is symbolic rather than material.

Hmmmm, why would the biggest banks who camethisclose to crashing America's economy have a problem with Elizabeth Warren constantly reminding us that those big banks camethisclose to crashing America's economy? No idea.

Maybe it is because of how she successfully sank the nomination of Wall Street investment banker Antonio Weiss for undersecretary of Treasury for Domestic Finance by repeatedly saying, "That dude is from Wall Street. Boo! Hiss!" And even though she is the fresh new junior senator from Massachusetts, she managed to get enough Democrats to agree with her that yeah, let's not have any more Wall Street bankers in charge of anything because they suck.

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Maybe it is because of how she is always explaining that regulating banks has not hurt anyone's bottom line AT ALL, as she did just last month when Chairman-elect of the American Bankers Association R. Daniel Blanton dared to complain before the Senate Banking Committee that having to follow "rules" was destroying America's sweet little community banks:

We know that all of the big bank lobbyists love to come into our offices and talk about how community banks are being crushed and they need our help, but a lot of the times, the legal changes that they’re asking for aren’t really about helping community banks. [...]

If we really want to help the community banks, let’s start by getting rid of the $85 billion a year too-big-to-fail subsidy that we give to the biggest banks, year after year. Small banks aren’t getting that. Or let’s start by holding big bank executives accountable for committing fraud, like we do with small bank executives for committing fraud. Those are the kinds of changes that would help level the playing field for our community banks.

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Maybe it is because of how she is always speechifying on the Senate floor to remind her colleagues that unregulated big banks on Wall Street almost murdered America in 2008, and we are still trying to recover from that, so they certainly don't deserve any more of those too-big-to-fail government bailouts:

If big Wall Street banks want to gamble with their own money, so be it. Let them take their risks with their own money and let them live with the consequences of those risks. That’s how markets are supposed to work. But they shouldn’t get to gamble with government-insured money. [...]

Here’s the bottom line: A vote for this bill is a vote for future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street. When the next bailout comes, a lot of people will look back to this vote to see who was responsible for putting the government back on the hook to bail out Wall Street.

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Oh, but now that the banks have let it be known they do not care for Sen. Warren's unkind words and deeds, we are sure she will sit down and shut up and not do that anymore. Or at least one of the grown-ups in the Senate might make her? Please?

Citigroup has decided to withhold donations for now to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over concerns that Senate Democrats could give Warren and lawmakers who share her views more power, sources inside the bank told Reuters. [...]

JPMorgan representatives have met Democratic Party officials to emphasize the connection between its annual contribution and the need for a friendlier attitude toward the banks, a source familiar with JPMorgan's donations said. In past years, the bank has given its donation in one lump sum but this year has so far donated only a third of the amount, the source said. [...]

Bank of America is not coordinating with other banks on when and how much to give, according to a source familiar with the bank's thinking. It has not yet sent in its check.

Yes, that will definitely persuade Warren to stop talking about the corruption, theft, and fraud committed by those very banks. Oh, except that it won't. It will probably just make her angry. And they REALLY wouldn't like her when she's angry.

Now go buy yourself a nice Elizabeth Warren tee shirt, and feel free to wear it next time you go to the bank.

[ Reuters ]