This week we watched the wheels come off of the cart where it concerns the financial markets. Believe me folks, this has been a long time coming. Alan Greenspan was a reckless steward of the economy and if you want to point a finger at a single villain in all of this, he is surely your man. We have a ways to go to see ourselves through all of this and I think that it is going to take industry reinvesting in America to bring about change. We need to build the most efficient engines, wind turbines, desalination equipment (water will be the new oil soon), solar cells, the list goes on and on. There is an emerging market where it concerns resources and we need to be at the forefront. Still, the candidates speak of revamping the financial sector while ignoring the fact that we need to first bring money back to this country.
While John McCain is seen as old school and beholden to special interests, Barack Obama maintains that HE and HE ALONE can bring real change to the financial markets. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering how. Obama’s approach to campaigning surely hasn’t shown me anything different. He hasn’t changed the game. It’s the same cliched blood sport it’s always been. Where McCain is looked to as business as usual and therefor an ineffective agent for change, Barack Obama casts himself as this rebel rebuking big time corporate contributions or money from lobbyists. Is this true? No, not really. The industry he professes to want to change already owns him and people should realize this from the start. For all of his change rhetoric, his panhandling seems pretty status quo.
GOLDMAN SACHS…..$691,930
CITIGROUP…………….$448,599
JP MORGAN CHASE…$442,919
UBS AG………………….$404,750
LEHMAN BROS……..$370,524
MORGAN STANLEY….$318,070
Additionally, Merrill Lynch, FannieMae and FreddieMac are also big time donors. A former head of FannieMae was on Barack’s Vice Presidential vetting team. Here are the numbers by individual industry:
COMMERCIAL BANKS………………. $2,081,809
HEDGE/PRIVATE EQUITY FUNDS.. $1,979,162
INSURANCE COMPANIES………….. $1,290,434
SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS….$9,873,356
So, there you have it. When Barack Obama is standing on the stump proclaiming that he is going to bring change to our ailing markets, you think about these contributions. You can similarly consider the same about McCain because he is likewise indebted to these outfits. McCain however has no political ambition beyond this election and further is not setting himself out there as some kind of squeaky clean outsider. McCain has to live down the whole Keating/S&L scandal and I think the guy is well aware that it’s a cross to bear. Barack will likely need these folks in his corner for a long, long, time to come. So you tell me, seriously, who is it that has less to lose by taking on an enormous task like this?
