Financial Bailout: Who do McCain and Obama see at their fundraisers?
By Bill Allison Sep 25 2008 3:37 p.m. 2 commentsSen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are returning to Washington today to lend their legislative talents to the bailout bill working its way through Congress. So let's take a look at the biggest contributors to their presidential campaigns, courtesy of our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics.
Going in alphabetical order, we'll take McCain first. Among the top donors to the Republican nominee's presidential campaign are employees, their family members and PACs of the following players in the nation's financial meltdown: Merrill Lynch (which needed Bank of America to rescue it), Citigroup ("written off and lost $53.6 billion through the credit crunch so far, which is more than any other bank or broker"), Morgan Stanley (morphing into a bank holding company), Goldman Sachs (ditto), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (which bought Bear Stearns), Credit Suisse Group (which misled some investors about its auction rate securities), UBS AG (which hopes the bailout will include foreign banks), Bank of America (acquired Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial, once the largest mortgage lender in the U.S.; its lobbyists wrote the last bailout bill that was supposed to save the financial system), Wachovia Corp. (being sued over its subprime securities), Lehman Brothers (which failed) and Bear Stearns ("Bear Stearns's mortgage business, a big driver of profits, has been eviscerated,").
As for Obama: Among the top donors to the Democratic nominee's presidential campaign are employees, their family members and PACs of the following players in the nation's financial meltdown: Goldman Sachs (morphing into a bank holding company), Citigroup ("written off and lost $53.6 billion through the credit crunch so far, which is more than any other bank or broker,"), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (which bought Bear Stearns). UBS AG (which hopes the bailout will include foreign banks), Lehman Brothers (which failed) and Morgan Stanley (morphing into a bank holding company).
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The more I read, the more angry I become. The politicians at every level of our government are becoming increasingly beholden to the entities they should be protecting us from. This is an outrage. I hope more people take action and hold these politicians accountable.Jason KieselFounder & CEOhttp://www.freedomspeaks.com
I wrote to my three legislators and told them no bailout. If we all did, maybe we could get onto alternative energy, healt care, and education.