[D]on’t look for Sen. Bernie Sanders to be starring alongside Michael Douglas in another sequel to the movie “Wall Street.”
A few blocks away from the Wall Street banks he regularly indicts, Sanders on Tuesday fleshed out policy proposals to rein in the financial industry, while expressing deep skepticism about Hillary Clinton’s rhetoric around financial reform.
“Greed, fraud, dishonesty and arrogance: these are some of the words that best describe the reality of Wall Street today,” Sanders said to around 1,500 people at a speech in midtown Manhattan.
The Vermont senator turned on its head a phrase made famous in the original “Wall Street,” where the main character, Gordon Gekko, played by Douglas famously said: “Greed is good.”
Said Sanders: “So to those on Wall Street who may be listening to my remarks — and I’m sure there are many of them — let me be very clear: greed is not good, in fact the greed of Wall Street and corporate America is destroying the very fabric of our nation.”
Sanders was specific in his criticism of Wall Street, which until now has consisted of broad condemnations.
If elected, he promised to direct his Treasury Secretary to compile a directory of banks considered “Too Big To Fail” and suggested who would top the list: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
“If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist,” he said, adding he would begin breaking banks up within his first 100 days in office.
Sanders also asserted the need to impose a modern Glass-Steagall Act, referring to the post-Depression legislation that limited commercial banks from engaging in risky speculation and investment.
He also promised to take advantage of provisions in the 2010 financial reform law, the Dodd-Frank Act, to break up banks swiftly and legally.
He repeatedly called out Clinton — both by name and through insinuation — as an establishment politician who would not go far enough to prevent another financial meltdown. He praised Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s targeted work to rein in Wall Street excesses.
“My opponent, Secretary Clinton says that Glass-Steagall would not have prevented the financial crisis because shadow banks like AIG and Lehman Brothers, not big commercial banks, were the real culprits,” Sanders said.
“Secretary Clinton is wrong,” Sanders continued. “Shadow banks did gamble recklessly, but where did that money come from? It came from the federally insured bank deposits of big commercial banks.”
Sanders also said he would fight to cap ATM fees at $2, restrict interest rates on credit cards and loans to no higher than 15 percent and turn credit-rating agencies into non-profit organizations.
He reiterated his proposals to have the struggling United States Postal Service offer banking services and to also pay for students’ tuition at public colleges through a tax on Wall Street transactions.
Sanders dedicated a good portion of his speech to specific banking malfeasance, from mortgage fraud at JPMorgan to currency rigging by Citigroup. Midway through listing media reports of Wall Street greed, he referenced an article by The Guardian that reported Wachovia bank illegally laundered billions from Mexican drug cartels.
“Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks will not be represented in my administration,” he promised, adding that bankers found to be engaged in illegal behavior would be sent to jail in a Sanders administration.
“‘Equal Justice Under Law’ will not just be words engraved on the entrance of the Supreme Court,” he said. “It will be the standard that applies to Wall Street and all Americans.”
The rowdy crowd consisted of members of the Working Parties Family Party, a progressive New York organization that endorsed Sanders in December, as well as New York state senators, mayors and city councilors.
Fraud is the business model of Wall St. It is not the exception, it is the rule. – @BernieSanders #BreakEmUp pic.twitter.com/bqsuzZec1s
— NY Working Families (@NYWFP) January 5, 2016
Income inequality and corrupt big banking are the cornerstone issues of the Sanders campaign, and are referenced in virtually every stump speech the presidential hopeful has made.
While these issues have been obscured following recent terrorist attacks and other foreign policy concerns, Sanders has not backed away from highlighting them.
“Will [Wall Street] like me?” Sanders asked during the speech. “No.”
“Will they begin to play by the rules if I’m president?” he continued. “You better believe it.”
