Wall Street's view of itself in Bernie Sanders' campaign: Maligned, marginalized, misunderstood
Sitting at an outdoor table down the street from the New York Stock Exchange with their deli sandwiches in plastic bags, the two compliance officers for an investment bank are far from the picture of grotesque wealth that Bernie Sanders has denounced on the campaign trail.
With their tight haircuts and wraparound sunglasses, they look more like cops than bankers, fitting for their job ensuring transactions follow regulations. Instead of taking chauffeured cars from their estates, they ride the ferry from Staten Island, where they play in a softball league.
“I’m not making a million or a billion dollars,” said Chris Gargano, 35. “I’m just trying to pay my mortgage, like every other American.”
Sanders’ attacks on Wall Street were probably never going to win him friends among wealthy bankers. But ahead of Tuesday’s primary in New York, his condemnations ring uniquely hollow among locals. On Wall Street’s home turf, his rhetoric also could cost him votes from people who view the financial industry less as an abstract threat to the economy than as an important local business and job provider.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-campaign-wall-street-20160416-story.html