'I have a conscience': the Wall Streeters fighting for Bernie Sanders in New York

[IDemo]

A few months ago, Democratic party leaders attended a meeting in New York with some of the titans of Wall Street, among them heads of brand-name hedge funds and top private equity firms. The gathering was billed not as the usual high-dollar fundraiser but as a bridge-building exercise in which powerful financiers could vent their opinions privately to Democratic bosses.

Two US senators who formed part of the Democratic delegation kicked off the meeting by inviting the financiers to air their concerns about party policy. One of the big name Wall Street figures stood up, proclaimed grandly that he was speaking on behalf of every financial person in the room, and then slammed into the Democratic lawmakers for having had the audacity even to consider disbanding a low-tax arrangement popular with hedge fund managers known as “carried interest”.

“That was startling to me,” said one of the other financiers present in the room that day. “Here was a gathering of Wall Street’s greatest minds and what were we discussing? Not how to generate more jobs or create an economy that works for everyone, but how to protect our vested interests and tax advantages.”

Let’s call the financier speaking here by the false name Frank. He is one of a rare and fascinating breed which Politico has dubbed Bankers for Bernie – high-profile Wall Street figures who, unlike most of their peers, are prepared to abandon pure self-interest and embrace the radical financial reforms espoused by Bernie Sanders.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/14/new-york-primary-bernie-sanders-wall-street?subid=18510444&CMP=ema_565

[yourpaljoey]

1. interesting

[LiberalArkie]

2. Thank you... Very good.

“She has a thousand talking points, but when the lights are turned off and all the glare of the election fades, politics-as-normal will return, the lobbyists will get to work, and nothing at all will happen,” he said.

The problem is that everyone knows that Hillary has the ability to be a great president. But she is too easily swayed by the power brokers to be who THEY want her to be.

[senz]

3. Wow. Unexpected, incredibly positive development.

Even in the belly of the beast, hearts are changing.

There's hope!

Thank you Bernie!

And thank you OWS, too!