Ken Berwitz
There was a fascinating editorial in yesterday\’s Investors Business Daily. It suggested that the policies espoused by self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, and hard-left poseur Hillary Clinton (at least until it is expedient not to be), have been a huge windfall….for exactly the people they rail against. Big banks and big business.
On what do they base this claim? Here\’s the key segment:
Both Sanders and Clinton are big boosters of the Dodd-Frankfinancial reform. But a recent Harvard study found that the massive regulatoryscheme that it imposed has hurt small community banks the most.
The researchers found that community banks\’ share of assetsdeclined in the second quarter of 2010 at “almost double” the ratefour years earlier. Another report found that 2,000 community banks and creditunions have closed or merged since 2010.
Given that community banks disproportionately serve smallbusinesses, farming and home mortgage markets, this hits more than just thefinancial sector.
“The exponential growth of regulation in recent years issuffocating community banks\’ ability to serve their small businesscustomers,” Doyle Mitchell of Industrial Bank told the House SmallBusiness panel. “Any community banker will tell you that their job hasfundamentally shifted from lending and serving customers to struggling to stayon top of ever-changing rules and guidance.”
The American Enterprise Institute\’s Peter Wallison found that jobcreation among small businesses has been virtually non-existent sinceDodd-Frank, because “millions of small firms … are not getting thecredit they need to grow and create jobs.”
Even Sanders and Clinton are complaining that the”too-big-to-fail banks” have only gotten bigger since Dodd-Frank,without explaining that their own policy prescriptions fueled this trend.
Y\’know what? That\’s a pretty good analysis.
If the data it cites are accurate – and Harvard ain\’t exactly a hotbed of Republican/conservative activism – then Dodd/Frank, both Democrats, gave us legislation – passed by what, at that time was a wholly Democrat congress – which is a blessing to big business, and a curse to small entrepreneurs. You know, the folks who used to make this country strong…and, I assume, still would like to do so.
So, how much time do you figure CNN will give this during tonight\’s debate? As much as it took me to write the question I just asked? Or less?
