Big Bank Bailouts Tied To Previous Lobbying Efforts, Study Suggests

[WillyT]

Yeah... I Know... And Water Is Wet...

Big Bank Bailouts Tied To Previous Lobbying Efforts, Study Suggests
by Staff Writer on May 26, 2011

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Did connections in Washington help major financial institutions get bailed out after the crisis?

A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests so. The paper, from three economists at the International Monetary Fund, finds that financial institutions and lenders who actively lobbied the federal government in the years leading up to the financial crisis were more likely to benefit from government bailouts beginning in 2008.

The study also found that politically-active lenders typically had faster-growing portfolios of high-risk loans — an offshoot of relaxed regulations by the federal government.

“These lenders lobbied more aggressively; the ensuing lax regulatory environment allowed them to engage in riskier lending; and such lending exposed them, directly or indirectly, to worse outcomes during the crisis,” the three economists, Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra and Thierry Tressel, note in the report.

“Interestingly,” they continue “the market anticipated lobbying lenders to benefit more from the bailout, and they indeed did, perhaps because they were hit harder by the crisis and/or because they had closer connections to policymakers.”

The report does not provide a comprehensive list of the lenders used in the analysis. But the appendix does show sample lobbying forms for Citigroup, which spent more than $3 million in lobbying in 2002, and which received $45 billion in funds from the federal government after the financial meltdown in fall 2008. Bank of America and Wells Fargo, which also had major lobbying activity in Washington, received $45 billion and $25 billion in bailouts, respectively.

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More: http://compliancesearch.com/compliancex/current-affairs/big-bank-bailouts-tied-to-previous-lobbying-efforts-study-suggests/

:kick:

[ixion]

1. heh... gee, ya think?

:freak:

[Octafish]

2. Hope this leads to a change of address for the crooks who walk free.

Starting with George W Bush and Henry Paulson.

[bvar22]

3. Thank GAWD it passed!

Paulson with Co-Conspirators

Now THIS is “Bi-Partisanship” !
Better get used to it!!
Hahahahahahahahaha!