It will burnish her left-wing credentials for 2020, but Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has let down small town America by opposing Dodd-Frank reform legislation.
There’s a reason the legislation that passed the Senate on Wednesday isn’t just bipartisan (it passed with 67 votes to 31). It’s because it’s common sense.
The bill focused narrowly on providing capital reserve relief for smaller banks which often operate at the state or local level. It will make it easier for smaller banks to provide loans and thus to survive. Until now, the 2010 Dodd-Frank incarnation had restricted smaller banks in their ability to extend loans. Lacking the capital reserve flexibility to meet the law’s holding requirements, these smaller banks have had to hold disproportionate funds in reserve. In turn, unable to loan and generate interest, many have simply gone out of business.
Who has suffered most? Local businesses that have struggled to access the loans they need to make crucial investments, and local communities which rely on small to midsize businesses for their economic lifeblood.
In this regard, however, Dodd-Frank has helped big banks by eliminating their competition from smaller entities. Dodd-Frank has also been superb for loan sharks, who can extract wealth from those who need short term loans for personal costs.
One might expect Elizabeth Warren to stand for the small people; for the local banks and local businesses she claims to serve in the Senate. But that would mean standing up to the fanatical wing of the Democratic Left that worships regulation. Had Warren taken on these interests, she might have risked being outmaneuvered by another 2020 democratic aspirant such as Sens. Kamala Harris or Bernie Sanders. For Warren, political interest must come first.
Still, it’s sad that Warren made the choice she did. It proves that the Senator from Massachusetts puts her own special interests before those of the people.
