The Bailed-Out Bankers’ Boys: Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Chris Christie and Friends

Bank of America’s latest attack on the American economic recovery through big bank fees may well elect Elizabeth Warren to the Kennedy Senate seat in Massachusetts. The very bad news for Ron Paul , Rick Perry, Chris Christie and those Republicans who take big money from big bailed-out banks as donations, and then carry their water in Washington, is that they will be exposed again.

Bank of America, which might soon be called Bank of un-America, is the embodiment of what happens if Ron Paul or Rick Perry is elected. It has done consistent damage to the America economy from the birth of the mortgage fraud to the mega-bailout, from the massive layoffs to this latest fee on debit cards.

I dare Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin to denounce the latest Bank of America attack on American consumers and call for the fee to be withdrawn. They won’t.

At least Ron Paul sincerely believes his views, which would crash the economy. Paul is a devotee of the great advocate of Darwinian cruelty against everyone but the rich, Ayn Rand, who was also the favorite proud atheist of many conservative Republicans.

Ron Paul, who cannot give a straight answer about whether our mothers should die if they can’t get health insurance, believes in a weird version of responsibility in which those with money and power prosper while everyone else suffers.

Rick Perry is different. Perry is the polyester Ron Paul impersonator, most recently on CNBC saying the Federal Reserve should never help the economy with monetary policy during a depression or recession. Pay-for-play Rick Perry will almost certainly support the new big bank fees and increase his fundraising from banks.

Gotta hand it to Perry. He actually tells the truth and says many Republicans lack heart. Then he reverses course, and says they do have heart. Perhaps Perry, who gobbled up the Obama stimulus to cover his deficits, before opposing the Obama stimulus, was for heart before he was against it.

Rick Perry’s impersonation of Ron Paul is caused by Perry’s panic while his campaign collapses, while terrified Republicans try to entice the freshman governor and unqualified Chris Christie to enter the race.

At least Christie won’t be a quitter and resign, like a certain former freshman governor we know.

Perry’s impersonation of Ron Paul is giving him “Saturday Night Live” status. Soon Perry may dye his hair gray (or more accurately, stop dying his hair dark) to look more like Ron Paul. If Perry gets desperate enough, perhaps he will offer to make Dennis Kucinich his vice president, to top Ron Paul.

It won’t work. If people want to crash the economy and be the boys of the big bankers, they will go with the real deal with the real hair and the real mind: Ron Paul.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren will surge for the Senate in Massachusetts, because she is the true champion of red, white and blue Americans who want nothing more than a fair deal from the big banks.

As for Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Chris Christie and many other Republicans, they are the bailed-out bankers’ boys. If you are a voter who wants these rip-offs to end, there ain’t a dime’s worth of difference between them.

Brent Budowsky

The Hill

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.