rockyanderson2012:

Wall Street Executives Thrive Under Obama, But Still Won’t Support Him

Banking elites have thrived under Obama for a number of reasons. For starters, Justice Department prosecutions for financial fraud are at a 20-year low, despite what many claim is a strong pattern of financial-sector misconduct in recent years. The Securities Exchange Commission has brought few civil fraud cases against big banks, and even those cases were settled so cheaply that Federal Judge Jed Rakoff has held up or rejected the deals.

Obama has also kept tax rates low. He extended the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which means Wall Street executives’ salaries are taxed at 35 percent and their capital gains income — where the bulk of their take-home pay comes from — is only taxed at 15 percent. And of course, many big banks are still standing because the president forked over tens of billions in taxpayer dollars to bail them out during the financial crisis that their industry fueled. Amid all of that, Obama didn’t touch executive bonuses; in fact, he defended their right to keep them.

(via socialuprooting)