Back in 2008, the denizens of Wall Street saw which way the political winds were blowing. Departing from their traditional support of the Republican Party, they decided it would be in their best interests to throw some money at the Democrats (since it was obvious they would be the party in power).
They were hoping this new money would convince Democrats to adopt some pro-Wall Street (and anti-Main Street) policies. In January of 2009 about 60% of Wall Street political donations went to Democrats, and by March of that year the percentage had climbed to a little over 70% (see chart above). They figured they had bought a continuation of the deregulation that had allowed them to make enormous profits while destroying the economy.
Well, that didn't work out too good for the big-money guys on Wall Street. The Democrats took that money and passed a bill putting regulations back on the giant financial institutions anyway. Now the Democrats are poised to take back the Bush tax cuts for the rich (while keeping tax cuts for the middle and working classes). Their donations to Democrats had bought them virtually nothing (except for the naive support of a few Blue Dogs).
So now the Wall Street bankers are going back home to the Republican Party -- the party that loves to protect the interests of the corporations and rich people. The Republicans nearly unanimously opposed re-regulating the giant Wall Street financial firms, and they are now opposing letting the Bush tax cuts expire for rich people. That's the kind of thing Wall Street was hoping to see, so they are now doing their best to put the Republicans back in power.
Starting in October of 2009 the Wall Street bigwigs began to give less money to Democrats and more money to Republicans. By June of 2010 the Republicans were getting nearly 70% of Wall Street political donations (and I expect that will continue to rise). It took them a while, but they now realize that Democrats are not going to abandon ordinary citizens the way Republicans have been doing for decades.
The Republicans are back in the Wall Street fold. Now the voters need to realize that and keep them out of power come November.
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