As the Republican Party works to implement the age old “free market” deregulation that has led to financial crisis after financial crisis, Senator Elizabeth Warren continues to fight against the unabashed selfishness and greed that drives it. Zions First National Bank CEO Harris Simmons was in front of the Senate Committee, telling them about how we need to deregulate the markets because nothing bad has happened since we bailed out the entire banking industry and then implemented the barest of regulations. Senator Elizabeth Warren, and the rest of humanity unable to be fooled 15 times in a row, wondered aloud at how much crap Mr. Harris Simmons was slinging.
Back in 2006, Simmons told the government that there was no need for regulations on banks because everything was great, real estate was fantastic—more importantly, Simmons argued that banks being involved in unregulated commercial real estate was awesome!
Warren: Now within two years of your testimony the bank you lead science needed nearly 1.5 billion dollars in taxpayer bailout money to stay afloat; and here's a kicker, that was in part because your bank was highly concentrated in commercial real estate lending the exact thing that you told Congress was not an issue nothing to worry about so mr. Simmons when you say today that Congress can safely rollback the rules on banks like yours and there won't be any risks to taxpayers why should anyone believe you?
Simmons attempts to say that his bank didn’t really need the money, at which point Sen. Warren says “You didn’t need the money?” and Simmons acts sheepish because his bank either needed that money and he’s full of shit, or his bank didn’t need a billion and half dollars in hard-earned citizens’ tax dollars and he’s full of shit. His comeback is literally an attempt to go back to why deregulation works—as if Sen. Warren didn’t just expose him for being the fraud he is. Senator Warren doesn’t let up, asking him what his credibility is if he’s a fraud and his comeback is that all the banks took bailout money. Seriously. Sen. Warren runs out of time and closes up her statement by dropping the mic firmly on Simmons’ head.
Warren: I just want to say here you know, what I noticed about this is whenever things are going okay the banks come in here and say yay let's reduce the rules let's let's let's let everybody go out what could possibly go wrong? And then when things go wrong, banks like yours line up and say to the taxpayers bail me out our job is to make sure that we do not permit the next failure to happen because it helps short-term bank profits. Our job is to watch out for the taxpayers and the security of this economy.
Watch the whole thing, it’s worth it for the catharsis.