Sen. Warren Continues to Display Disdain and Ignorance of Capital Markets | Citizens Against Government Waste

Sen. Warren Continues to Display Disdain and Ignorance of Capital Markets

The WasteWatcher

The hearing held on October 20, 2021, before the Senate Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy, “Protecting Companies and Communities from Private Equity Abuse,” once again exposed the efforts by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and her anti-capitalist colleagues to undermine one of the most important and successful industries in America. 

The hearing was timed to coincide with the introduction of the “Stop Wall Street Looting Act,” introduced by Sens. Warren, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and in the House of Representatives by Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).  Its title implies that the motivation of everyone who works in the financial services industry is to pillage and steal from clients.  It also displays a strong contempt for the hard work that goes into providing a better return on investment from private equity than other investments.   

Sen. Warren claimed that “The Stop Wall Street Looting Act ends these abusive practices by putting private investment fund managers on the hook for the companies they control, ending looting, empowering workers and investors …”  She continues to fail to comprehend how wealth is created, believing that the government knows better how to create jobs than the private sector. And socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that “Congress must ensure that the greed and recklessness of Wall Street can never destroy the livelihoods of everyday Americans ever again. … Now is the time to end Wall Street’s greed, protect workers, and create an economy that works for everyone, not just the 1%.”

The display of ignorance by the supporters of the Warren bill could not be starker, as it arises from their blind adherence to socialist principles.  These members of Congress have consistently refused to see that the very people they claim to protect from the “looters” are the very people that have benefited from private equity and other investments generated by Wall Street.

As Citizens Against Government Waste has noted, “The investments made by private equity funds make substantial contributions to public retirement systems in states like California and New York, as well as other funds like the Massachusetts Pension Reserve Investment Management Board.  In other words, the very people that Sen. Warren and her supporters in the crusade against private equity claim to be helping, like workers, at companies like Dunkin’ Donuts, Jiffy Lube, and Popeyes, along with retired janitors, teachers, and state and local workers, will all be hurt if [Sen. Warren’s] legislation would become law.”

Everyone who depends on private equity and Sen. Warren’s supposed “looters” on Wall Street should root for this legislation to never see the light of day.