Top 10 contributors to Barack Obama: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup

The finanical industry has been in the crosshairs of the public, but many in the industry have enjoyed the negative attention. Having received taxpayer money to cover losses from risky investments, government contacts during the Bush and Obama eras have paid off big time for large investment firms. Regulations pushed by President Obama gave non-banking investment houses a decided advantage, it is not wonder that these large financial institutions were the main lobbyists for the financial regulation drive. Competition among financial institutions has been reduced dramatically in the past 4 years, with the average size of these companies increasing 175% despite Obama's pledge to reduce average financial institution size.

It should be of no surprise that among Barak Obama's top 20 campaign contributors, 5 are financial institutions. (Also of note, 4 are law firms and 1 is the largest tax evader in the United States - General Electric). Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, and Morgan Stanley are all active supporters of President Obama, the targets of anti-Wall Street populism, recievers of bailout money, and have grown market share significantly in the past 4 years.

Because of a lack of media strutiny on the mutually beneficial relationship between big business and big government, many of Barack Obama's supporters who are decidedly anti-large corporation will not discover the nature of financial lobbying in the Obama administration. It is also unlikely that the Mitt Romney campaign will point out this fact given his own ties to big financial institutions. While candidates such as Ron Paul and Gary Johnson have openly criticized the special relationship between big banks and big government, they are largely without a voice in the media.

Perhaps the greatest long term damage the liquidity crisis has generated on the economy is the consolidation of industry. With decreased competition comes the risk of decreased economic health.

Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638

Source: http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/obamas-model-cronyism-and-corporate-welfare/314601