Banks Concerned about Populist Demands

The NY Times (1-Feb. '10) has an article, titled "Curveball Alters Talks on Wall St. Reform," that describes the current state of affairs amongst Democratic and Republican Senators tasked with crafting necessary financial regulatory legislation.  In it is a paragraph that really underscores the dirty secret that everyone knows:

But industry representatives and Democratic Congressional aides say the president’s new proposals have already provoked a sharp increase in the volume and energy of the lobbying on regulatory reform, with more chief executives stepping over their government relations staff to request personal meetings with lawmakers. The big banks, the lobbyists say, have become increasingly alarmed that the legislative process may move in unexpected directions outside their control.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) stated in the same article, "populism doesn’t give you either good regulatory activity or strong markets."  The faux-populism of both parties always reveals itself in the end.  But it's good to know which end of the pitchforks politicians would like to be on, if and when  the whole economic charade that is the US economy comes falling apart.