Is 16th District Congressman Jim Renacci proving to be a friend of America's Wall Street crowd over Main Street interests?
As he heads into completing the first year of a two year term, it is looking like Renacci has fully aligned with the lead of Speaker of the House John Boehner and the GOP's failure to rein in Wall Street financial interests which has almost brought the 16th District and the nation to our financial knees in late 2008 and since. And the threat continues.
Increasingly, national financial and economic health observers are talking a "double-dip" recession and a significant risk factor is Congress's (with Renacci and his political party) failure to institute meaningful regulatory reform curbing Wall Street banks from propping up their bottom lines and continuing to pay highly excessive compensation packages to investment bank CEOs.
The investment bankers do not produce economic wealth for the country. They merely play an economically unproductive game of financial maneuvering whereby one financial institution outsmarts/out games another in a shifting of monies from one pocket to another which the Amerian taxpayer has been required (in the past) to hold the loser harmless for its losses (aka "the bailout").
In a succinct piece in the Harvard Business Review (Why Bankers Need to Be Put Into Little Boxes, June 3, 2011), Justin Fox writes about a New York banker - Robert G. Wilmers - (Buffalo, NY - M&T Bank Corp; not NYC's Wall Street) who understands and has for decades implemented at his bank: Main Street banking (hence 16th District-esque [including, of course, Stark County]) interests.
Wilmers is a person that Renacci should be attuned to on financial institution policy and practice; not Speaker Boehner.
In a word, so far Renacci is slavishly supporting Speaker Boehner (remember, he aptly and correctly criticized the man he defeated in November, 2010 - former Congressman John Boccieri - for being to tight with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi) and the national GOP's support of the Wall Street credit default swapping ("to-big-to-fail) primarily investment banking likes of Bank of America all to the detriment of Main Street "pure" banking (i.e. generating deposits which endeavors to lend the money out in a "community banking" way to aspiring "local" entrepreneurs and home owners who are credit worthy.
M&T Bank Corp had one of the best records in the nation in staying the course and getting credit out to community types during the bailouts of 2008.
It appears that Renacci will stick with Boehner and the Speaker's support of the Wall Street banking interests. If so, the 16th District congressman will share in the responsibility should financial markers falter or fail a second time.
A second round of bailouts would dwarf the financial chaos that the nation has experienced from the first financial crisis.
Some think the crisis is over. However, it is not over unless and until Congress steps in with strong, meaningful federal law curbs which separate Main Street banking from Wall Street banking and force Wall Street banking downsizing and establish a well-known and clear policy that future losing bettors in the derivative markets will not be subsidized by the American/Stark County taxpaying public.
In getting to such a position, Renacci does not have to join with Democrats in Congress; he merely has to become a disciple of Wilmers (who undoubtedly a conservative Republican) and listen to and dialogue with him on what needs to be done in terms of federal legislation to solve American continuing threat of financial crisis and derivatively double-dip (or worse) economic crisis.
Does Renacci have the interests of 16th District constituents enough at heart to seek out Wilmers?
For all his criticism of former foe John Boccieri of being enslaved to Nancy Pelosi, the SCPR's take on Renacci's ability to listen to Wilmers?
Not likely!
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