We couldn’t let it go without comment. Hillary Clinton apparently approves of the DOL’s efforts to hold 401(k) advisors to the highest ethical standards. Read that again, we’ll wait …
The Democratic presidential frontrunner outlined her three-point plan in The New York Times last week for “reining in Wall Street.” It includes new risk fees on dozens of the biggest banks, ensuring that the SEC and CFTC are independently funded, and extending the statute of limitations for major financial crimes from five years to 10.
Whatever one’s political affiliation, even her most strident supporters would have to admit it’s a textbook case of good for thee, but not for me. Whitewater, Rose Law Firm, the travel office firings, selling the Lincoln bedroom, Clinton Global Initiative donors, deleted emails—the list goes on and on.
Pointing to her biggest enemies, Republicans, Clinton describes what she says are GOP efforts to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, oppose the DOL fiduciary rule and “undo constraints on risk at some of the largest and most complex financial institutions.”
“Rather than pursuing the kind of high-stakes speculation [emphasis hours] that devastated our economy before, Wall Street should focus on building an economy that creates good-paying jobs, rising incomes and sound investments so that more families can achieve the security of a middle-class life,” said Clinton, who famously made $100,000 trading cattle futures from an initial $1,000 investment.
In a perverse way, Clinton might actually be consistent in her argument. Donors to CGI, for instance, got exactly what they expected. She really did put their interests first; it just wasn’t necessarily with the altruistic intent we were led (told) to believe.
We’ll see how many more members of the Democrat political class come out in opposition to the proposal before her views begins to “evolve” on the issue. It shouldn’t be long.