Regulatory capture is corporate America's business model, whichever Big _____ is involved (Pharma, Ag, Oil, Insurance, Banks, Media, Sports, Chem, Tech).

Money is the mother's milk of politics and the electoral cow's udders are always full since Citizens United, though massed individual contributions are somewhat of a countervailing force.

Bubble-blowing plutocracy is the American default except in crises.

Want to stop the plutocracy game? Index corporate tax rates and a wealth tax to the Gini coefficient: https://medium.com/the-national-discussion/how-to-stop-the-plutocracy-game-index-the-top-1-s-tax-rates-to-decreasing-inequality-a3a19f42cd97

My brother pays a wealth tax in NL and my ski buddy outside Zurich pays it in Switzerland. Both have thriving startup ecosystems that don't need regulatory capture to disrupt large incumbents.

Biden is far to the left of Obama and the IRA and the Chips Act are economic nationalist dirigiste industrial policy qui parlent Francais. That's why the EU hates them and will relax prohibitions on state aid to national champions to fight against them. Energy independence-driven reshoring as a route to drive down the Gini coefficient without big tax increases or a wealth tax that would never pass anyway.

Obama preferred a Canadian-style single payer model, but knew it would never pass. The ACA was better than getting nothing passed. The alternative to the ACA was getting nothing passed. Maximalist political purity is feel good therapy. But in practice it reminds me of Yogi Berra: "in theory there's no difference between theory and practice. But in practice there is."

$28.6bn in assets is a very small bank. Frank couldn't do better than that?

IOW?