With the race for the White House heating up, Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, dropped a new campaign ad over the weekend that again paints Sanders squarely as Wall Street’s archenemy, and takes direct aim at the Wall Street bank that’s seemingly dominated the headlines of this election cycle – Goldman Sachs.
In the ad, which can be seen below, Sanders doubles down on his recent criticisms of Wall Street. Earlier this year, Sanders took on Wall Street in a wide-ranging speech where he laid out how the country’s financial system would change if he is elected president.
In his speech, Sanders detailed just how different life would be for the “too big to fail” banks under a Sanders administration. In fact, there would be no life for the “too big to fail” banks if Sanders is elected president, only death.
In the speech, Sanders said “if a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”
Sanders’ new ad, titled “The Problem,” targets one bank in particular, Goldman Sachs, which the ad calls “one of the Wall Street banks that triggered the financial meltdown.”
Sanders’ ad makes specific mention of Goldman Sachs’ recent $5 billion settlement with federal government over toxic mortgage bonds, which relates to the firm’s securitization, underwriting and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007.
Under the terms of the settlement, Goldman Sachs will pay a $2.385 billion civil monetary penalty, make $875 million in cash payments and provide $1.8 billion in consumer relief.
Sanders’ ad positions Goldman Sachs as what’s wrong with the country’s financial system, accusing Wall Street of funneling millions of dollars to political candidates in exchange for influence.
“Our economy works for Wall Street because it’s rigged by Wall Street,” Sanders' ad states.
“How does Wall Street get away with it?” Sanders’ ad asks. “Millions in campaign contributions and speaking fees.”
The “millions in campaign contributions and speaking fees” is a not-so-thinly veiled attack on his main opponent in the Democratic primary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose ties to Goldman Sachs have been criticized throughout the campaign.
Goldman Sachs’ connections to leading political candidates aren’t limited to the Democrats though.
Recently, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was criticized for his links to Goldman Sachs, where his wife Heidi works as a managing director.
The New York Times recently reported that while the Texas senator was running for his second term, he borrowed $500,000 but didn’t disclose it. Cruz later said it was a mistake on his part, as he didn’t report it to the Federal Election Commission campaign.
In Sanders’ campaign’s opinion, connections with Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street institutions, like those Cruz and Clinton have, are a problem for everyone.
“As long as Washington is bought and paid for, we can’t build an economy that works for people,” Sanders’ ad states.
