All US candidates serve interests of big banks, Wall Street: Analyst

US presidential candidates claim that, if elected, they will serve the American people but they all serve the interests of big banks and Wall Street, American writer and political analyst Stephen Lendman says.

Lendman made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday while commenting on a Wednesday statement in which US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had accused Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton of not standing up to Wall Street.

Lendman said that independent Senator Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, is “absolutely right. But Sanders left out the most important, well an equally important, part of what he should have said but did not that he is a supporter of Wall Street."

“He and Hillary Clinton both claim that they will be tough on Wall Street and they will do the things that will serve the American public, not the big banks, not the major moneyed interests, but if you take a look at their records in the government, it is exactly the opposite,” he added.

“I tell people all the time: ‘Ignore what politicians say, follow only what they do.’ Anybody in the House or Senate in Washington, all you need to do is to look at their voting record. And this is public information -- anybody can check the voting record and see exactly the way they have voted,” he stated.

“In the case of Bernie Sanders, his voting record shows that 98 percent – he claims that he is a socialist and an independent -- but 98 percent of the time he votes the way other Democrats do, and they are a 100 percent for Wall Street and war profiteers, and all of the things that do so much harm to so many people in America and the rest of the world,” the analyst noted.

Sanders’ rhetoric is demagoguery

Lendman said “Sanders’ rhetoric is nothing but demagoguery, absolutely meaningless and the same goes for Hillary Clinton. As a US senator, she was war pro-war, pro-business, pro-Wall Street, anti-populist, and as a secretary state did not do any voting as secretary of state, put a record exactly the same.”

“These are the two deplorable candidates and the only problem is the Republican alternatives are either bad or worse. There is simply nobody with any chance to be nominated from either major party, to be the next president, who will serve the American public, who will work for world peace, equity and justice. It will be just the opposite,” he pointed out.

“And I have said a number of times in articles that I have written [that] Obama exceeded the worst of George [W.] Bush, whoever succeeds Obama will exceed the worst of his record,” he argued.  

“I see nothing in prospect to give me encouragement for what lies ahead, nothing but endless wars, anti-populism, persecution of the American public and, heaven forbid, the possibility of a third world war with nuclear weapons. I certainly hope that won’t happen, but the possibility looms,” Lendman concluded.   

In the 2010 Citizens United case ruling, the US Supreme Court allowed unlimited independent spending by corporations in elections.

According to a study published by the New York Times, wealthy individuals and corporations have begun to replace powerless people as direct beneficiaries of the US political system and the Constitution.

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