Washington, D.C. is a boom town that never goes bust. Politicians come and go but the money never stops flowing, and as we’ve seen since the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats took the reins of power. On this week’s Drill Down podcast with Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers, we examine how money sustains political relationships and puts special interests ahead of the will of the people.
Consider the case of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. After her stint as Chair of the Federal Reserve under President Obama, she embarked on a series of extremely lucrative speaking events that eventually netted her more than $7 million in two years. This included a series of speeches to Citi Group and another to the hedge fund Citadel, both of which brought in sums approaching $1 million each. Yellen’s oratory has drawn corporate bookings ranging from Google to Credit Suisse, from Barclays to the lobbying firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
Many of these corporations have lobbied Yellen’s Treasury Department since January of 2021. This is no doubt concerning to progressives, who had hoped to see Wall Street constrained by the new administration. It also draws the ire of all those who, beyond policy preferences, find these potential conflicts of interest extremely troubling.
For millions of Americans struggling to rebuild their livelihoods, the global pandemic changed everything. For boom-town Washington, nothing has changed.
