Political Affiliation of Bankers

Just out of curiosity, for everyone currently in banking, what seems to be the political ideology of bankers these days? I know historically they have been Republicans, but from what I have heard things have been changing. Obviously some CEOs like Dimon and Blankfein are Democrats, but what about the sentiment amonst people who are not jockeying for government favours?

 

At my bank, they came in two varieties, and about an 80/20 split between #1 and #2.

1.) Typical conservative republican - the kind of sensibility that stems from making a sizable income and paying 45% of it to Uncle Sam.

2.) Limousine Liberal - the kind of insanity that stems from making a ridiculously outsized income and either not caring about the taxes, hoping to assuage some type of guilt by pretending to care about those less fortunate, or simply trying to impress their socialite friends by how "enlightened" they are.

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 
CaptK:
At my bank, they came in two varieties, and about an 80/20 split between #1 and #2.

1.) Typical conservative republican - the kind of sensibility that stems from making a sizable income and paying 45% of it to Uncle Sam.

2.) Limousine Liberal - the kind of insanity that stems from making a ridiculously outsized income and either not caring about the taxes, hoping to assuage some type of guilt by pretending to care about those less fortunate, or simply trying to impress their socialite friends by how "enlightened" they are.

I had the exact same experience, with the split probably closer to 90/10 or 95/5. What's funny is, people aren't afraid to voice their opinions. The "one-off" comments I hear about Obama, while hilarious, are shocking as people drop them so casually.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Let me guess CaptK, you're a Republican?

I would hope that since some of the most educated people in the world work on Wall Street they would be less likely to vote along party lines and rather use their brain to vote for the best (least worse) candidate

 

Great description. I laughed pretty hard.

lolbaringslol:
Republicans: The people trying to make it. Democrats: The people who have made it and want to kick down the ladder while throwing down scraps to assuage the masses (see: George Soros, the Pelosi family).
 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

My group MD's were pretty democratic, and we had 1 bleeding liberal and 2 very republicans. But overall, most vote Democrat. It's funny many of them would rather not pay the high taxes of Democrats but if you ask they'll almost always say its the price, they tend to lean fiscally conservative or (fiscally liberally conservative) and socially democrat and many vote democrat.

 
Best Response

By socially Democrat, do you mean socially liberal or what the Democrats purport to be? I would consider myself a social liberal (sans abortion) because I think the government needs to be as unobtrusive as possible in our lives (I am fiscally conservative). How can the government make better decisions about me than me? They can't spend money (they only utilize $0.50 out of each $1.00 collected- the rest "disappears"), they can't buy shit (like the multi-thousand dollar hammer the Navy bought), they legalize drugs that are worse for our bodies while safer ones are illegal (tobacco is legal yet marijuana is illegal), and they continuously push religion and morality based legislation- even though it is in direct opposition to what is written in the Constitution.

Ayn Rand- read it, love it, best and most correct political philosopher of the 20th Century

Reality hits you hard, bro...
 

I think it depends on office location too. Houston offices typically have a bunch of old crusties that sit around the Houston or River Oaks country clubs and whine about taxes all the time (gets really old), whereas I would think San Fran or New York would have more eclectic crowds.

"Ride your bike. Drink good beer." - Fat Tire Amber Ale
 

The liberals I know hide their money in off shore bank accounts.

Anyway, most are like me - I'm a republican but I don't vote on party lines: fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Also lots of bankers I talk to just don't give a sht - so long as they don't get taxed

 

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