The rumors are true: Former President Barack Obama will receive $400,000 to speak at a health care conference organized by the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. This unseemly and unnecessary cash-in fits a pattern of bad behavior involving the financial sector, one that spans Obama’s entire presidency. Obama’s Wall Street payday will confirm for many what they have long suspected: that the Democratic Party is managed by out-of-touch elites who do not understand or care about the concerns of ordinary Americans. But the disconnect between this progressive vision and his Wall Street record is not trivial. Society is more unequal, and the prospects for progress depend on a financial sector fraught with unnecessary systemic risk.

Source: Huffington Post April 27, 2017 03:45 UTC