In a political economy in which large concentrations of privately-held capital, such as that of a bank or large corporation, can legally make political contributions, curiously as "free speech," even the President of the United States may actually be a paper tiger. Even when the federal government comes to the resue of a bank, Wall Street can evade any "strings" and even use the funds to pay out bonuses. Meanwhile, the American people take their elected representatives' speeches at face value, and this suites Wall Street just fine.
The full essay is at "An Unfair Tax?"