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that enabled rampant fraud in the financial sector to continue unchecked, however, has been marginalized in mainstream media to comments about legislation that enabled deregulation, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.

If the current economic meltdown is history repeating itself, the long-standing practice of political interference with investigations targeting troubled financial institutions will prove to be a critical factor in the magnitude of the crisis. The McCain campaign has made extensive use of Obama's connections to Tony Rezko, a former real estate developer convicted of fraud, money laundering, and bribery, and Jim Johnson, the embattled former executive of Fannie Mae, and the Lehman Bros., in the hopes of ensnaring Obama in a scandal comparable to the Keating 5. (5) However, outside of political attack ads, which insinuate that the opposing candidate grants political favors to protect corrupt campaign contributors, no substantive inquiry into the role political interference played in the crisis has taken place.

In 2004, when inklings of the sub-prime mortgage crisis began to appear, campaign contributions to Democrats from the Real Estate/Insurance/Finance industry rose from $97,539,846 in 2002 to $140,934,509. For Republicans, contributions rose from $135,184,667 to $197,920,396. In 2008, when the cost of the crisis had reached monumental proportions, and required the largest federal bailout plan in the country's history, the Real Estate/Insurance/Finance industry increased their campaign contributions to Democrats to $188,424,226. Contributions to the Republicans decreased slightly to $184,267,148 (6)

In a time of economic hardship, when firms in the financial sector are struggling to stay afloat, the dramatic increase in campaign contributions from the Real Estate/Insurance/Finance industry may be an indication of an unexplored dimension of the current economic crisis. With a federal bailout plan that guarantees a lifeline to financial institutions responsible for their own collapse, but provides minimal assistance, or protection for homeowners, and taxpayers, it appears that the investment of the financial sector in Capital Hill is one of their few remaining valuable assets.

(1) "John McCain: Crisis Enabler" by Mark Sumner. The Nation. Sept. 21 2008
(2) www.keatingeconomics.com
(3) James Ring Adams. The Big Fix: Inside the S&L Scandal. John Wiley & Sons: NY. 1990 (cost of the bailout includes interest payments)
(4) The FBI's 2007 Mortgage Fraud Report
(5) McCain's Rezko Ad
McCain's Johnson Ad
(6) http://www.opensecrets.org/ind ustries/indus.php?ind=F

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