But in the aftermath of two large bank failures, the conservative former vice-president and the democratic socialist senator are striking remarkably similar tones. Pence, a Republican, bemoaned that “we live in a world where certain politically favoured businesses are propped up, backstopped and bailed out by government.” Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said “we cannot continue down the road of more socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.
Among Democrats, Occupy Wall Street activists drew attention to the party's longstanding ties to big business and went on to help energize Sanders' aggressive challenge to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. Warren rose from a Harvard University bankruptcy expert to a national political figure who helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That was such a centerpiece of her White House bid that supporters sometimes chanted “CFPB” at her rallies.
“This is an important point: No losses will be borne by the taxpayers,” said Biden, whose early days as vice president under Barack Obama were consumed by the response to the financial crisis. Nikki Haley, Trump's former UN ambassador who declared her presidential campaign last month, was more direct: “The era of big government and corporate bailouts must end.”
“Otherwise you'd have a lot more banks right now in trouble because they were being eaten alive by regulation,” said Trump, who also complained that interest rates were too high.