To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate

Stop big banks from wasting taxpayer money on luxury food and activities

Ban the employees of financial institutions designated as too big to fail by the Financial Stability Oversight Council from buying luxury or junk food with company funds, using drugs, or spending company money at places like casinos, spas, cruise ships, strip clubs, or liquor stores.

Why is this important?

Arizona Republicans are ripping away the meager benefits nearly 1 million people rely on to survive. Wisconsin Republicans are mandating drug testing and outlawing junk food. A bill in Missouri would ban food stamp users from buying seafood. Junk food bans and mandatory drug testing have popped up across the nation. Kansas might be the worst, with Republicans there pushing unprecedented restrictions on where and how people who receive public help can spend it.

These efforts would be silly if they weren't so mean-spirited. A USDA survey found that people who receive nutrition assistance have a very similar diet to those who don't, and it doesn't include frequent luxury food. Most of the concern about fraud and abuse can be traced back to one misleading FOX News report. States that actually test for drug use found that those who receive public assistance use drugs at a lower rate than the rest of the population.

This is nothing more than cruel, racially-tinged demagoguery. It is an attempt to demean the poor in order to excuse the failure of conservative economics to bring about shared prosperity. Perhaps worst of all, it is hypocritical: The biggest financial institutions, the so-called "too big to fail" banks officially designated for more oversight by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, receive an implicit subsidy of as much as $102 billion dollars.

If our leaders are going to be mean to people who are able to survive because of public help, they should start with the big banks.