The “economic recovery” plan being pushed by congressional Democrats, far from representing a serious response to the social disaster threatening working people, underscores the complete subservience of the Democratic Party to Wall Street.

Having voted to spend $700 billion in taxpayer money to prop up the banks and rubber-stamped further bailout measures bringing the total allocation of public funds to $2.25 trillion, the Democrats are proposing a derisory $150 billion to address a social crisis that is likely to surpass any economic slump since the Great Depression.

The immense disparity illuminates the class character of the response of the government and both political parties to an economic crisis that has exposed the bankruptcy of the socio-economic system they defend.

The Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, have played the leading role in pushing through the measures proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to rescue the banks. All of the actions taken have proceeded from the standpoint of protecting the interests of the most powerful sections of the American financial aristocracy. The Democrats’ economic stimulus proposals, which they portray as parallel measures to boost “Main Street” America, amount to little more than political window dressing.