As the declining Boston Globe notes in a recent editorial, "taxpayers are paying dearly for the mistakes of reckless plutocrats." Blogger Michael Collins adds, "There isn't a faction left, other than the principals, who have any sympathy for the Wall Street geniuses who were so totally incompetent that they've nearly ruined the nation's economy." Even corporate shill and shrill conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks advocates cutting the Gilded Goliaths down to size via government regulation.
It doesn't help build confidence in the public when the news emerges that TARP recipients like J.P. Morgan, Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and major hedge fund D.E. Shaw paid millions to hear Obama's chief economic adviser Larry Summers speak privately to them about economic issues prior to his government appointment overseeing and reworking their failed operations. (You can see an expanded list of those companies which paid Summers to speak at the linked site). Does this not implicate that a quid pro quo is in place? A "you owe us, Larry" situation, in reality? And where does Geithner get off pointing a finger at "failures of supervision" causing the crisis when he was the failure who supervised at the time? That failure continues despite the changed door plate.
The popular mood for pitchforks and torches is growing. Blogger Eric Harrington wants to see the Wall Street execs arrested and tried for criminal negligence, a position that isn't so extreme when the former Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention (which repaired the damage cause by Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings crisis) notes that the entire banking industry is riddled with fraud.
But the Wall Street issues are SO last week. New opportunities to shill for campaign contributions have arisen! This week, the Congressional Democrats have taken up the challenge defending against that "onerous" estate tax that 99.7 percent of Americans will never need to worry about. There is also a growing reaction to plans to force CEOs to be financially accountable for their performance. How much can be made seeing to it that the wealthy again resume immunity from consequence?
The need is great and the time is short, for New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof attempts to remind us that when "Wall Street plutocrats ... demand billions for bailouts ... the poor typically suffer invisibly and silently." He also suggests that Obama could learn something from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's approach to bank nationalization as a means of dealing with the crisis without bankrupting the taxpayers. We wouldn't want the public to awaken from the loss of Lost and insist on the government actually doing something to solve the crisis they allowed to occur in the Main Street Commissary, now would we?
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Baritone
I believe that your disappointment in Obama is premature. As there are those you cite above who believe that everything is going to hell in a handbasket, there are also those who believe what Obama and his economic arm are doing will, in fact, work.
I think the jury is still out.
B
2 - Clavos
The jury (i.e. the American people) is out -- to lunch.
Permanently.
3 - roger nowosielski
No longer. They're on welfare rolls or unemployment lines.
4 - Aetius Romulous
Well, it is a shit show for sure and your article does a great job of chronicling the mess.
My issue is with the blame.
We are living through the predictable consequence of a western culture and lifestyle that was always unsustainable. We are at unsustainable now.
The blame lies with our shared belief that we would always be better off tomorrow than today, that living equitably and sustainably was a weakness to be battled at every instance.
Nobody was bitching when the price of their homes soared past ridiculous, when they had unlimited credit to spend on mountains of earth choking, non productive consumer crap, or when the price of a shirt in Wal Mart clearly meant horrible slavery somewhere else.
Screeching at the very folks who made our shallow, plastic lives so wonderful for so many decades, now that they have failed to perform for the first time, reminds us that; to the victors go the "what have you done for me lately" spoils.
Rather than who did what to whom, when, and why, what we really need is some of that passion redirection towards the future, where we may be able to craft a civilization that really is, finally, better than before.
5 - Ruvy
Let's raise your collective blood pressures a bit more, folks. Apparently Barak Huseein, (blessed of Hussein) Obama is not merely bowing to Saudi thugs (I told you all I would rub your noses in that act of submission to a foreign power). He is also under pressure to sell all of your assets out from under your feet to the Chinese. Maybe the Chinese will be nice enough to toss in some chop suey or egg-drop soup to the soup kitchens. It would be a nice touch - if they are not laced with strichnine....
The prediction in Isaiah that the wealth of the west would be taken from it seems to be coming true - fast! I'm trying to puzzle out how it will get from China to here. I just got notified that my severance pay is on its way, so I could use some of those - well what the fish currency should I look forward to, anyway?
Later we have to check for yeast products so that yeast products will neither be eaten nor seen in the house for Passover. I don't know, boys and girls. This is starting to look an awful lot like Redemption on the way....
6 - Dan(Miller)
Aetius Romulous,
I'm pretty well convinced that this is true. It may be somewhere or other at the root of the "financial crisis" there -- and probably elsewhere too.There is a saying in Panama to the effect that Gringos look at life through a three stage filter:
Dan(Miller)
7 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Wow... And I thought Panama was just a cool tune by Van Halen.
They are such a wise people.I guess without us Gringos, Panama would be a better place...*Hmmm*
8 - Dr Dreadful
Dan
(Mil)
(ler):
You forgot (or the Panamanians forgot) Stage Four: I'm entitled to it.
As in: it's only right that I should have a Hummer which gets such miserable mileage that it needs filling up again before it even gets off the gas station forecourt, a house so large that the phone in the 7th bedroom has a different area code than the one in the garage, a pool big enough to host a regatta in that I never use, and be able to eat out and/or order in for every meal. I mean, it's only right. It's the American Way. Right?
9 - Dan(Miller)
Doc, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
(Mil10 - Clavos
Or as in:
It's only right that the government should support me because, with fourteen children, there's no way I have enough time to go to work, and besides I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some asshole who thinks he's better than me boss me around.
But it ain't right that the government can get away with giving me as little as they do; I need more money so I can get me a giant flat screen TV like the rich folks on the hill have; even though they can't use it much because they're at work from sunrise to long after sunset. It's no problem for me, I can watch TV all day, I don't work.
And it damn sure ain't right that the government can stop me from buying cigarettes and booze with my food stamps...
11 - Dan(Miller)
Clav,
Oh, Oh. You're asking for it. Better duck*
Dan(Miller)
*Quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack
12 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Aww..I like Ducks.
13 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Ya know, I haven't seen too many Hummers anymore. Plus, I think you gotta be a little retarded to buy anything from GM. The last time I checked Toyota was killin 'em all with Prius sales.
14 - Bliffle
Good article.
Sums up a,lot of the excesses that we are now saddled with, and describes the biggest Bank Robbery in history: The looting of the US treasury by the richest and most powerful people in the world. They can't stop: there is no satisfying Greed.
They exploit because they can.
15 - A Duck
Aww..I like Ducks.
Go quack yourself, human!
16 - Cindy
Excellent article. And of course the links are important to look at.
I'm not sure how anyone can say this form of government/economic structure works. It worked for some people for a very short time--historically.
Pointing fingers is all well and good, but it's all, every bit of it, part and parcel of the system almost all of you advocate for (claiming nothing else could possible work better than this)
I hope you come around soon. Or just wait until the whole thing falls down.
17 - Ruvy
the looting of the US treasury by the richest and most powerful people in the world. They can't stop: there is no satisfying Greed. They exploit because they can.
That, Bliffle, is the perfect explanation of the "evil inclination" hayétzer ha'rá. The rich and powerful steal - they can't stop. They exploit because they can . Carry that concept into personal relationships and you have dealt with just about every problem in human relations that exists.
18 - Dr Dreadful
Clav,
Are you projecting?
[quack]
19 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Cindy... I do agree to an extent but all I ever see is complaining or finger pointing. I never see any solutions. Ultimately, we do have a choice. To be as uninvolved as possible. Still, I don't know of any other systems that will work any better.
20 - roger nowosielski
Actually, I tend to agree with you Brian. He's got a great command of the facts - in fact, the whole article comes across as a litany or a laundry list of all that's wrong. But we know all that, really. I find the main problem with the article is lack of focus. The Realist seems to be all over the map. I can hardly expect a solution, but a nice summary would be nice. What are the major strains and stresses? All facts and no concepts.
It's also unclear why the Realist is so glad he didn't vote for Obama. Would McCain do better, or anyone else for that matter? And that's another respect in which the article sort of dangles.
21 - Ruvy
It's also unclear why the Realist is so glad he didn't vote for Obama.
You need glasses, Roger. The man indicated that his disappointment is far less for not having voted for the bum. It appears irrelevant what he thought of McCain....
22 - Aetius Romulous
Our world will, by necessity, morph into something different - as it always has. That much is certain.
If we are all very lucky, it will be slow, indeterminable progression from here to there. It may already be under way. The trick will be identifying the change and getting ahead of it.
The broad strokes should be clear - it will be global, more equitable, and involve a greater reliance on technology, mainly the internet.
Change will have to start with economics and global financial architecture, with politics signing on or fighting a desperate rear guard action against change. That will be the friction point - will politics follow the necessary and inevitable global economic change, or will it battle to the death with ideology and patriotism?
I dunno.
23 - roger nowosielski
Ruvy,
Your argument doesn't wash; these aren't good enough reasons since the situation may well be insolvable. Your own vitriol stops you from thinking clearly.
24 - roger nowosielski
The change is sure coming, Aeatius. Imperial presidency and imperial government - a preamble to the NWO. So don't raise your hopes too high. Enjoy while you can.
25 - Ruvy
I'm really glad I didn't vote for Obama. I'd be even more disappointed in him than I now am
Roger, that is how Realist begins this article. I quote his reason. From having read many of his articles, I tend to doubt that he would have voted for McCain, but that is not relevant here.
My arguments, Roger? I'm not making any arguments: I'm quoting you the words of the author.
It is rather simple.... There is no vitriol, anger or anything else here. It's called a quote to authority - the authority being the words of the author.
barúr l'khá? hevánta otí?