Senator Blanche Lincoln, The Last Hold Out Against 13 Bankers: Simon Johnson

baselinescenario.com:

By now you have probably realized -- correctly -- that "financial reform" has turned into a victory lap for Wall Street.

When they saved the big banks, with massive unconditional support (both explicit and implicit) over a year ago, top administration officials promised they would be back later to fix the underlying problems. This they -- and Congress -- manifestly have failed to do.

Read the whole story: baselinescenario.com

Comments

[bob876]

09:31 PM on 05/30/2010

Hell no her Derivatives Proposal won't Survive. This was just a ploy to get her re-elected. On the day that Blanche Lincoln had her first primary against Bill Halter, Chris Dodd Stripped out her Derivatives Proposal because he thought she was going to win the nomination to run again. When Chris Dodd saw that she wasn't going to get 50% of the vote and that it was going to a run off, Chris Dodd placed back her Derivatives Proposal. If this ain't political game playing so the buddies can win re-election to that special Senate Club I don't know what is.

Blanche Lincoln needs to be voted out of office come June 8th and Chris Dodd needs to be called on the rug if he drops the Derivatives Proposal once Lincoln loses.

Down with Blue Dogs

[tribilin219]

01:15 PM on 05/27/2010

This is one of the few of the DINO,Blue Dog, Liars we have to kick out! I can't say I'll be glad to see her go, So I won't ! We have to wake up and make sure we never have people like this work for us ever again, So let her take her watered down good for nothing bill and go to work for the Lobbyist firm that have her in their pockets, and make room for someone who will be working for us !

[LinkSync]

02:53 PM on 05/26/2010

As long as it is legal to sell stuff you don't own the system will remain broken and corrupt.
Regulate all you want (I would urge far more than what you want) but until two principals are forever incorporated into our financial systems they will remain nothing but a back alley craps shoot.

The first principal is that real, actual, factual ownership of anything is required before it can be sold.

The second principal is that in every transaction the sellers and the buyers have to have what we are calling "skin in the game" that cannot be "hedged" by betting against your own position.

Then we need to kill day trading and the like by putting long term delays on every buy or sell order.
This would make the markets revert to, or become what they are supposed to be, a means to capitalize worthy companies long term.

[bhuddaDoc]

03:54 PM on 05/26/2010

Hear Hear!!!

If you want to really gamble, go to Vegas or Monte Carlo. Don't screw the rest of us by your risky bets.

[ibsteve2u]

12:45 PM on 05/26/2010

Actually, I'd give Lincoln's proposal a 50-50 shot of surviving until the polls close on November 2nd, 2010.

But not a minute longer - if that long.

[LinkSync]

02:54 PM on 05/26/2010

Unless she looses in June.
Then her idea goes away right then.

I for one hope she loses regardless, we should never allow ourselves to be extorted for whatever cause, good or bad.

[blogisti]

11:34 AM on 05/26/2010

Blanche suddenly became an independent thinking Senator when she calculated that she needed to "prove" she wasn't bought and paid for by Corporate America. She came up with a strong Derivative amendment that everyone agreed was a good thing.
In reality, it was never intended to actually pass as part of the final Bill. It was going to be quietly removed by Dodd once Blanche was picked as the Democratic Nominee for November. It will be removed whether or not she wins the runoff in a couple of weeks.

[mrjames1]

01:01 PM on 05/26/2010

i like your thought process and will keep an eye out as to how accurate your prediction is

[LinkSync]

02:56 PM on 05/26/2010

blogisti is exactly correct.

The traitors in our Congress know very well how to play us sheep.

[coolaid8]

10:40 AM on 05/28/2010

Likewise, LIncoln was one of the sacrificial lambs that had to kill real health care reform so they could settle for the selling out of the middle class that they did instead. They had 60 votes, they could have gotten it done. Lincoln, Leiberman, and a few others sacrificed themselves so that the drug companies and insurance companies would win in the end. They are letting her try to redeem herself now, but too many of us see what they all are.

[lastams]

11:19 AM on 05/26/2010

Wow ... facing a primary run-off, Blanche Lincoln has gotten all anti Wall Street on us.
Go figure. This is the woman who was instrumental in shutting down a public health care option,
the woman who chastised the President for not working harder to find common ground with the Republicans, the woman who has tireless sought to move the Democratic center to the right, who's been the unwavering voice of big business, big money politics; this Repulicrat, this anti-reform status quo affront to Democratic Party principals, has now gone all populist on us.
How nice.
Does Blanche think that Arkansas, and the nation, have THAT short a memory; does she really think we're that stupid.

[LinkSync]

02:57 PM on 05/26/2010

Of course she does.

Sorry but she is right about that.

Proof? We voted for George Bush and Dick Cheney.
TWICE.

Can you say bahhhhHHHH?

[OldHick]

01:04 AM on 05/29/2010

She is a Rockefeller person. What do you expect? She may not sell her vote, but collectively, she and her cohorts do exactly that. They have their own globalist agenda.

[littlepuffycloud]

11:16 AM on 05/26/2010

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanche.

[2centsplain]

11:04 AM on 05/26/2010

It is time for us to bring in new people. Time to replace every elected official. A pox on all their houses.

[lastams]

11:22 AM on 05/26/2010

Unfortunately it's beginning to seem like the only answer.
I've never been one to go along with the "vote them all out" crowd... It seems impractical and the people running against incumbents will no doubt come from the same political pie, or worse. But frankly I am starting to see the point. I would never have believed that I could vote for a Republican, ever, but after watching last weeks total capitulation to the banking industry, I have to conclude that the entire system, is simply too corrupt to support. Right now I'll take the Chicken Lady over Reid ... just to make a point.

[ibsteve2u]

12:49 PM on 05/26/2010

lollll...the decision in November still comes down to: "Will you vote for the future of America's children, or will you help the Republicans steal it?".

The key voting is now in primaries. Although if a non-Republican alternative-to-the-three-or-more-terms-incumbent-Democratic-candidate is available on the ballot in November, punch his or her button.

[avg american]

02:18 PM on 05/26/2010

Fanned, Fanned, and Fanned!
The only way we as Americans are going to get our government back is to break the choke hold that corporate america has on our politicians.


My rule of thumb is:

If they served under dick and w, vote them out . Corporate america didn't destroy our economy by themselves, they had help from Republicans and Democrats alike and every silent American that let them do it.

[LinkSync]

03:03 PM on 05/26/2010

Fanned in turn.
(Not that I think "fanning" is worth spit.)

Vote 'em all out and keep leaning, actually pushing for more liberal policy and representatives.
If you have no liberal choice at least vote out the incumbant, even if you end up with a wingnut like Paul.

Too bad, but these bastyards are selling us all down the river on a daily basis.

Just keep pushing LEFT as the Repugnants are even worse.

But punish the hell out all of them in there now.
EVERY SINGLE ONE.

OUT!

[onlyinvegas]

10:58 AM on 05/26/2010

So Blanch, do you feel betrayed by you voting public? I know that they feel that way about you. You have traded in human suffering for corporate greed. I'm sure that when you first started out you wanted to help people and make a difference. Well you did, You betrayed your people and yourself. The worst thing is about people like you is that you don't even see where you went wrong when you picked business of people. I'm sure the banking or health care industry will give you a pay check for the hard work you did for them. As for the pay check the people gave you for yrs, that should come to a stop soon.

[LinkSync]

03:04 PM on 05/26/2010

We hope.

[Ed C Atlanta]

10:39 AM on 05/26/2010

So sorry Blanche , you should have played like you were on the team when it was time to bat for HCR, now you will be let go in the upcoming runoff,, be sure to dust off your resume,, although we know you wont be out of work for long, you can get one of those cushy lobbyist jobs, with one of the corporations whose interests you have been serving, you sure havent been serving your cnstituents.

[guveqzero]

10:20 AM on 05/26/2010

I've always wondered why Dodd and Frank were so weak in their jobs. This makes me wonder even more. Lincoln's regulation is certainly not as tough as the current US policy of forcing Americans to do more for less money so that the banks can continue to make record profits.

[LinkSync]

03:19 PM on 05/26/2010

Here it all is in a nutshell.

In small states, a few large corporate donations a worth as much as the entire states worth of voters donations.
So it is way easier to hobnob with and for Corps than go all around a rural state dealing with the folks
This is why small state representatives and senators tend to be Repugnants because the philosophy of the Repugnants is to favor corporate profits before people or workers.
The mostly red-necked bubbas in those states approve in general because the philosophy gets wrapped up in religion and patriotism even when the policies hurt those same bubbas.

In big states it is more complicated.
Because populations of large numbers of voters are easily reached, the corrupting influences have to be a bit more sophisticated than just being campaign donations like it generally is for the bubbas. Here we have to reach into the actual egos and desires of the Senators, maybe giving a wife or a nephew a job some place important, or naming a building or bridge or university after them when they get older. Sex can work but not always so the corruptors need to be creative and flexible.

In the end what you get is what we now have. Liars, thieves, and traitors.
A broken Government that supports the corruptor’s (those with the money and influence, meaning the filthy rich and corporations) interests ahead of our people’s interests.

Politics 101 circa 2010 is ugly.
Hopefully we can change it.

[texastrixie]

09:54 AM on 05/26/2010

Unfortunately, because Lincoln fought against the health care bill, most Democrats have already tuned her out. She's absolutely right on this issue, but who cares! She destroyed her own effectiveness and credibility, and hopefully she will lose to her Democratic challenger in the run-off.

[monk2000]

11:53 AM on 05/26/2010

Agreed, she's pathetic.

[LinkSync]

03:44 PM on 05/26/2010

Worse than that, she is a conservadem.

Such creatures are normally found under rocks, in caves, covered in slime and surrounded by Republicans and corporations.

There is a poison that works really well against these dark and fear filled creatures.

It is called love.

Of all the fears the Repugnants have, fear of love is their greatest one.

They know that with love people will allow the hurt to hurt, and not turn away in self defense, like weak and dishonorable cravens.

They know that when the hurt gets to be too much (it surely will), often faith is gifted to those that refuse to not feel the hurt as their reward for doing what is needful even when it is hard.

With love AND faith what could we as a union not do?
This they fear with all their will.

So they support: Big Oil, Big Banks, Big Insurance, Big Coal, Big Pharmaceuticals, BIG GLOBALY OWNED Corporations of every kind.
They use every way to divide us and confuse us and manipulate us to allow them, (because the power they use is ours) to own us and operate us.
They hate freedom almost as much as they hate love.
They hide their criminal bigotry inside their churches and temples calling them matters of faith when they have nothing to do with faith, or love.

They are our own brothers and fathers and mothers and sisters and daughters and sons.
We must love them too.