We're down to the wire here on financial reform. I can't think of a better time to put pressure on Wall Street and Washington to make sure there is adequate regulation to ensure that we never have another bailout. The AFL-CIO is about to have a protest at Wall Street on April 29th. Great, that makes sense. I'm sure the right-wing groups who are also upset about the bailouts will join them.
If you remember, the Tea Parties were originally formed to protest the bailouts. They were so mad at the Wall Street bankers who destroyed the economy and then took our hard earned money for their efforts.
So, they will take this opportunity, of course, to launch their own protest of Wall Street. They will protest the TARP money, the easy credit, the lack of regulation, the wild risk taking and the excessive bonuses paid with taxpayer money. They're really going to take the fight to them.
Just kidding. They're not going to do anything. They're going to sit out this fight on financial reform and put absolutely no pressure on Wall Street at all. Because they are tools easily manipulated by right-wing organizations funded by corporate America.
I really feel sorry for them. They're dupes. They think they are so fiercely independent when in fact they are the most easily manipulated people in the country. All that anger toward the power establishment and what happened? They were used by that same establishment to fight against health care reform and to try to protect the health insurance companies. Suckers.
Now, when it's time to fight the financial companies, where are they? Nowhere to be found. Why? Because FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity didn't organize any bus rides to Wall Street. They didn't manufacture the outrage they did in protecting the health care companies. They used the Tea Party protestors for their own purposes and then left them on the side of the road, only to be picked up again when they need to protect another company or industry.
I issued a challenge back in January to the Tea Party organizers to rally against Wall Street or even against the Obama administration (Tim Geithner in particular) for being too soft on them. And what's happened since then? Nada. Zilch. Zippo.
So, I was proven right -- they're never, ever going to protest Wall Street because they are ignorant dupes being led by the nose by their corporate overlords. And they think they're so tough and independent-minded. What a farce. The whole movement is a sad joke being played on its own members.
On The Young Turks we talked to former vice presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party, Wayne Allyn Root. He has spoken at countless Tea Party protests and considers himself a part of the movement. In the interview below, count how many times I asked him where the Wall Street protests were and how many times he evaded, dodged and ducked the question. That's because there are no such protests and there never will be:
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
Raymond Johansen: Tea Party Fear in Europe
Until recently, we in Europe have watched this absurd political theater from afar, but now I truly worry that the right wing party will learn from these extremely reactionary forces and adapt the same strategies, in Norway and Europe.
By contrast, bankers take us to the cleaners as they line their pockets!
60 Minutes: A Look at Wallstreet's Shadow Market Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wFFCtx7UhI&playnext_from=TL&videos=k3NOse6n9JU
60 Minutes: A Look at Wallstreet's Shadow Market Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT76vCHKzGM&playnext_from=TL&videos=k3NOse6n9JU
The following is written by Bill Brennan of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, not exactly a Right-wing outfit.
"The Entry of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the Sub prime Mortgage Lending Business
I have been greatly disappointed that the entry of many prominent national banks into the sub prime mortgage lending business has resulted not in reform, but in the expansion of the abusive practices. The fact that these banks are federally regulated has made little difference. So far, the bank regulators have done little to stop the overcharging on cost and the other abusive practices.
Now, to my dismay, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced they are getting into the sub prime mortgage lending business. This is their response to HUD’s mandate that they expand their affordable housing goals into low and moderate income, minority neighborhoods and rural communities. Like the banks before them, Fannie and Freddie claim that their involvement will effectuate positive change and reform in the sub prime market. I beg to differ. Freddie recently revealed that it has purchased 70 HOEPA loans which are by definition very high cost mortgage loans. “Freddie Makes Sub prime Moves,†National Mortgage News, February 22, 2000."
http://mortgage-home-loan-bank-fraud.com/articles/history_of_predatory_lending.html
Scroll down page 3/4's down.
Notice the date that Brennan cites, Feb 22 2000. Your assertion that FRN and FNM were not in the Subprime business is FACTUALLY FALSE!!!!
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2010/04/24/slate-s-anti-wall-street-mob-populism-we-should-go-after-them-pitchforks-#ixzz0m51JPC5g
And plus, people protest the GOVERNMENT because it's much easier to get them to do our bidding as the people than business. Business is private. The executives and shareholders run things. Ordinary citizens without stock have little say. But EVERYONE in gov't, including nonvoters, can at least petition gov't, write to congress, etc. They are legally accountable to us. Business is more accountable to shareholders.
Where are the protestors?
At least Tea Party people got off of the couch and DID SOMETHING.
Lead, follow, or get the heLL out of the way.
Come on, come back with a point by point challenge, with EVIDENCE, and we might accept your argument, but THIS is less than worthless!
Oh, and BTW, they are teabaggers because THEY started the name!!!
Always, it will be the least informed, the least intellectually curious, the ones who're most persuaded by talking points and spin, the fearful, the hateful and the ignorant in general who are most easily led and manipulated - and they will also be the ones who're most attracted to the tone and nature of this "movement." Those who're doing the manipulating, including Fox News, know this ... and they're playing their fans and followers like a fiddle!
–noun,plural-ries.
1.stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own.
2.the actions, beliefs, prejudices, etc., of a bigot.
—Synonyms
1. narrow-mindedness, bias, discrimination.
They are anti- BIG Federal government.
By the 10th Amendment, States can have as much government as they want.
If people of a particular state want to, they can tax themselves silly and have as many state government programs they want .
But by the Constitution, the Federal government is to be LIMITED.
You see, they only come out when it politically helps them.
When it doesn't, they sit at home and pretend it doesn't exist
This is an important distinction that the media just doesn't seem to get (or want to get).
NO BAILOUTS, and no to T-B-T-F was the rallying cry that formed the Tea Party.
Since that time, there are a lot of other issues on their minds, but opposition to TARP was the start of it.
Genuine populists know who the real enemy is. Tea Partisans were too willing to let their anger be directed at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Rick Santelli of CNBC agitated about the homebuyers who allowed others to sell them mortgages they couldn't afford, when they should have been mad at the mortgage sellers misleading these buyers.
For the Populist label to have moral force, the Populists must not let their anger be misdirected. Divide and Conquer tactics are one of the most effective diversionary tactics--and I may be giving the Tea Partisans too much credit by suggesting that this was misdirection and not their intention.
Sentiment against TARP was 100:1 against. That's not insignificant.
Next came the other bailouts and then insurance 'reform'.
When you're Congressional reps are voting not only against your wishes by against the majority of other people's wishes, that's a very good reason to join with them to "petition the government for redress of grievances".
Whether they are right or wrong about any particular issue is beside the point. We have a respresentative form of government. When your representatives are going completely against the majority of their constituents, citizens who believe they are entitled to representation are going to get upset.
No repeal of McCarran-Ferguson, no MSA expansion, not much tort reform (if any), no national insurance market, nothing. Just more regulations, many of which LED to the high insurance prices (I mean, come on. when you have to cover everything under the sun, you gotta expect high payouts to insurees and thus higher premiums) and more gov't spending. Sure, they CLAIM it will reduce the deficit by $130 Billion, IN TEN YEARS. That's an average of only $13 billion a year! We could cut more spending in one year by getting rid of the Dept. of Education, for crying out loud. And then they claim it'll somehow, MAGICALLY, reduce the deficit by $1 Trillion the decade after that. Funny how the Dems never explained THAT. And btw, in the CBO reports, there are quite a few new taxes imposed on medical device manfacturers, among others. So it doesn't really reduce spending so much as raise more.
Besides, what are the promises that gov't will somehow freeze spending over the next 2 decades? The 130 billion and 1 trillion deficit reductions won't mean SQUAT at the rate Congress is spending annually these days.
Obama had the CEO of GM fired. But, the banks just keep getting the softest treatement possible.
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that GS was Obama's largest corporate donor. ROFLMAO.