If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
It's like saying rather than drowning in a lake 50 feet deep, you get to drown in a lake that is only 30 feet deep. And, people are taking victory laps? You don't believe any of that and still think what the politicians said about punishing the banks was true?
Not in everything, but definitely in this, the founders were right. The financial industry got too powerful, and they assumed and operated as if they were above the law. And the rest of us paid a huge price, and are paying it still.
Take the money out of politics, protect Americans right to vote, and make it easier for more Americans to exercise their Constitutional rights -- three issues it's hard to oppose and can help bolster your credentials as a man of the People, Mr. President.
The following conversation did not take place... but wouldn't it have been interesting if it did? Geithner: Glad I found you. We really need to talk...
If Obama meant what he said in Tuesday's State of the Union address about holding the financial industry responsible for its scams, why did he appoint the old Clinton crowd that had legalized those scams to the top economic posts in his administration?
If Obama wants to run against Wall Street in the 2012 campaign, he needs credibility to do it, and he took a big step toward getting it last night. But victory can't be declared until the banks actually move several hundred billion in mortgage writedowns, and some indictments are issued.
Actually, I agree with the analysts who say that Greece does not not deserve a second bailout program from the EU, ECB and IMF. I would add, though, that Greece doesn't deserve it only if this program is to be created with the same failed recipe used before.
When in trouble, cue a Republican politician's favorite political villain, the welfare queen. You know the stereotype. The single African American mother whose full-time job is having more babies to increase her welfare benefits.
Too old-fashioned? Or, is there a take-away here? Well, let's take a look.
Let me give you some advice I have been giving to people for a decade: quit listening to what your politicians are saying and start watching what they are doing. If you look past the propaganda you'll see that the U.S. government is anti-small business.
While Occupy protesters have been criticized for failing to propose many real solutions, one thing they have proposed is that consumers "vote with their feet" by moving money out of the larger financial institutions.
Senior executives and policy leaders have repeated the same tired excuse time and again, "We had to do this, it was the only responsible thing to do." Keep that in mind, and you will see it for what it is: self-serving bullshit.
The reason for the low score includes the downgrade of American credit in August, a sluggish economy, the intractable U.S. debt problem and -- most of all -- the incessant political bickering which ensured that none of these problems were adequately addressed.
I have never quite been able to understand how the decision was made to fire Richard Wagoner at GM but not Vikram Pandit at Citibank. Is running a huge bank really more complex than running a huge automobile manufacturer?
The Fed's bail-out was not $1.2 trillion, $7.77 trillion, $16 trillion, or even $24 trillion. It was $29 trillion. That is, of course, the cumulative total. But even the peak outstanding numbers are bigger than previously reported.
