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
President Obama should note that President Roosevelt's slamming the bankers and financiers -- beginning with his inaugural address and right up through his campaign for a second term -- did not destroy the country's banking system.
Roger Lowenstein's piece "Wall Street: Not Guilty" is well worth reading, if only as a case study in the moral and logical blindness that's reached epidemic proportions among otherwise reasonable people in influential Washington and Wall Street circles.
A proper Senate confirmation hearing for Elizabeth Warren would allow her to explain in clear terms how "too big to fail" banks are are now involved in a hugely dangerous government subsidy scheme that presents a serious, nontransparent threat to consumers.
We live in the United States of Amnesia and selective memory. As we debate the breaking news, we easily forget the sequence of events that broke the bank and left us broke.
We still don't know who did what to us, or why not much will change. The financial crisis investigation is a joke; prosecutions seem non-existent. Why?
The American people deserve a prosecutor to get to the bottom of this financial mess. They need someone who will hold the Alan Greenspans of the world accountable.
The victims of the hit and run economic crimes of this period expect and deserve much more. Years from now, there will be ample time for a leisurely stroll through the history of this crisis. Now is the time for action.
The sociopathic nature of Wall Street -- a culture in which people see their actions as disassociated from the rest of the economy and society -- has to be shattered.
You'll be happy to note that all four bank CEOs understand that Too Big To Fail shouldn't exist, and that they've spent a lot of time re-examining their compensation packages.
The Angelides Commission should focus on why the financial institutions represented took excessive risk. The questions should be designed to enable Americans to understand how this occurred.
Phil Angelides of the FCIC has secured the ability to grant whistleblower status to witnesses, a move that may get some surprise testimony.
The FCIC should enlist the financial industry as its research assistants. The industry should jump at the chance. The only way to reduce the frequency and damage of future crises is to find out what caused this one.
Eric Holder is the authority on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. He must tout the virtues of transparency and the timely release of information to the public.
We ban all sort of risk-taking behavior, whether it be drug use, speeding, or drinking underage. Why not ban behavior that puts our financial system at risk and deprives people of their homes, their pensions, and their livelihoods?
Whatever Obama decides to do in Afghanistan is of little consequence compared to Wall Street's ongoing "plutonomy."
America is becoming an angry nation, with diminished faith in its institutions. There is a growing sense among all but the wealthiest Americans that "the game is rigged" against them.
