Two important reforms are stopping the revolving door between Washington and the nation's financial giants, and preventing financiers from flipping companies (making short-term profits by borrowing big sums to buy them, then squeezing payrolls and firing employees, and reselling the stripped-down companies at a profit -- unless the debt-laden firms fall into bankruptcy first).
Remarkably, the frontrunners for the Republican nomination for president seem to agree. At least, that's the clear implication from what they've said today.
During a morning appearance on Fox News, Mitt Romney said Newt Gingrich should return the $1.6 million in payments he received from mortgage financial giant Freddy Mac.
Gingrich has tried to defend himself by saying Freddy paid him as a "historian," but anyone with half a brain knows Freddy wasn't interested in history. It coughed up the money because they wanted Newt to influence his former House colleagues, so they wouldn't take steps to reduce Freddy's financial risk or reach.
In effect, Romney is taking a swipe not only at Gingrich but at the well-oiled revolving door linking financial giants to former congressional leaders, Treasury officials, and their staffs. That revolving door is one of the reasons the Street and its auxiliaries (like Fannie and Freddie) took the risks that caused the financial crisis, and have still never paid the price.
What's Gingrich's response? He said this morning "if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain than I would be glad to then listen to him."
Newt is criticizing not only Romney but also the pump and dump practices of Wall Street that have caused hundreds of thousands of Americans to lose their jobs, put countless companies in jeopardy, and earned a fortune for private-equity managers and others.
If this goes on much longer, the Mitt and Newt Show will get a slot on MSNBC.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
Our future is ours the rich will either give it back or find some safe haven, their is no such place for the rich.
Class warfare, no we wage war on the rich. We win.
Got sulfur?
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.
Possibly the best example of this was the recent stimulus that was spent in part on cherry picked liberal projects that supported union labor, "green" energy, or infrastructure "investment" which are liberal mainstays. In the case of the GM bailout which was seperate from the stimulus, you need look no futher than campaign contributions from the United Auto Workers for the justification.
In short, I absolutely agree with your assertion, but the framing of the issue as some sort of valiant example of class warfare is tenuous.
Your second paragraph is about human nature, not about government. Government is our attempt to deal with the conflicting urges in human nature. We'll just have to keep trying until we get it right.
Funny how, when it suits them, they can't tell the difference between private and public funds.
I thought taxes couldn't create a single job? Obviously taxes created one sweet job for Gingrich.
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Fannie_Mae_(FNMA)
Particularly given the conservative fondness for painting both as socialist creatures of big government responsible for the 2008 crash, pointing out the problem these particular Republicans have discerning between private and public funds is not fallacious, rather, it's my whole point.
Well,..it appears Socialism is the greatest system EVER.
Uh, no.
with newt it is mixed with over the top flaming narcissism...
these 2 are void of integrity, morality and human connection...
if newt were a muslim he would be reviled and seen as a grave threat to democracy if not humanity by those who now sit at his feet
As for this,
"If this goes on much longer, the Mitt and Newt Show will get a slot on MSNBC."
I'm not going to hold my breath.
Newt Gingrich in "Despicable Me, Part 2"
don't see that with the newtster