Politics
Out of context: Reply #6057
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- TheBlueOne0
Lengthy quote here, but only bc I agree with it:
"Even President Obama says it's not just the bonuses; it's the entire "culture" on Wall Street that's the problem. But what is the culture he talks about? When the government puts trillions of dollars into Wall Street financials without taking them over outright, it's safe to say the government becomes part of this culture. Washington always had and still has the ability to write laws and regulations for the way business is conducted anywhere in the economy, including Wall Street. It seems logical, then, to look at those politicians who today provide us, through the media, with the loudest outraged protests over the bonuses and see where they were when the whips came down.
Where were Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and Barack Obama back in September, and where are they now?
Frank was, and still is, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Kind of hard to feign complete innocence when you're that high up in the hierarchy. Frank has at the very least seen the AIG bail-outs, with all its terms, including retention pay and bonuses, pass by without protesting loud enough. His overall performance is so weak that he shouldn't these days cry blue murder over AIG's bonuses. Instead, Barney Frank should draw the conclusions that are an integral part of a functioning democracy, and resign.
Christopher Dodd is and was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Dodd's overall performance is far from convincing, but he did try to amend Geithner's third AIG bail-out a few weeks ago to include clear and even retroactive limits on fees and bonuses at the firm. Because of that, I'm torn here, and inclined towards giving him the benefit of the doubt. Still, people like him have been around fo a long time in Washington, for decades, and they should have acted much sooner. A few bail-out amendments are far outweighed by being an accomplice to secretly slushing public funds to Wall Street. Still torn. Note that Salon.com figured out that Dodd's protests were waved aside by Geithner and Larry Summers, and that both are now trying to blame him for his amendments not being included in the bail-out. That's professional spinning for you.
Ben Bernanke has been an active part of the entire three-part AIG bail-out history. Since the Federal reserve is not a government agency, it's hard to unseat him, but I'd be surprised if Bernanke is not made the fall guy for many things, as anger grows, before Christmas.
Timothy Geithner carries the main responsibility for all three phases of the AIG drama. As chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, it was his task to write the documents. It may well be possible that he had Wall Street people write them instead, but that would be even worse. And the revelations keep on coming: bonuses, billions for Wall Street banks and foreign banks, and now even billions for hedge funds, all in taxpayers' money. Geithner's days are numbered, no matter what.
Barack Obama was a senator in September, and is therefore responsible, no matter how many mitigating circumstances there may have been. Being too busy campaigning to halt laws that contradict what you want to do as president is no excuse. The demands made on a president should be higher than for anyone else in the nation. So far, nobody calls the president on these things, but that can change as his poll numbers go down. He gets the benefit of the doubt for now, but that's all."
- Pretty good summary. I really hope all this crap turns around soon. All this bad news makes me want a shack in Montana.tommyo
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http://www.kk.org/th…TheBlueOne - hahahahaDrBombay
- Exactly like that guy. Who wants to sign up for my Christmas card newsletter? Email me your addresses. DrB?tommyo
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