"Some Nightmare America Ruled By Con Men In $2,000 Suits"
Ben Stein had a good piece on CBS Sunday Morning about taxpayer welfare to Wall Street and the bonuses Wall Street is about to pay out. An excerpt:
Thanks largely to government policies where the Fed lends money to the big banks at 25 hundredths of a point, then taxpayers borrow it back at 3.5 percent, thanks to the easy money gushing out of the Fed-easy money for the Big Boys (not for you), Wall Street is planning to pay bonuses to its executives on a par with what they paid in 2007 . . . before the crash . . . before the rest of America was pauperized.Just one huge investment bank called Goldman Sachs was bailed out in many lavish ways by both the Bush and Obama administrations. Now they plan to pay themselves bonuses of roughly $20 billion for the holidays
This is not a fantasy. This is really happening.
Surely, is not the America we are sending our children to fight and die for in Iraq and Afghanistan . . . surely, is not the America our grandfathers and fathers fought for at Normandy and Iwo Jima?
This is some nightmare America, ruled by con men in $2,000 suits.
I love capitalism, and have many friends on Wall Street. But this is just plain shameful.
America, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Ben Stein is a creationist and a douchebag. I really dislike him. But he is absolutely right about this.
Our post-credit crisis banking policies have done more to ensure the continued wealth of the people who created the crisis than anything else; it helps Americans not at all Geithner has Goldman on his speed dial.
It is a certainty that our cowardice in reining in these types of institutions will come back to hurt us again. The bankers get the upside, and our government has decided taxpayers own the downside.
Goldman shorted the housing market, using AIG's credit default swaps as its hedge, and the U.S. government paid them out at 100 cents on the dollar. We made Goldman entirely whole as part of the AIG bailout, instead of letting them take the losses from their spectacular gamble. They will not forget this.
But it's OK, they are our betters, and we should just get used to it.
Whatever at December 6, 2009 10:17 AM
Mike: We were supposed to create jobs. Instead, we've enriched the bankers.
Ike: Well, let's be proud of that.
- -
Democrats: "Our agenda has kick-started a recovery on Wall Street, even if it hasn't yet trickled down to the job market."
Democratic Trickle-Down Economics
Andrew_M_Garland at December 6, 2009 10:19 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2009/12/06/a_nightmare_ame.html#comment-1680897">comment from WhateverI am not a fan of Ben Stein (especially because of his nitwit creationism), but I am not one of those people who has to agree with everything a person says or even like them to cite them, and I'm with him here.
Amy Alkon at December 6, 2009 10:20 AM
I am not one of those people who has to agree with everything a person says or even like them to cite them
Kudos for that; it's how good ideas get shared.
Whatever at December 6, 2009 10:48 AM
I wish that I can say that I am shocked by this situation with Goldman Sachs, but I'm not.
I've been pissed off for months about the bonus payouts at Goldman Sachs and other firms that benefited by the bailout.
Corporate executives used to just steal from their own companies and shareholders. Now they steal from the taxpayer.
So the next time you go to the polls just remember that your tax dollars are at work paying for the upper east side penthouses and beachside estates in East Hampton for Goldman's elite.
belle de ville at December 6, 2009 11:50 AM
I made this statement before, but it is my honest opinion that we Americans have no right to complain about these sorts of things. CEO's ripping the economy to shreds, while feathering nests? Government subsidizing the robbery of blue collar workers? Pretty par for the course, for the new millenium.
We lost the right to complain and shake our fists, when this happened the -first- time, and all we did, was shake our fists.
Big Government declared that they were going to bail out free enterprising corporations, and the taxpayers said "Stay thy hand!"
Big Goverment responded with "LOL Bailout".
And we did nothing about it.
We are still doing nothing about it.
Bet you a big, fat CEO bonus that people will still be shopping at Goldman Sachs today. And tomorrow.
(Im not always big on my history... but I think I remember a time in American history, where the overlords sat fat and happy on their chairs, and demanded all that we could give, while we lived in squallor, sickness, and de facto slavery... I think it was... Hmm... Oh thats right. It was the Revolutionary War.)
chronotrigger at December 6, 2009 12:29 PM
Bet you a big, fat CEO bonus that people will still be shopping at Goldman Sachs today. And tomorrow
Umm, you know Goldman is an investment bank, right?
Whatever at December 6, 2009 12:34 PM
In truth, I just woke up. Thank you catching me on that @_@. Nothing deflates a point more then ignorance.
However, the same principle stands. People wont boycott, because it would be going out of their way to do so. And God forbid that we lift a hand to stop getting robbed.
chronotrigger at December 6, 2009 12:41 PM
Before people start swimming in populist piss, they ought to read this.
Crid [CridComment @ gmail] at December 6, 2009 12:43 PM
Wait a minute.
Leaving Federal influence on banking practices forcing bad loans aside, where's the citation of Congressional duty to control the currency?
No President controls the budget. No President authorizes bailouts.
Editorial commentary presents part of the story. Keep looking for sources. Surf thomas.loc.gov, for instance
Radwaste at December 6, 2009 1:43 PM
Went to a Christening this weekend. Every couple I spoke with that was middle\upper middle class is hurting. without exception. One man there lost his commercial landscaping company this year and is now working for $12 an hour at Goodwill. One couple lost their home (along with a sizeable chunk of their life savings in WaMu bonds).
My good friend who is a children's legal advocate in Washington state can't afford badly needed dental work, but works 80 hours a week due to all the budget cuts.
This morning I opened my new issue if Forbes, and the special "handmade luxury" issue was included. The issue is crammed with $25K watches, $11k side tables, partial ownership private jets, and even that sailboat shaped hotel in Dubai.
It is sickening.
PS- Went to Costco and Home Depot this morning- both were ghost towns. I predict the much anticipated return of the American consumer this holiday season is a bunch of hooey, like last months labor statistics. (How could ADP project 169,000 non-farm jobs lost in November, but the White House says only 11,000 were lost?)
Eric at December 6, 2009 1:46 PM
In May a nephew offered a parlor game, summarize the Obama adminstration's performance in six words. My entry: "Four trillion in just four months." Round two came in November: "Ten trillion in just ten months".
Crid [CridComment @ gmail] at December 6, 2009 2:03 PM
Great link, Crid. Michael Lewis is my favorite writer about financial issues. Though I don't think it's likely to undermine populist anger much. A few nuggets:
...
Thereby closing the loop between the current financial mess and the biggest financial scandal of the 1980s. Milken taught them well!
...
And we know housing prices only go in one direction - up!
That Joe Cassano is not in jail is a travesty.
But no company's behavior in this matter was more reprehensible than Goldman's. AIG was merely a tool for them, but they made money bundling these mortgages and selling the securities, and they made money from the AIG swaps when it collapsed. Madoff's got nothing on the swindles they perpetrated. If anything, our populist anger at them is woefully insufficient.
Whatever at December 6, 2009 2:17 PM
Corporate scum is as corporate scum does.
mpetrie98 at December 6, 2009 5:09 PM
Well, they're just daring the Obama Administration to impose a pay czar on them, aren't they. At this point, it's kind of hard to care who wins.
Cousin Dave at December 7, 2009 7:00 AM
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered; if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party..
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army &Marines are in IRAQ , It's because they want them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do..
Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.
They and they alone, have the power.
They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it........... Is up to you.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge T ax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Ser vice FeeTax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge=2 0Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the ____ happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'
And I still have to 'press 1' for English!?
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 100 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!
GO AHEAD - - - BE AN AMERICAN!!!
jksisco at December 7, 2009 11:17 AM
Creationism may not be an absolute in your world, however, as has been shown recently by the "climategate" scandal, evolutionists are now standing on thin ice, see piltdown man. Science has become a faith industry as well.
jksisco at December 7, 2009 11:23 AM
jksisco:
Nice example of total incoherence.
What does "climategate" have to do with evolution (other than a bad pun - global warming and thin ice?).
Piltdown Man was outed as a fraud almost 60 years ago - and its exposure did nothing to discredit the evidence for evolution.
If you think science is a faith industry, then why the hell are you using a computer?
T. Bruce McNeely at December 7, 2009 11:54 AM
Agree with Stein here, except this is the opposite of capitalism. This is Obama corporatism at its finest.
the wolf at December 7, 2009 12:26 PM
Yea, cause everyone knows republicans never give businesses anything
lujlp at December 7, 2009 1:21 PM
jksisco as T. Bruce pointed out it was denounced (offically) as a haox 60yrs ago
But in 1915 palentologists identified the jaw as that of an ape. Also its "discovery" cannot be coroberated and the British museams "expert" was looking to make a name for himself. Reconstructions from the bone fragments done by doctors of the time showed it to be that of a modern humans.
Dawson was lieing from the start and everyone who was paying close attention knew it
Where in the hell did you pull this old cestnut from by the way?
lujlp at December 7, 2009 1:50 PM
As lujlp points out, Piltdown Man was actually outed as a fraud almost from the beginning.
The difference between climategate and Piltdown Man is that no one "lost" the evidence of Piltdown Man. The raw data (the skull, jaw, and teeth) were available for examination.
The Royal College of Surgeons publicly disagreed with the "missing link" findings almost immediately. By the 1920s French and American scientists also discredited Piltdown Man.
And Piltdown Man did have an adverse impact on evolutionary theory. Thanks to this "discovery," scientists pursued the theory that the brain evolved before the rest of the body. The study of evolution was thrown off track by a factor of decades.
Climategate was a political power grab and probably set real climate studies back several years as we sort through what is the truth and what is politically-motivated hype. Thanks, CRU.
Conan the Grammarian at December 9, 2009 9:45 AM
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