Whether you agree or disagree with Matt Taibbi, he's been red hot over the last year on the financial services industry and reform, or lack thereof. His latest article has what could be called an inflammatory title and has come under some criticism here, but he makes a case for it:
Incredibly, Froman did not resign from the bank when he went to work for Obama: He remained in the employ of Citigroup for two more months, even as he helped appoint the very people who would shape the future of his own firm. And to help him pick Obama's economic team, Froman brought in none other than Jamie Rubin, a former Clinton diplomat who happens to be Bob Rubin's son ... despite having fucked up virtually every project he ever got his hands on.
The gist of it is that Obama came in with a powerful populist team, a grass roots mandate for change, and an economy in collapse that paved the way for new policies that would benefit the middle class similar to what FDR faced in his early years. But instead of capitalizing on that rare opportunity, making the most of a bad situation, and dancing with the ones that brung him, Obama chose as some of his top economic advisers the same people who presided over or engineered the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression. The results so far include We the People writing hundred billion-dollar welfare checks to the wealthiest, most powerful people in the nation so that they can continue screwing up and screwing us.
If that was supposed to be a trade, what exactly did the WH get in return? The insurance industry, huge beneficiaries of the bailouts and polices, still went after the best parts of HCR tooth and nail, they bought the Senate, they encouraged people to carry around signs showing Obama in full Hitler regalia, and they killed the PO. Cap-n-Trade was watered down to the point of questionable effectiveness. Financial reform hasn't even emerged yet, but there's worry it will be fucked up every which way. Wall Street and industry titans are whining about taxes on their zillion dollar salaries and bonuses as loud as ever while working to obstruct badly needed government relief or jobs programs for We the Victims at every turn.
Democrats don't have to worry about a guy like me voting for the GOP anytime soon. I imagine that's the same for most of us. But they better be worried about people like us not volunteering or donating as much, or urging others to vote for them in the midterm elections with all our heart. Because that's exactly where we're heading for now. And if that's where we end up next Fall it's going to be shit like Taibbi wrote about that helped cause it.
No comments:
Post a Comment