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Stop Coddling Wall Street!
by Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin is a presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, California, and an adjunct fellow with the Legatum Institute in London. He is author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, recently published by Penguin Press.
Roger L. Wollenberg / SIPA
Obama's call for a new tax on big banks amounts to a fraction of Goldman's bonuses. Joel Kotkin on how the Democrats have failed to exploit populist outrage.
By all historical logic and tradition, Wall Street’s outrageous bonuses—almost $20 billion to Goldman Sachs alone—should be setting a populist wildfire across the precincts of the Democratic Party. Yet right now, the Democrats in both the White House and Congress seem content to confront such outrageous fortune with little more than hearings and mild legislative remedies—like a proposed new bank tax, which, over the next decade, seeks to collect $90 to $100 billion. This amounts, on an annual basis, to about half of this year’s bonus for Goldman’s gold diggers alone. It’s speaking loudly and carrying a stick made of paper mache.
Jackson, Roosevelt, and Truman would have understood the opportunity for the Democratic Party presented by this egregious, undeserved windfall.
But this should come as no surprise, really. Postmodern Democrats are generally more concerned about the fate of the polar bears than real people on Main Street.
One reason may be that Democrats increasingly collect the bulk of contributions from the very financial sector that they have bailed out and coddled since taking office. However, more substantially, the Democrats—including many “progressives”—seem more comfortable with big business and high finance than their erstwhile working- and middle-class constituencies. For this, we need the Democratic Party?
Somewhere outside Nashville, the shade of Andrew Jackson, the founder of the modern Democratic Party, is stirring uncomfortably. So, too, are the remains of Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt, Jackson’s heirs to the leadership of the Party of the People.
Faced with highway robbers like those at Goldman Sachs, Jackson would have threatened to seize their assets and, if they protested, hang them from the highest tree. Franklin Roosevelt would have made political mince meat out of these outrageous “economic royalists.” Harry Truman would have uttered an earthy expletive and sought to cut them down to size. Truman hated phonies and elitists; today’s Democrats Party is lousy with them.
Now we see the very abandonment of the idea of the Democratic Party opposing concentrations of power. Historically, Democrats took on the largest and most powerful institutions of society. Jackson made his critical battle against the government-run Bank of the United States, which he considered a means “ to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful.”
In his time, Franklin Roosevelt battled big business, which largely hated him, by seeking to create a more equal distribution of wealth. He tried to save homeowners and farmers from the banks; speculators wiped out in 1929 did not enjoy banner years for a long time to come. Truman fought not for big banks and major companies, but for programs that spread capital to the middle class, whether for college loans or mortgages.
Now we have the postmodern Democratic Party of Barack Obama. The new party has little use for populism of any kind—it prefers to legislate from on high, whether on financial reform, climate change or land-use policy, from what it considers its superior knowledge. If your factory or business is shut down as a result, it’s you who better learn to evolve.
We will see this same mind-set in action with the administration’s proposal for a cap-and-trade program. It may end up doing little for the environment, but a lot of traders, well-connected corporate CEOs, and academic consultants will be made even richer. Draconian “green” policies that boost subsidies and energy prices may not be what Americans want—climate change ranks near the bottom of popular concerns—but such an approach fits neatly the agendas of Harvard faculty, Wall Street, and the mainstream media. That is, those who matter.
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Joel Kotkin is a presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, California, and an adjunct fellow with the Legatum Institute in London. He is author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, recently published by Penguin Press.
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Joel Kotkin is a presidential fellow at Chapman University in Orange, California, and an adjunct fellow with the Legatum Institute in London. He is author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, recently published by Penguin Press.
SuperTiger
A rather dismal, irresponsible piece: "failed to exploit populist outrage", "highway robbers" etc. Can't anyone write logical, well-reasoned articles any more?
case1234
Notice even these modest taxes/penalties are opposed by the GOP, and the banking industry. Obama is being criticized for not regulating the banks more while the GOP want next to no regulation, in keeping with their "free market solves all" cultism.
innocentcitizen
headcase1234, there is no "populist outrage" only the alinsky playbook of creating a crisis where there is none. the hypocrit socialists never want to talk about the trillions being wasted by our bloated gov't bureaucracy. they just need an enemy to exploit so they can keep their little gov't fiefdoms. its time to clean house in our federal socialist government
Allguns
case1234,
Do you think businesses of any means pay taxes or do the people who are the customers of said businesses pay those taxes. If Obama and Friends wanted to fix this mess I guess first they should of slowed down and got with the professionals and experts on how to create jobs and fix the economy, but instead we got closed door meetings, Democrats only back room chats and then a White House that wont even take the time to listen to anyone else. Pelosi and Reid and the other under qualified Democrats came up with the Stimulus and wouldn't take any input from anyone else. The outcome was 787 Billion of waisted tax payers money. The Democrats were so willing to help out small businesses that they allocated 1 billion to them, then they turned around and gave 8 billion to Community Organizations, who don't make a product, have a sustainable work force, or add anything to GNP.....Theres your experts from the DNC working hard....Then almost a year latter Obama says we need to be working on jobs and has a meeting with a group of so called experts from the Democrats and the Halls of Higher Learning, who have no practical experience running a business or making a payroll. In all of their wisdom not one person at that meeting ever ran a company or owned one where they had to know what a company large or small needs to succeed. They also refused to allow the Small Business Administration, or the U.S. Chamber Of Commerce to attend, the two organizations that work every day with businesses.
So let Obama tax them and see your fees go up or your perks vanish, because the simple truth is people start and run businesses to make money and to live a better life.
All of the Business Owners I know, including myself, still believe in American Exceptionalism, and still believe that if you work hard you should be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
As the saying goes if you want to live like I do, do what I did, work for it, If you want to have what I have, work harder for it..........but then again a handout or entitlement is easier, no seat equity involved.....
theserex
Econ 101 for you...whenever the government attempts to intervene in the free market there is something called Dead Weight Loss. This represents an INEFFICIENCY, and no matter how small, exists in every instance.
The free market is efficient because nothing is really lost, it is simply shifted to the other side of the equation. If something is lost in demand, it turns out in the supply side, and surpluses and shortages are effectively phased out by price movements overtime, "the fingers" of Adam Smith's "invisible hand." It is only in situations where applied economic models are shown to be inaccurate, or when the free market is "moved" or restricted that there are inefficiencies. Stimulus has been appropriated and now analysis should show whether or not it was effective. I guarantee, without any shadow of a doubt, that at least $1 of that money was ineffectively allocated, if not the whole lot of it, but this information will probably not surface for the next decade or so. Using taxes to punish banks is also ineffective (Even though they actually do pay them, Allguns. What are you smoking? Compare the IRS disclosures on some of the major banks with our politicians, especially Pelosi and Obama. You will see a very different story. And it was the Bush administration that instituted TARP, not Pelosi and Reid.) The benefits never pass-through as they are intended.
Effective and sufficient financial regulation is already on the books. Last night, 01/14/2010, Charlie Rose had Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of the book "Too Big to Fail," on his show. Mr. Sorkin has phenomenal insight into the underpinnings of the recent crisis, and I encourage anyone to read his comments on regulation. The main problem is that FINRA, the SEC and other regulatory agencies did not enforce the regulations currently on the books. Why is this not being addressed? If this problem is not addressed after new regulations have been instituted, our financial system will be burdened by over-legislation and result in the loss of countless BILLIONS of dollars in productivity and efficiency, and nothing will have actually been changed for the better.
Populist outrage should not drive the policy decisions of any institution, especially not the United States of America, the foremost power of the world. This is not a time for hasty and irrational decision making, and rule of the mob would surely enslave us in the most heinous manifestation of pop-dictatorship this country has ever seen. Foreign perception of this possibility is forcing capital out of our country daily. Where America was once a safe haven for your investment, it is now the O.K. Corral, and wealthy foreign businesses don't really like that aspect of American history.
amclauson
Mr Kotkin,
We live in a capitalist country. The employees of goldman sachs have earned their bonuses based on the amount of money they brought in for the company. For example, traders usually receive a percentage of the amount that their returns beat the S&P 500 by. Jobs at Goldman Sachs are probably some of the hardest in the world to get because it is the most profitable investment bank in the world. Most employees at GS have graduated from prestigious universities which correlates highly to a wealthy upbringing. However, unlike in the politics, no one working at GS has gotten there on name or a wealthy upbringing alone.
If you want to direct your populist rage somewhere, why don't you start with your local and state government. Here in Illinois, government employees regularly collect pensions that upon retirement, pay them more than their yearly salary, every year until they die. Or how about public school teachers in districts like CUSD 200 in Illinois, where a P.E. teacher who puts in 20 years is making $110,000 a year, and will for the rest of his life-bear in mind the responsibilities of his job are to basically keep kids in line while playing sports, and they get 3 months off every year. Obviously not every school district is like CUSD 200, but the point is this- jobs should be paid based on supply and demand. Jobs at Goldman Sachs are, Jobs at the government(local state and federal) are not.
You also mention that the financial industry is a big contributor to democrats and then go on to say that the proposed regulations are all bark and no bite.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck.....
Instead of ripping on banks how about writing a piece on the need for campaign finance reform.
re:case1234
fees and penalties on the financial industry, in the end make financial services more expensive for the consumer(you and me) banks do not have outrageous profit margins, the big ones make a lot of money because they have a lot of depositors. Dumb fees on the banking industry just make it more expensive to borrow money and means it will take longer to get back to economic growth in this country
Genni2002
What an excellent title for an article and the article backs up the title. Thank you for the historical perspective. All the politicians are cut from the same finance school fabric today and I have never seen so many ass kissing lap dogs in my lifetime!
Don't know where he went to college, but if we could only get some motivated Jackson-style politicians back into the fold to take care of the people's business, how fab would that be? Particularly the seizing of assets and hanging is too good for them game me a chuckle! Really thought Obama would take care of business, but no, instead it is the GS of America all the way.
sophia5
Chicago style thug politics comes to Washington.
The buy offs and corruption just never ends, and as usual
it's the taxpayers who pay in the end.
Imagine if we weren't FORCED to pay for so much incompetence
and were actually allowed to keep OUR OWN MONEY ?
oliverckerr
I have posted on a nmber of occasions a mortgage program. We create a new and innovative financial instrument, The Mortgage Savings Bond, backed by the good faith and the property of all the American people.
We use these bonds to purchase every mortgage in the country. We rewrite all the mortgages at 30 year fixed rate with decent % from 3 - 7. We pass the mortgages back to the bank branches in the same zip code as the houses, for servicing. We allow the bank branches to use the mortgage payment money - 12 payments worth - to loan to small business in their zip codes (very old fashioned - the branch loan officer might visit the business!
But the interest goes to Uncle sam every month. We use that to replace the withholding tax. Walah! Your money in your pocket! Or we use half to lower tax and the other half to draw down national debt!
michaelslevinson.com
theserex
Right on Sophia! I'm glad you post.
Just the other night on Mark Levinn 01/13/2010, a great voice in radio political commentary, known as "The Great One"... He played an audio clip of a union member from a Coakley rally in Mass. The union member was carrying signs for Coakley, and would apparently receive $50 to do so! Though, he said, "his vote would be going to Brown! Shhhh!"
AND... through new healthcare reforms, the unions will recieve an incredible discount in insurance premiums!!!!!! Gee! I wonder who's in bed with whom?
sophia5
Obama is making deals with the Unions behind closed doors.
The only thing transparent about Obama is how radical he appears to be.
While small businesses will be taxed to fund the government run
healthcare . . . what are the odds unions will get off the hook
from their man . . . Obama ?
Monk66
How retarded would a tax be if it taxed close to the amount of whatever it is taxing?
The article backs nothing.
A tax is SUPPOSED to be a fraction of the amount.
kerfeet
I believe that the 'fraction' referred to is a fraction of the bonus amounts, not of their earnings. What would really make sense is a higher tax on profits from speculative risky investments. Indeed, since there is no work involved in capital gains, why are capital gains taxed BELOW money that people work for? Now, since employers vacated their responsibility to workers' retirement, many retired folk will live of that income, so there should be an exemption of a small amount (say $25K) of capital gains. Retired people typically (wisely) stay with fixed income investments and if they opt to make more than $25K in capital gains in their IRA or other retirement account, they an pay the tax.
It used to be that people made money by _working_ but the 'dot com' fiasco, the housing bubble and the (artificial) energy bubble showed us that we are in an era of the attitude of making money by speculating and/or tying up the market ('something for nothing') --- Consider oil futures today 01/13/2010: Way up, not due to demand but due to speculation.
armchairfirebrand
The sentiments expressed here are profoundly disturbing. Have any of you even bothered to read the Constitution? Seizing privately held assets just because we dislike the individual or institution that those assets belong to is outrageously unconstitutional! I'm all for a windfall profits tax but let's stop with the angry mob routine. It leads to terrible decision making.
Finally, Andrew Jackson? Come on! Why are you romanticizing an Imperial President who ordered the forced removal of Cherokee Indians form their tribal lands in Georgia, an incident that resulted in the infamous Trail of Tears? Hitler expressed deep admiration for Jackson and cited him as an inspiration for the Holocaust. It's true. You all need to pick up a history book and get your facts straight. Terrible.
ronald64
What's dismal is the complete abandonment of the principles of civil service and noblesse oblige by both political parties. the all-encompassing influence of government and corporate bureaucracies is robbing America of its heritage. The genius of America is cultivating genius. Genius can only thrive under the the twin banners of liberty and privacy. Because both parties are willing to sacrifice both for their financial security, they shall have neither.
The passion for freedom still thrives in America. It is ingrained in our DNA in Lamarckian fashion. It once was the inspiration for both political parties but is no longer. Genius derives no satisfaction from this abdication nor entertains any respite. There has never been a more opportune time to be true to our heritage. These shackles will never bind us.
rustywheeler
A quibble: Lamarck was discredited; learned or acquired characteristics (callouses, passion for freedom) are not inherited. Cute analogy, though.
oliverckerr
The following is a simple program in two versions - prose, and poem, both exactly word for word - to reform our whole credit card operation by creating a new company, owned by the Americanb people, with the interest going to pay off the national debt - an application of our private debt to alleviate our public debt, freeing up the actual money to rebuild all our bridges and roads, and have real mass transit, and etc.
Barky Obama doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to do this. I do.
Uncle Sam Shazam
The credit card anchors are pulling us down; wrecking America's dream. Their charge-it schemes come with hooks too deep to fathom. They dip both ends of the stick, skimming the sales with nets the fish cannot slip; then at the swipe of your card they reel out their dough, riding your line on the rate you agreed to, the total you owe.
Horrific stories abound. You pay your bills online on time. Build excellent credit. Then one night your laptop freezes. By a tock of the clock, you're late. Your interest rate jumps double digits, off the chart. Then you get the call. Sopranos on your cell.
Yet credit card folk appear angelic, necks to pay-check advancers who prey on the broke. The payday people put fifteen bucks on a hundred, their max two-weeks flat, and grinningly tell you, "That's 391.07 percent per annum."
The credit card giants and check advance dealers have something in common: The same filthy hands. Price fixers violate law. But their scams for scramming money are apparently legal, their shades, miniscule.
We need a public credit card option: The Uncle Sam Shazam!
The statute will read, regardless of your credit, an income guarantees your Shazam line comes with Shazam agreement: Uncle Sam Protection, the interest fair, plainly written clear, a teensy rate with excellent credit, higher for chronic late payers, your monies compounded quarterly.
The shops accepting Shazam can expect livable fees for all their transactions. You make the call, the citizen who flashes glam of Shazam, guaranteed extension.
Uncle Sam Shazam is a boon for Congress, too. Suggesting, "Public Option," burns their pockets through; halls of the Congress crowed by lobbyists, ducats by the bucket full. On Capitol Hill, lobbyists and prostitutes go far, share the same car. All aboard pay the fare, get their due.
Senator Max Baucus snatched three million pesos from the health care execs. Their single payer plan insures every body single, pesos them, unless you get sick. Then you don't have a prayer.
Lobbyists for entrenched purveyors will exercise their protection racket, rising to the call, stuffing campaign pockets up and down the hall, thousands for their elections, quid from the pros for Members of Congress all, to snub the Shazam, refuse to hold hearings, issue tabled, snubbing Nobel Prize winners on whether or not to consider saving us one trillion bucks a quarter.
Oh! That Shazam Card interest payment? That's in the statute. Interest goes to pay vigorish due on our national debt! I explained this idea to my banker: The public option for private creditor debt. The manager exclaimed, " We'll be back in the black."
Unless we draw down our world wide debt we will soon be secondary rated, our vigorous dollar slashed! That's the debtor etch on the window; why worldly executives self-inflict with repugnant piles of money, G'zillion dollar bonuses that dwarf their pay. They sense devaluation is coming our way, trillions of deboned empty dollars ushering steep dénouement, their inflation plan, stash while you can.
How long after 2012 before one stick of Wrigleys will chew up a dollar? When I was a kid five sticks cost a nickel. One dollar covered an emergency trip to Doctor Greunfeld's, a block away. A chunk of coal was stuck in my eye. Those days are gone. My eye is OK.
When our economy slumps in a funk, instead of braying for the Federal Reserve to adjust money cost, we can bump the Shazams of all our working folk 500 bucks, interest and payments not for six months. When the bottom is up, our economy pumps; their Fed economy, anomaly.
What about dead beat non-payers? Oh? What about that income tax refund?
Besides the vig from our national debt, Shazams' net, locked and boxed to square medicare, saving trillions, we have home land security snookered, re-spoken for by Great Sam Uncle Shazam.
The conspiracy crowd shouts I'm nationalizing private debt, Uncle Shazam will get in our lives deeper yet, find out to whom we owe, and for what. That's right! Grin and get bare with it, the great skinny dip, our ship of state buoyed by Shazam; our all purpose patriotic ticket.
The government taps your transaction information and sweeps every move. Times where you go. Sees what you do. Good. Shazam dissolves their queasy need to tap our phones en masse, listening to one maybe wannabe terrorist! Cells qualified for spot checks should belong to those who hide behind cash. With Shazam we regain our homeland security, the privacy of our home spoken thoughts, sanctified in our sanctuary.
You approach an ATM. Insert Shazam, punch in your pin, whisper magic word, greenback appears. (Shazam magic word.)
The credit card anchors
Are pulling us down,
Wrecking America's dream.
Their charge-it schemes
Come with hooks
Too deep to fathom.
They dip both ends
Of the stick, skimming
The sales with nets
The fish cannot slip; then
At the swipe of a card
They reel out their dough,
Riding your line
On the rate you agreed to,
The total you owe.
Horrific stories abound.
You pay your bills online
On time. Build excellent
Credit. Then one night,
Your lap top freezes. By
A tock of the clock,
You're late. Your interest rate
Jumps double digits,
Off the chart. Then you get
The call. Sopranos on your cell.
Yet credit card folk
Appear angelic, necks to
Pay-check advancers
Who prey on the broke.
The payday people put
Fifteen bucks on a hundred,
Their max two-weeks flat,
And grinningly tell you,
"391.07 per cent per annum."
The credit card giants
And check advance dealers
Have something in common:
The same filthy hands.
Price fixers violate law.
But their scams for scramming
money are apparently
legal, their shades, miniscule.
We need a public credit card
option: The Uncle Sam Shazam!
The statute will read,
Regardless of your credit,
An income guarantees
Your Shazam line comes
With Shazam agreement:
Uncle Sam Protection
The Interest fair, plainly
Written clear, a teensy rate
With excellent credit,
Higher for chronic
Late payers, your monies
Compounded quarterly.
The shops accepting Shazam
can expect livable fees
For all their transactions.
You make the call,
The citizen who flashes
Glam of Shazam,
Guaranteed extension.
Uncle Sam's Shazam
Is a boon for Congress, too.
Suggesting, "Public
Option," burns their pocket
Through; halls of the Congress
Crowed by lobbyists,
Ducats By the bucket full.
On Capitol Hill, lobbyists
And prostitutes go far, share
The same car. All aboard
Pay the fare, get their due.
Senator Max Baucus snatched
Three million pesos
From the health care folks.
Their single payer plan
Insures every body single,
Pesos them,
Unless you get sick.
Then you don't have a prayer.
Lobbyists for entrenched
Purveyors will exercise
Their protection racket,
Rising to the call,
Stuffing campaign pockets
Up and down the hall,
Thousands for their elections,
Quid from the pros for
Members of Congress all
To snub the Shazam,
Refuse to hold hearings,
Issue tabled, snubbing
Nobel Prize winners
On whether or not
To consider saving us
One trillion bucks a quarter.
Oh! That Shazam Card
interest payment?
That's in the statute.
Interest goes to
Pay vigorish due on
Our national debt!
I explained this idea
To my banker:
The public option for
Private creditor debt.
The manager exclaimed,
"We'll be back in the black."
Unless we draw down
Our world wide debt
We will soon be
Secondary rated, our
Vigorous dollar slashed!
That's the debtor
Etch on the window;
Why worldly executives
Self inflict with
Repugnant piles of money,
G'zillion dollar bonuses
That dwarf their pay.
They sense devaluation
Is coming our way,
Trillions of deboned empty
Dollars ushering steep
Dénouement, Their inflation
plan, stash while you can.
How long after 2012
before one stick of
Wrigleys will
chew up a dollar?
When I was a kid
Five sticks cost a nickel.
One dollar covered
An emergency trip to
Doctor Gruenfeld's,
A block away.
A chunk of coal was
Stuck in my eye.
Those days are gone.
My eye is OK.
When our economy
Slumps in a funk,
Instead of braying
For the Federal Reserve
To adjust money cost,
We can bump the Shazams
Of all our working folk
500 bucks, interest and
Payments not for six months.
When the Bottom is up,
Our economy pumps;
Their Fed economy, anomaly.
What about dead beat
Non-payers? Oh?
What about that
income tax refund?
Besides the vig from
our national debt,
Shazams' net,
Locked and Boxed to
Square medicare, saving
Trillions, we have home
Land security snookered,
Re-spoken for by
Great Sam Uncle Shazam.
The conspiracy crowd shouts
I'm nationalizing private debt,
Uncle Shazam will get in
Our lives deeper yet, find
Out to whom we owe,
And for what. That's right!
Grin and get bare with it
The great skinny dip, our
Country buoyed by Shazam;
All purpose patriotic ticket.
The government taps
Your transaction information
And sweeps every move.
Times where you go.
Sees what you do. Good.
Shazam dissolves their
Queasy need to
Tap our phones en masse,
Listening to one maybe
Wannabe terrorist!
Cells qualified for spot
Checks should belong to
Those who hide behind cash.
With Shazam we regain
Our homeland security,
The privacy of our
Home spoken thoughts,
Sanctified in our sanctuary.
You approach an ATM.
Insert Shazam, Punch
in your pin, Whisper magic
Word, greenback appears.
(Shazam magic word.)
Michael Stephen Levinson
michaelslevinson.com
rustywheeler
Put down the crack pipe and seek help!
Fentro
RustyWheeler makes a point, Michael Levinson - but it's not the crack, it's the forum. The Daily Beast in not meant to be a free-for-all forum. Try to keep your posts short & to the point (I often fail at this myself), and just simply include the url of YOUR blog, so folks can read the long version there, if they are interested. Taking up all this space for your own political interest is not what these forums are supposed to be about (and I am sure you know this).
galeso
Short and to the point, did you actually read it?
I did not.
oliverckerr
Help is a gulp.
Uncle Sam Shazam, besides an innovagtive idea - applying the interest of our private debt, instead of to the deep pockets of the credit card companies, we purchase that transferred debt with Credit Card Savings Bonds, and then apply the private debt interest to paying off the nagtional debt.
This is simply too creative for the self appointed beastly censors of cyberspace. You guys ought to move to China and apply for jobs with the government.
Fentro! get your moustache out of the soup. The Uncle Sam Shazam idea is super, as is the writing! It is not my fault you guys suffer from attention deaf a sit disorder.
michaelslevinson.com
JeffreyinLA
Dude, get over yourself.
oliverckerr
Schmuck! I am not the issue. The Uncle Sam Shazam concept is the issue.
michaelslevinson.com
javadisciple
Joel Kotkin seems to be lost in a pretend, left wing world. Oh, I don't mind that he and others are angry with bankers for making money, be mad at whatever you want. But you are playing pretend when you start to imagine that you can tax those same bankers and they will just sell their nice homes and cars and take the bus to the office in order to pay those taxes.
Those guys are in business to make money. If they aren't making the money they want, they'll just try a different business. If you tax them, they will just raise the rates they charge to consumers. No amount of self-rightous whining changes that, sorry.
Maybe if you stamp your feet and hold your breath.
octavio
It is true that Barack Obama is very soft.He is just doing what
wall street and the unethical persons in the stinky USA Health
Care Industry tell him to do.Wall Street and the insurance companies are happy.But, the average John Doe is very unhappy.
Why is the USA going down the toilet so fast? The reason is that the majority of the USA senators are crooks.These crooks
had been found to be large corporation whores.Does that mean
that Barack Obama is their pimp?
Probably so! We need to send Barack Obama to China and let
him stay there until he learns to grow bigger balls and order the enforcement of the USA laws.The crooked USA senators and the crooks in Wall Street should not be immune.We neeed to send them to the electric chair and make an example.Et cetera.
Fentro
Agreed Octavio. We're going to need civil unrest, civil disobedience, and ultimately, violence (unless we protest Gandhi style). But I like the idea of all of the unemployed folks (as well as like-minded souls) going to Wall Street in person, with axes (both the wooden handle kind, as well as the electric guitar style..), and just start lopping the banker's heads off. If that doesn't stop the crimes being committed against us honest & hard-working Americans, then we'll need to also make a stop in Washington. If our country can't stop the criminals from continuing to rob us blind, there won't BE an America. And anyone who thinks this is unpatriotic knows nothing about the intent of our founding fathers.
Our country has been losing its moral authority since we let the Japs destroy Pearl Harbor (and that rationalized OUR use of the A-bomb). Looking for the bad guy? Look in the mirror America - we're becoming the bad guys. And let's put Obama on notice - you work for US, not for insurance companies, banks, or defense contractors - in fact, they all work for US, too. Any company or individual who tries to rob taxpayers indeed needs a real penalty, not 2 years in Danbury. Who's with me?
GPatton
Right. These banksters have pulled off the biggest con in world history. And the CEO of Goldman Sachs says he's doing "God's work." President Obama will be repudiated at the polls. And hopefully at some point we'll have a leader with the balls to start putting the banksters behind bars, where they belong. George Patton
oliverckerr
The 535 Must Go / Dump The 535.
Here is a poem on the issue:
We need to
Renew our politics
Bunch together
As sticks
Start from scratch
Build
From the bottom
Organize
Our own convention
Write
Our own platform
Become
A better nation
Lead the world.
We could have a political party convention and write all the planks in our platform. 200,000 delegates X $200 per delegate. The delegate fee = forty million dollars to run our open air Woodstockian convention and have plenty enough bucks for delegate entertainment every night, Bono, Metallica, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, and more . . . for the party standing behind michaelslevinson, the poet prophet and his program for World Peace they will all come, not for poet prophet with his program for World Peace, but for you. So where there is a will there is a way.
Amongst the 535 there are perhaps 40-50 keepers. But all must go! And what we should be saying to people, to dissolve their inertia is this much: those who are really worth having around, the possible ten percent of the membership who are decent - they, upon losing their seats will likely offer to stay as a member of the newly elected Member's staff, to keep working on the important legislation they had already devoted years trying to pass. All must go. We must vote all of them out because they are in.
Another plank in a winning platform is to have five Members of the House where we have one, with all five sharing the same office with no raise in the office budgets. Also reset all the congressional districts according to County lines, instead of the gerrymander. It would be feasible for some (probably most) of the current office holders to seek another seat in a freshly designed district where everyone always voted for them before we, the people with the Independent party politics came along.
Doesn't the above sound like a better idea? Visit michael s levinson dot commie to find out more about the poet prophet and his program for world peace and food chain harmony.
michaelslevinson.com
wareagle82
1) so he wants to tax not just banks that still owe taxpayer money but also those who had repaid it AND those who never took it in the first place. That's not policy; that's robbery.
2) taxing banks does absolutely nothing to help anyone seeking a loan, looking for a job, or coping with existing debt.
3) you do realize whether it's a fee, a tax, or a service charge, the banks are going to pass it on to their customers.
4) "populist outrage" comes across as one of the most dim-witted commodities on the market. How much sense does it make to want a group to be punished or penalized when the only one feeling teh penalty or punishment is you?
kerfeet
The comment is attractive in its simplistic view of the world. The thought that the banks will give large bonuses that get taxed heavily and then increase their fees by a corresponding amount is ludicrous. That is what tax attorneys are for - After a while, they will figure out how to get around it. (And then we should change the code)
That Pollyanna worldview of everything tightly linked liked some Rube Goldberg contraption is equivalent to thinking that '"The market' will take care of things." The fantasy of efficient markets, as they are called by economists, has been shown in numerous economic studies. In the past 2 decadeswe have seen that 'The Market' is not wise but more like the Great and Powerful Oz - Simply people behind curtains pulling unseen levers. This was also clearly demonstrated by:
1. the current manipulation of oil futures
2. the housing bubble
3. the credit crisis
4. the 'dot com' bubble
The use of tax policy to discourage undesirable behavior is well accepted. Alcohol and tobacco taxes come to mind. Why shouldn't the government make behavior that threatens the economy unprofitable? The alternative is to let the banks fail. But that is so simplistic and naive that it is probably a Libertarian platform plank!
Bank deregulation under Bill Clinton was the straw that broke the camels back. Between the Great Depression and then, the number of bank failures was: Zero. After that (repeal of The Glass-Steagal Act, passed in response to banking excesses resulting in the Great Depression) banks started failing - Only slowly at first, but it culminated in the banking crisis of 2008. now, they still will not reinstate Glass-Steagall (or equivalent)
aackc1
Thank you for the article.
mike-usn-ret
Yes the bankers make a ton of money. When did all of you wake up to that fact. I expect them to, thats what they do and in fact most of the time its great for the country. I didn't hear anyone whining when in the 90's when everyone was riding high for few yrs. Bankers make money, govenment steals it. I understand bankers, I also understand politicians. No one has had more sucess runing ponzi schemes and just downright stealing money then the governement and contrary to what both democrats and republicans will bleet this a a truly bipartisn enterprise.
sonofloud
Since when is justice "exploiting outrage" ?
What is wrong with holding people (and corporations) accountable for their actions?
Wheels14
This guy is a complete fool. Please do not publish him on this site anymore. When are we going to start calling populism what it really is: the spread of ignorance.
bwshook
Practically ALL the incumbant Democrats and Republicans now represent big business, rather than the people who elected them. IT'S TIME TO VOTE THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE! Replace them all, regardless of what party they are a member of.
Someone needs to put together a new organization--call it the V.O.T.I.N.G. organization:
Vote Out The Incumbants Now Group
Maybe then the working class, the unemployed, the disabled, small business owners, and companies that manufacture goods made right here in the United States of America (not Canada; not Mexico; not someplace else--the USA) will get a chance to survive.
LEVY ANOTHER TAX ON THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO HELP THE PEOPLE IN HAITI--good PR for them!
rustywheeler
"Throw the bums out" - that's a terrific, comprehensive platform for a new party. Kind of like a populist coup.
JeffreyinLA
I read that the combined Senate has 400 years of experience among them. It's like a royal dynasty. They get in and stay for life thanks to their always growing war chests.
I am committed to never voting for another incumbent. They get too comfortable with their financial backers and forget that actual people elected them. A steady turn-over will help.
VinnyB
All this anger should be directed at Robert Rubin, Sandy Weill, and the Clinton Administration under which the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act occurred. Obama is a hollow man merely blowing smoke to appease the wounded masses. Did you really think he was going to bite the hand that fed him?
JeffreyinLA
Exactly right. And don't forget little Timmy Geithner, Wall Street's designated bag man in the Obama misadministration.
angst7
Good try Uncle Joel! Its not the banks that owe us money, they are paying theirs back. It those union backed car companies(Chrysler and GM) where we will be lucky to see any return on our money. If anyone has become the "fat cat" it is the unions and their "boss man" Obama is taking good care of his children. This administration is trying to practice deflection with the thought in mind that most Americans are too stupid to understand or care. This Administration is disconnected with the people.
JeffreyinLA
This administration is utterly disconnected from the people because the only voices Obama values are those from Wall Street insiders. He's governing for them, by them, and to satisfy them. The rest of us are screwed.
And I get that it's easy to kick unions. But without unions, management certainly can't be counted on to do the right thing. Management is all about saving money and reducing costs by sending jobs to banana republics and third-world crap holes. Without unions, nothing would be made in the US anymore. Are unions corrupt? Yes. Is management decent? Hell no. Solutiuons? Real, true health CARE reform (not the Obama "health insurance extortion and industry profit protection plan) would have been a good place to start chipping away at the unions' reason for existence. So would a true workers bill of rights and taxes that encourage businesses to keep jobs in the US. The more Americans work, the more we can buy. And so it goes. But please don't blame unions for wanting to protect jobs from greedy executives who get their bonsues even when they crash their businesses.
Thank you.
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