Robert Scheer: "Some guys have all the luck, particularly when they supply the dice. There would be no housing crisis were it not for radical financial deregulation legislation that Weill and other Wall Street hotshots got Clinton to approve."
Sandy Weill, the former CEO and chairman of Citigroup Inc, 10/01/09. (photo: Business Insider)
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Sadly and Pessimistically ,
Jim "Baldy" Cremin
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Those "new" folks in Congress just voted to ban the corrupt bribery driven practice of Earmarks.
BTW
9 of 10 Top Donors in 2004 gave exclusively to Dems; the 10th gave to both.
Wall St generally gives 3:1 in favor of Dems
In 2010, Tea Party backed candidates were funded primarily via grassroots, small donors. Their opponents (i.e. "old" Congress) was funded primarily by special interests.
The "facts" above are total fantasy. Billionaires like the Koch brothers are as far as you can get from 'grass roots" support. Also big oil, pharma and other major capitalists back the tea party. Check it out, these lies cannot stand.
And banning earmarks, a) is such a small amount it means little to our economy and, b) will end up giving more spending authority to the president. Congratulations , your ignorance is doing exactly the opposite of your intentions.
The new folks in congress haven't voted on ANYTHING yet! Your stat on Wall St. giving is totally concocted, and everyone knows by now that the Tea Parties have been largely funded by Dick Armey and the Koch brothers.
Shhh! In TommyD10d11's world, the "new" folks took office on November 5th.
Kingbird: No disrespect but the use of the phrase "quickly becoming" doesn't bear witness to the facts. I don't know about the "buggy" but the Powers That Be have been whipping our own downtrodden, many of whom were willing whipping boys, along with anyone in the world who gets in our way ever since our nation's western expansion. Zinn's book ("A People's History of the United States") pretty much separates fact from fiction and truth from propaganda. So this really shouldn't be anything new to those paying attention.
If we want to stop this nation's Machines of Mass Destruction, the people will have to see that the system needs radical alteration and that means each of us, until we become a super majority, has to radically alter our lifestyles and consumption patterns.
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/10/who-caused-the-economic-crisis/
Absolutely correct Steve. The derivatives liability is multiples of the world's GDP. No one could possibly think that it won't come crashing down again soon because nothing has been done to curb it and the "too big to fail" companies are only bigger now that they have done some more M&A business. Also, the mortgage disaster wasn't a problem of personal responsibility. This happened from the top down, not the bottom up. 60% of borrowers were "guided" into subprime loans even though they qualified for prime rates and no one knows who actually owns a large percentage of their mortgages because the companies set-up a tax dodge they named MERS to record ownership because they didn't want to pay the counties' title registration taxes every time they bundled and sold mortgages in various derivatives. They have created a gigantic, criminal mess and should all go to prison.
The whole point was that he was at the center of the banking cabal that brought down the economy while he and his cohorts profited.
Scapegoat? Hardly. Even if he were indicted, Eric Holder would make sure he is not punished in the same we he pushed the Marc Rich pardon through with the help of Scooter Libby (Rich's lawyer).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoating
What do you have to say about the criminal enterprises that were in the middle of this crisis: Goldman Sachs, Citi, Wells Fargo, BofA, AIG, the ratings companies, et al.?
Welcome to America - the world's newest third world country.
I do agree that our government and leaders are acting more like third world corrupt nations as well as the widening gulf between the wealthiest and other 98%.
Let them talk about class warfare. Class warfare is how we got our independence and a new form of democracy that we seem to have given up on. It will take some kind of popular resistance to bring it back and it just is not happening. This acquiescence is what is so dispiriting.
bjw, we missed a couple of rungs on the way, way, way, down. Third world countries at least export raw materials to the first/second world manufacturing countries. If you saw the pictures that went around recently of the gigantic Maersk trans-pacific container ships-they come here filled with Chinese junk that Americans buy at Wal-Mart and go back to China empty! Apparently the only thing we have exported to China recently are the steel beams from the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack. We must be a fourth world temporary borrower/consumer country 'cause borrowing and consuming without selling or producing anything other than fraudulent securities can't last too long.
We will start Iran war - financed by Chineese credit cards.
Banana Republic of USrael
Big difference between those two; there are more Jews opposed to the Bibi/Avigdor gang than not. IMHO, of course...
The idiots actually discuss nitwits like Palin and the Bush crime family as sensible "leaders". Our Grandparents would be rightly ashamed of us for electing such people and espousing their old ideas that have NEVER worked.
The government is controlled by and run for the continued enrichment of the bankers. The corrupt "Federal" Reserve to the slime at Goldman Sachs, have bought the country, control the legislation and systematically work to undermine the gains made by working people over the past century.
Some of these people have never worked an honest day in their life. They are high stakes gamblers who have only their personal gain in mind and will and have destroyed much of what America was.
It is time to put aside the partisan politics and address the real issues and causes of your present decline. It is not too late but if the wealthy continue to keep the partisan fight alive you are surely doomed.
Where is the old spirit of '76?
more like wars and military spending - it is military stupid - and US is on the same track ..
Part of THE Insidious Team? Yes.
High Level Patsy.
'THE Man' (Men) are rarely seen, or heard from.
"All the changes taking place in the world are creating awareness in people, who have decided that enough is enough; they have a right to be free and to enjoy life. They no longer want to be conditioned by politics, religion or commercializati on.
Life has to be balanced, and we have to be aware of the Self in the heart."
- World Teacher Maitreya, from April 1990 Share International magazine
Collectively, they are responsible for 26.7 million Subprime and Alt-A mortgages. These are the very loans at the heart of the financial meltdown yet somehow you manage to completely ignore the role played by these GSE's, governtmant agencies and pro-active goventment legislation.
For those readers who are intellectually more honest and want to better understand this complex subject, I suggest you
SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS
Who Was Taking the Risks That Caused the Financial Crisis?
by Peter Wallison
www.aei.org/outlook/101004
It's relatively short but thorough and will significantly up your I.Q. on this subject.
Wallison has been writing about the housing bubble since the early 1990's.
Your are not very well informed if you believe that Fannie, Freddie VA and CRA have anything to do with the fraud that the banks committed when they made their PREDATORY loans, then securitized the loans, but didn't put the loans into the pools. THE BANKS KEPT THE LOANS IN THEIR PORTFOLIOS, THAT IS WHY THEY WANT THE PROPERTIES NOW. THE LOANS WERE ALREADY PAID OFF BY INSURANCE ON THE POOLS OF LOANS (AIG, PMI, MI, ETC., tarp funds, etc.) YOU REALLY NEED TO EDUCATE YOURSELF.
Remember G.W. Bush's "Ownership Society?" He's the president who pushed the highest level of low income home ownership so you should save some of your anger for him.
Also, try to get information somewhere other than the American Enterprise Institute if you want a somewhat more realistic view.
I would like to know if there is a reason my comments are never posted. Am I doing something wrong? Please let me know.
energy. I think there are more of us than there are of them. i have never seen so much energy and justified anger. Good sign.
Such creatures believe they own us. They certainly own our government.
May the wolves of Karma feast.
It was destroyed by the corrupt Bush regime that was put into place through fraud and corruption and left America in the worst mess it's been since the Great Depression.
Your souls are dirtier than ever. And it has nothing to do with the Democrats.
Well dude, here ya go. There are a lot of super-rich people who are not gaming the system and buying up democracy at the expense of everybody else's misery. But those people are generally on board with the progressive taxation system. People like Sandy Weill are the ones whose lavish political donations and paid media mouthpieces keep "tax cuts for the super-rich" alive in the face of 150 million citizens opposing it.
This. This, in its entirety.
A Working-Class hero is something to be!
NOT!
Their Golden Rule: He who has the gold, rules!
MALICE IN BLUNDERLAND
Jean
I guess I m just old fashioned: when I hear our current president and others blame 'lobbyists' for the mess, I instead think it s the fault of our elected officials, who take the bribes called 'campaign contributions' from any and all comers, and then serve them instead of the voters and taxpayers who are footing the bill.
In bribery, I believe the person who accepts the bribe (going against the public trust and their mandate as elected representatives ), is the guilty one, not the one who proffers the bribe: that s to be expected.
As long as we have third rate ethics and third rate standards we will have third rate govt, education and (in terms of those served and eligible)health care.
And of course it s led ups to a third rate economy too, hasn t it.
I am sure that he must have lost some of the millions in "gifts" that came his way, due to the financial meltdown of which he was a critical part.
I have great concern for America - no one will pay more taxes, everyone wants something. The rich just want an exponentially larger amount than the rest of us.
The Republican Party deals in lies, and mistruths, and plays on peoples fears. What goes around comes around!
Obama, do what you and our Senate need! Damn the torpedoes!
We as a nation are running out of time - either we collectively wake up, and develop and follow an action plan, or think about moving to Australia or New Zealand!
In a more just, better, and honorable (almost perfect) world these folks would be prosecuted for out-right fraud.
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