j***@heathcor.mus
2008-11-03 17:57:39 UTC
The Five Most Wanted Rip-off Artists from Wall Street and Washington
Our economy didn't melt down, it was taken down the unbridled greed of
economic elites, enabled by their political courtesans in Washington.
What the hell's happening here? Why is my bank in the tank? And my
house and job? And my retirement money? Even my state's teetering on
the brink of broke! Who did this to us?
Fair questions, but we're not getting honest answers. Last year, at
the first signs of the global financial slide toward the abyss, we
were told that it's just a little hiccup caused by something called
subprime mortgages. Not to worry, the Powers That Be declared
confidently, for we have the damage contained. And rest assured that
"the fundamentals of our economy are sound."
Then, this spring, Bear Stearns cratered, requiring an emergency
federal subsidy to cover billions in bad loans. Okay, admitted those
in charge, that subprime stuff actually is leveraged on up the
financial system, and maybe there's been a bit of greed among a few of
the big players, but we really do have the problem contained now, and,
hey, "the fundamentals of our economy are sound."
But in September--Omigosh!--there went Lehman Brothers, Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, WaMu,
Wachovia, and others. Well, yes, conceded the now-frazzled financial
establishment, but gollies, we're throwing hundreds of billions of
your tax dollars into sandbags to contain the problem, and remember:
"The fundamentals of our economy are sound."
In October, the contagion rolled through Britain, Canada, and Europe;
it spread to Brazil and across to China and Japan; and--Holy
Schmoly--suddenly all of Iceland was melting in bankruptcy! Stay calm,
cried an openly panicked chorus of Washington officials, for we're
holding some big summit meetings soon and consulting our Ouija boards,
and...uh...ah...um...y'all just keep clinging to the thought that "the
fundamentals of our economy are sound."
Laissez Fairies
You don't have to be in Who's Who to know What's What, do you? The
fundamentals are NOT sound.
Wall Street and Washington (excuse the redundancy there) want us
commoners to believe that this viral spread of economic grief was
caused by those lower-income homeowners who couldn't pay their
subprime loans--merely an unforeseeable glitch in a complex and
otherwise healthy financial system. Hogwash. The source of today's
pain is the same as it was in America's previous financial collapses:
the unbridled greed of economic elites, enabled by their political
courtesans in Washington.
This unbridling has been the long-sought goal of a cabal of
deregulation ideologues who dwell in laissez-fairyland. During the
past two decades, they have relentlessly pushed their economic
fantasies into law. Their theory was that (to use Ronald Reagan's
simple construct) "the magic of the marketplace" would create an
eternal rainbow of prosperity through financial "innovation"--if only
the market was unshackled from any pesky public regulations. What the
dereg theorists missed, however, is that magicians don't perform
magic. They perform illusions.
Let's meet some of the illusionists who are directly responsible for
hurling you, me, America, and most of the world into this dark and
as-yet unplumbed economic hole.
Phil Gramm
Snide, sour, and sanctimonious, this former senator from Texas is now
head lobbyist for the Swiss-based banking giant, UBS, as well as chief
economic adviser for his old chum John McCain. A bathed-in-the-blood,
footwashing, free-market absolutist, Gramm advocates a virulent brand
of antigovernment, market-knows-best, Rambo capitalism.
In 1999, as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, he had the power to
implement some of his cockamamie dogmas. First, he pushed through a
bill to dissolve the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, a New Deal reform that
prohibited banks, investment houses, and insurance companies from
combining into one corporation. By keeping these components of our
financial system separate, Glass-Steagall made sure that the crash of
one of them would not bring down the other two. But a number of Wall
Street banks, led by what would become Citigroup, saw a profit
windfall for themselves if only they could scuttle the old law and
merge banking, investment, and insurance into huge financial
conglomerates. The senator was their ideological soul mate, and he was
delighted to rig the system for them.
Our economy didn't melt down, it was taken down the unbridled greed of
economic elites, enabled by their political courtesans in Washington.
What the hell's happening here? Why is my bank in the tank? And my
house and job? And my retirement money? Even my state's teetering on
the brink of broke! Who did this to us?
Fair questions, but we're not getting honest answers. Last year, at
the first signs of the global financial slide toward the abyss, we
were told that it's just a little hiccup caused by something called
subprime mortgages. Not to worry, the Powers That Be declared
confidently, for we have the damage contained. And rest assured that
"the fundamentals of our economy are sound."
Then, this spring, Bear Stearns cratered, requiring an emergency
federal subsidy to cover billions in bad loans. Okay, admitted those
in charge, that subprime stuff actually is leveraged on up the
financial system, and maybe there's been a bit of greed among a few of
the big players, but we really do have the problem contained now, and,
hey, "the fundamentals of our economy are sound."
But in September--Omigosh!--there went Lehman Brothers, Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, WaMu,
Wachovia, and others. Well, yes, conceded the now-frazzled financial
establishment, but gollies, we're throwing hundreds of billions of
your tax dollars into sandbags to contain the problem, and remember:
"The fundamentals of our economy are sound."
In October, the contagion rolled through Britain, Canada, and Europe;
it spread to Brazil and across to China and Japan; and--Holy
Schmoly--suddenly all of Iceland was melting in bankruptcy! Stay calm,
cried an openly panicked chorus of Washington officials, for we're
holding some big summit meetings soon and consulting our Ouija boards,
and...uh...ah...um...y'all just keep clinging to the thought that "the
fundamentals of our economy are sound."
Laissez Fairies
You don't have to be in Who's Who to know What's What, do you? The
fundamentals are NOT sound.
Wall Street and Washington (excuse the redundancy there) want us
commoners to believe that this viral spread of economic grief was
caused by those lower-income homeowners who couldn't pay their
subprime loans--merely an unforeseeable glitch in a complex and
otherwise healthy financial system. Hogwash. The source of today's
pain is the same as it was in America's previous financial collapses:
the unbridled greed of economic elites, enabled by their political
courtesans in Washington.
This unbridling has been the long-sought goal of a cabal of
deregulation ideologues who dwell in laissez-fairyland. During the
past two decades, they have relentlessly pushed their economic
fantasies into law. Their theory was that (to use Ronald Reagan's
simple construct) "the magic of the marketplace" would create an
eternal rainbow of prosperity through financial "innovation"--if only
the market was unshackled from any pesky public regulations. What the
dereg theorists missed, however, is that magicians don't perform
magic. They perform illusions.
Let's meet some of the illusionists who are directly responsible for
hurling you, me, America, and most of the world into this dark and
as-yet unplumbed economic hole.
Phil Gramm
Snide, sour, and sanctimonious, this former senator from Texas is now
head lobbyist for the Swiss-based banking giant, UBS, as well as chief
economic adviser for his old chum John McCain. A bathed-in-the-blood,
footwashing, free-market absolutist, Gramm advocates a virulent brand
of antigovernment, market-knows-best, Rambo capitalism.
In 1999, as chair of the Senate Banking Committee, he had the power to
implement some of his cockamamie dogmas. First, he pushed through a
bill to dissolve the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, a New Deal reform that
prohibited banks, investment houses, and insurance companies from
combining into one corporation. By keeping these components of our
financial system separate, Glass-Steagall made sure that the crash of
one of them would not bring down the other two. But a number of Wall
Street banks, led by what would become Citigroup, saw a profit
windfall for themselves if only they could scuttle the old law and
merge banking, investment, and insurance into huge financial
conglomerates. The senator was their ideological soul mate, and he was
delighted to rig the system for them.