Handcuffs For Wall Street, Not Happy Talk

[marmar]

from AlterNet:




Posted by Zach Carter at 11:47 am
September 12, 2010

Handcuffs For Wall Street, Not Happy Talk
Posted by Zach Carter on @ 11:47 am


The Washington Post has published a very silly op-ed by Chrystia Freeland accusing President Barack Obama of unfairly “demonizing” Wall Street. Freeland wants to see Obama tone down his rhetoric and play nice with executives in pursuit of a harmonious economic recovery. The trouble is, Obama hasn’t actually deployed harsh words against Wall Street. What’s more, in order to avoid being characterized as “anti-business,” the Obama administration has refused to mete out serious punishment for outright financial fraud. Complaining about nouns and adjectives is a little ridiculous when handcuffs and prison sentences are in order.

Freeland is a long-time business editor at Reuters and the Financial Times, and the story she spins about the financial crisis comes across as very reasonable. It’s also completely inaccurate. Here’s the key line:

“Stricter regulation of financial services is necessary not because American bankers were bad, but because the rules governing them were.”

Bank regulations were lousy, of course. But Wall Street spent decades lobbying hard for those rules, and screamed bloody murder when Obama had the audacity to tweak them. More importantly, the financial crisis was not only the result of bad rules. It was the result of bad rules and rampant, straightforward fraud, something a seasoned business editor like Freeland ought to know. Seeking economic harmony with criminals seems like a pretty poor foundation for an economic recovery. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/12/handcuffs-for-wall-street-not-happy-talk/

[grasswire]

1. gee. sounds like Chrystia Freeland knows Frank Luntz

What better way to deflect some heat than make up a false scenario and complain about it?

[alfredo]

2. I want the hat.

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. I found it...

http://www.zazzle.com/wall+street+hats (They have some other pretty good ones there, too, if you're into hats. I like the "Up Yours Palin" and "Scumdog Billionaires" ones if you're doing any shopping for my birthday...:-))

[alfredo]

5. I might get one with "Eat the rich" on it.

[Octafish]

3. Now THAT's a meme I can live with!

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.