We Got Angry; Now What?

Banker sentiment and social philosophy: If we do not allow people to fail, then there is no incentive to succeed.

Banks are too big to fail.

Corporate America has mobilized the media and the Republicans to make sure we don't recover from the Depression. They bombard us with lies, as if a racist Herbert Hoover was directing them.

They have all the marketing and manipulative tools to take advantage of our anger. Even now they are persuading us the Depression resulted from our greed and selfishness. Sure, we demanded Collateralized Debt Obligations from the bankers. We insisted the Department of Justice sidetrack Don Rumsfeld's prosecution for torture and rendition.
The right wing smear machine works at full blast to vilify the President and to ridicule his programs. This outfit has been selling the public a false bill of goods for 60 years. Nobody even tries to stop them.

 A banking View of the Crisis

Randy Carver: At this point I think that the more significant impact of the Obama plan will be psychological rather than financial. Loaning/giving money to people who cannot or will not be able to pay it back does not make sense and was the genesis of the crisis to begin with.

If we look at all potential foreclosures as a percentage of the entire housing and real estate market, the economic issue is relatively small. I think that we need to make funds available for credit-worthy people and let the system work itself out. Again, I think Bob is 100% correct that while we do have true economic issues, there seems to be an exaggeration of the magnitude, which may make some of these things self-fulfilling. Moreover, we need to more on the root causes rather than the symptoms. If we do not allow people to fail, then there is no incentive to succeed. Of course that's just my humble opinion.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/16/real-estate-foreclosures-intelligent-investing-obama.html?

Games Obama Plays

Mr. Obama's advisers argued that at least some extent, this was a sentiment they could tap to push through his measures in Congress, including raising taxes on the wealthy. They pointed out that in his speech to Congress, Mr. Obama denounced corporations that "use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet."

"The president has been very clear about this," Mr. Axelrod said. "There is reason for anger, but we also have to solve the problem. We need a functioning credit system. That's our responsibility, and he intends to meet it."

Still, aides acknowledged the risks of a backlash as Mr. Obama tries to signal that he shares American anger but pushes for more bail-out money for banks and Wall Street.

For all his political skills and his capturing of the nation's desire for change in the 2008 election, Mr. Obama, a product of Harvard Law School who calls upscale Hyde Park in Chicago home, has shown little inclination to strike a more populist tone. The danger, aides said, is that if he were to become identified as an advocate for the banks and Wall Street, people could take out their anger on him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/us/politics/16assess.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Sunday night, the bipartisan rage against AIG had reached a boiling point. Monday morning, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was issuing subpoenas to AIG and Rep. Barney Frank was calling for people to be fired. The populist backlash had reached a level which the Obama administration could not dismiss, and the result was the president promising to use every means available to stop AIG from paying out these bonuses.

 1  |  2