Geithner refused to answer the question about conversations with those who would benefit from the AIG deal. He looks like a horses ass and he got beaten up in the press as a result of that encounter. Yet we're expected to believe that the Treasury Secretary will be supportive of Warren's efforts to institute real consumer protection from the same industry that Geither protects so fiercely.
A bit later in the hearing, Warren had Geithner so flustered, he clearly alluded to the foreign banks that got 100 cents on the dollar from the AIG bailout. They are the "people abroad" whom he's so reluctant to mention or acknowledge meeting.
"By preventing default we helped AIG meet it's financial obligations, not just to people abroad, insurance protection, savings protection products, but to its broad counterparties." (author's emphasis) (Starts 4:07)
Warren has been challenging Geithner and the socialism for the rich program known as the bailout from her first days as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel monitoring the bailout. Now we're expected to believe that she will be given real authority to advocate for the people in an unofficial capacity while reporting to Geithner, as well as President Obama. We are asked, further, to believe that Obama couldn't get the nomination approved by the Senate and that he couldn't appoint her as the consumer bureau's interim director.
The people know a fraud when they see it. This one is in sharp relief against the background of the great wealth transfer program from just about everybody to the self-selected few who own the controlling interest in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government.
The Democratic Party as "The Cooler"
We've entered an extraordinary era in U.S. politics. The financial and power elite are now in a no lose situation. The Republicans are in full lock step with the rigged game for the super rich. This includes relentless anti-union activities; the continuation of the same Wall Street practices that toppled the financial system; a failure to relieve people losing retirements, homes, etc.; and, an economy dependent on wars of any type. Despite their numerical superiority in the Senate, the Democrats claim that they just can't get anything passed without 60 votes, no way around it. That, of course, is fiction. The end result is stasis, the status quo, and the continuation of failed policies with a few cosmetic changes on the margins.
Rather than acting like a real opposition party, the Democrats enable the worst excesses of the Republican era of greed by their failure to undo those excesses. They pawn tepid "reform" and then run to their corner begging for mercy from the people who elected them to bring real change and some degree of social justice.
In the case of Warren, a fake drama was created whereby the White House could get credit for appointing Warren for full Senate approval while snatching back both that appointment and an interim slot; all in the name of political necessity. Whose necessity? Who benefits?
All involved in this destructive drama should be ashamed. But they won't. They don't care because they don't have to care. They're above the law and the real world consequences of a truly open political system.
Chalk it up as another big triumph of The Money Party.
END
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