Remember Senator Dick Durbin's comment, ??the bankers run the place. ?
Alan Blinder a former vice-chairman of the Fed fears that pressure for financial reform is losing steam in part because of the power of what he calls ??The Mother Of All Lobbies. ? He writes, ??in the case of financial reform, the money at stake is mind-boggling amd one financial industry after another will go to the mat to fight any provision that might hurt it. ?
Obama acknowledged we are not out of the woods yet. (What woods?)But what are the likely consequences? How long can people live without anything coming in? How long can we live on upbeat projections?
??There is no doubt class antagonism is stewing, ? says the editor of the blog Naked Captalism. He expressed a fear of a reaction that will go way beyond flag-waving tea parties.
??" I am concerned this behavior is setting the stage for another sort of extra-legal measure: violence. I have been amazed at the vitriol directed at the banking classes. Suggestions for punishment have included the guillotine (frequent), hanging, pitchforks, even burning at the stake. Tar and feathering
appears inadequate, and stoning hasn't yet surfaced as an idea. And mind you, my readership is educated, older, typically well-off (even if less so than three years ago). The fuse has to be shorter where the suffering is more acute. ?
One is reminded of the title of that movie, ??There will be blood. ? Rather than show contrition or compassion for its own victims, Wall Street is hoping to jack up its salaries and bonuses to pre-2007 levels. The men at the top are oblivious to the pain they helped cause. They are getting away with the crime of our time.
And the people ??THE PEOPLE ??who potentially can challenge all this by action on the ground are being mesmerized by the false hope that recovery is here or right around the corner. How long before they realize you can't eat optimistic speeches?
Mediachannel's News Dissector Danny Schechter's new book and film on Wall Street's ??Crime of Our Time ? is coming soon. See Newsdissector.com/plunder. dissector@mediachannel.org
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