In each case, the promised reform was gutted of its essence, and "compromise" versions of the bills are now being discussed: instead of universal health care, we will likely be universally mandated to purchase health insurance; instead of "job creation" we are told that the stimulus has "saved jobs" (contrary to the evidence); while troops are "drawing down" from Iraq, the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan is being escalated; instead of allowing workers to organize unions easier, a compromise version --“ Employee Free Choice Act, minus card check - seems more politically "pragmatic," etc.”
At the heart of the crisis is the plight of homeowners who we know were defrauded in large numbers, victims like the Madoff investors Yet the former are getting reimbursed to some degree, the latter are not. Bills to help them have been killed with Matt Renner on TruthOut reporting:
“A new analysis from a government watchdog group shows senators who killed off a consumer-friendly change in law aimed at addressing the foreclosure crisis received more money in campaign contributions from the industries their vote aided. Senators who voted against the consumer-friendly amendment received $3.98 million from the financial industry during the 2008 election cycle, while proponents of the bill received $2.65 million."
Could this be more corruption? Of course, but they call it politics as usual. And, that’s not the worst of it, is that foreclosures are still rising and now affecting non-subprime lenders with little relief in sight.
Back to the banks: I have been reading complex web posts showing how the stress tests of banks were rigged and more may be needed. I have been reading about how the unemployment figures undercount folks out of work with the real numbers probably doubled, with minorities possibly tripled. I have been reading essays arguing that the notion that the government is “saving jobs” is not quantifiable with no statistical back up.
I have been following the campaign to get the Federal Reserve Bank to disclose it’s showering of money on financial institutions—something it refuses to do,
Who can we trust and bank on? The President wants to give us confidence but seems to be playing a confidence game. The Banks are dissembling when they are not lying. The most trenchant critics—May they be wrong—believe a total collapse is in the offing,
And the rest of us, mostly puzzled and paralyzed, unable to comprehend the severity of the situation, the billions, no make that trillions, gone. How do we make sense of the game playing in State Governments like those in California and New York a caricature of responsibility? The jobs are going and the Banksters are still going for it, sucking up what they can in a race to the bottom.
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