This disgraceful meeting happened shortly after Obama got "radical" on national
TV, calling the bankers "fat cats" and other tough words. But words are
only that.
In reality, Obama's sudden attitude with the banking aristocracy is a shallow
attempt to re-brand himself, since the American public now sees him for what he
is: a willing tool of the banks, military, and the super-rich in
general.
Congress, too, tried to re-cast its image with the banks recently. Like
the White House,
most American workers now understand the two-party system to be an extension of corporate America.
Congress was thus pushed to act. What little pushing was done was quickly
pushed back by the banking lobby.
The House of Representatives
passed a tough-sounding but toothless banking regulation bill, which was watered
down with $300 million plus in lobbying [bribing] from the big banks.
The passage of the bill in the House barely startled Wall Street, but
there is still more bribing to be done in the Senate. The Chief Executive
of a powerful banking lobby, Timothy Ryan, told the Wall Street Journal that "we believe there
can be additional improvements in the Senate." (December 12, 2009).
A number of U.S. academics
have sharply denounced the incredible corruption operating inside of the White
House and Congress. They correctly view the banking industry as having an
iron grip on American politics -- a grip that needs to be smashed. A
professor of economics, William Black, was recently quoted in The New York
Times railing against the banks:
"To end the plunder we must break the systemically dangerous institutions'
[banks] power and the culture of fraud and impunity that supports it. This is
sound economics, criminology, law, political science and ethics -- and Americans
support this policy."
Well said. But how?
It should first be noted that the Obama administration is supporting an
incredible myth that is boosting the banks' image with the public. The media
claims that, because some banks are re-paying the TARP bailout money, they
should now be able to do whatever they want -- including paying executives
millions of dollars, buying Congressmen,
hoarding, speculating, not lending to the public, etc.
The TARP bailout program is only a small portion of the entire bailout funds,
which continues to be administered by the FDIC and Federal Reserve
through taxpayer money. This larger bailout program -- which could amount
to trillions of dollars -- is being done in complete secrecy. Recent
legislation to audit the Federal Reserve has stalled (lobbyists again).
The banks continue to wallow in public money that they use to further enrich
themselves. Meanwhile, public officials do nothing but
chat.
But action is needed. American workers would easily support a heavy tax
not only on bank bonuses, but bank CEO's, and especially the bank shareholders
(owners). Taxing this group at 90% would give billions for a
national jobs program, while helping to reduce the national deficit. It
would also show the bankers who's boss.
However, if they still refuse to lend money, additional measures could be
taken. The government could take over the banks and run them as public utilities.
The only losers here would be the billionaire shareholders.
The winners would be the hundreds of millions of people who would benefit by
having their home and credit
card loans re-negotiated; the small businesses who could be given
cheap loans; and the unemployed, who could have a real jobs program -- which
includes not only investments in earth-friendly energy investments, but a
rebuilding of America's
infrastructure.
Finally, another big lie must be addressed. It is false when Obama claims
that, "ultimately in this country we rise and fall together; banks and small
businesses, consumers and large corporations."
American workers have seen shareholders make billions of dollars as wages have
steadily lowered. Banks have also made billions of dollars off student
loans, credit card bills, and shady mortgages,
only to be bailed out by taxpayer money. We are not "in this
together."
A tiny portion of the American population has gotten incredibly rich off the
backs of America's workers
and poor. This fact must be the basis for any solution to the present
crisis. Those who've made billions before the recession, and continue to
profit off the broken economy that they helped destroy, must be forced to
relinquish their power so that the majority of working people can democratically
decide to fix it.
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