Springtime for Bankers
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYT
Last year the G.O.P. pulled off two spectacular examples of bait-and-switch campaigning. Medicare, where the same people who screamed about death panels are now trying to dismantle the whole program, was the most obvious. But the same thing
happened with regard to financial reform.
As you may recall, Republicans ran hard against bank bailouts. Among other things, they managed to convince a plurality of voters that the deeply unpopular bailout legislation proposed and passed by the Bush administration was enacted on President Obama’s watch.
And now they’re doing everything they can to ensure that there will be even bigger bailouts in years to come.
What does it take to limit future bailouts? Declaring that we’ll never do it again is no answer: when financial turmoil strikes, standing aside while banks fall like dominoes isn’t an option. After all, that’s what policy makers did in 1931, and the resulting banking crisis turned a mere recession into the Great Depression.
(More here.)
NYT
Last year the G.O.P. pulled off two spectacular examples of bait-and-switch campaigning. Medicare, where the same people who screamed about death panels are now trying to dismantle the whole program, was the most obvious. But the same thing
happened with regard to financial reform.
As you may recall, Republicans ran hard against bank bailouts. Among other things, they managed to convince a plurality of voters that the deeply unpopular bailout legislation proposed and passed by the Bush administration was enacted on President Obama’s watch.
And now they’re doing everything they can to ensure that there will be even bigger bailouts in years to come.
What does it take to limit future bailouts? Declaring that we’ll never do it again is no answer: when financial turmoil strikes, standing aside while banks fall like dominoes isn’t an option. After all, that’s what policy makers did in 1931, and the resulting banking crisis turned a mere recession into the Great Depression.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
There are some issues that are not driven by party ideology, but instead by influence ... take the For-Profit Educational industry whose contributions have resulted in bipartisan support for them dispute the fact that is ripping off the taxpayers.
Yesterday, Senator Klobuchar was on MPR discussing higher gas prices being driven by speculators, and complained about the water-downed derivatives portion in last year's Dodd-Frank bill. This can only mean that there will be continued pressure to alter the rules ... will that be successful ?
Hmmm ... let's look at where the "money" is going ...
Spencer Bachus (AL-06), Chair of the Financial Services Committee, who has witnessed an astounding 753 percent rise in receipts to his campaign - from $35,125 in Q1 2009 to $299,440 in Q1 2011. Bachus has enjoyed a 518 percent bump in PAC contributions since ascending to the chairmanship - from $23,500 in Q1 2009 to $145,305 last quarter.
Yes, this is the Best Congress Money Can Buy ... after all, Mr. Bachus announced when he was named Chairman of the committee ... “We're here to serve the banks"
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