First time there was real fight back against Wall Street. And the billhas gotten stronger, not weaker. We probably will win: consumer protection--still need no carve outs in the future fight to greater enforcement
...There is MUCH more to do: ban naked credit default swaps (the weapons of mass financial destruction), foreclosure (!!!) and community reinvestment, executive compensation, and more. But quite a start and should not be discounted."
I hope she's right but, even as no changes have yet been made, there has been a wave of unjustified media optimism as satirized by the Onion which asks, "Could the economy be on the rebound? Here are some other favorable indicators:"
Sufficient supplies of toilet paper in all rest stops between Tomah, WI and Gary, IN
Jim Cramer no longer wildly waving a gun around during his telecast
Phrase "f*cking Goldman Sachs" has been dropped almost completely in favor of "f*cking BP."
Alas, this is nothing to joke about as an article on the Naked Capitalism website makes clear:
"It is not a sign of intelligence to repeat a course of action and expect different results. Yet our officialdom is doing pretty much just that on the economic front. Treasury and the Fed in particular seem quite pleased with their success in patching up the financial system with duct tape and baling wire and prodding it into a semblance of operation via massive support, most notably via super low interest rates"
The failure to change the structure, operation, or leadership of major financial firms means they are just about certain to repeat the same behavior that led to mind-numbing bonuses in 2007 and 2009."
In the meantime, even as an investigation of Goldman Sachs is being broadened, there is still no clamor in Congress or big media to go after financial crime, the story I tell in my film Plunder The Crime of Our Time. (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com)
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