Archive for posts ‘Wall Street’

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2/4/10 11:30 am | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , ,

Palin Fails Couric Interview

When asked for specific examples of McCain pushing for more regulation of Wall Street, Palin couldn’t find a single one:


COURIC: You’ve said, quote, “John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.” Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?
PALIN: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie–that, that’s paramount. That’s more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

COURIC: But he’s been in Congress for 26 years. He’s been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He’s also known as the maverick though. Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he’s been talking about–the need to reform government.

COURIC: I’m just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?

PALIN: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.

Well, now I understand why the McCain campaign desperately wants to postpone the VP debate indefinitely.

9/24/08 5:28 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , ,

No Bailouts for Billionaires

Taxpayers shouldn’t have to pump billions of dollars into Wall Street just so these assholes can keep their vacation homes:

“A lot of those people will have to sell their homes, they’re going to cut back on the private jets and the vacations. They may even have to take their kids out of private school,” said Frank. “It’s a total reworking of their lifestyle.”

He added that it’s going to be no easy task.

“It’s going to be very hard psychologically for these people,” Frank said. “I talked to one guy who had to give up his private jet recently. And he said of all the trials in his life, giving that up was the hardest thing he’s ever done.”
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The CEOs get no sympathy from Lorraine Hankinson, whose husband worked for decades in the mailroom at Bear Stearns.”The average guy when he loses, he loses everything and he’s got nothing to fall back on,” said Hankinson.

Like thousands of others, she’s been hit hard, losing more than $7,000 of her retirement money, with no estate in Greenwich or golden parachute to fall back on.

“The little guy got the shafting, literally,” said Hankinson. “We got the shafting because that in particular, that amount of money may not seem like much to those guys, but to me, it was my way to build and get a future.” 

And we’re just supposed to write the Bush Administration a $700 billion blank check with no judicial, legislative, or regulatory oversight so they can hand out cash to their CEO buddies? Becasue they did such a great idea with the over half a trillion dollars spent on the Iraq War? Yeah right. Via Matt Stoller, at least one Democratic lawmaker is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore:

Paulsen and congressional Republicans, or the few that will actually vote for this (most will be unwilling to take responsibility for the consequences of their policies), have said that there can’t be any “add ons,” or addition provisions. Fuck that. I don’t really want to trigger a world wide depression (that’s not hyperbole, that’s a distinct possibility), but I’m not voting for a blank check for $700 billion for those mother fuckers.Nancy said she wanted to include the second “stimulus” package that the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans have blocked. I don’t want to trade a $700 billion dollar giveaway to the most unsympathetic human beings on the planet for a few fucking bridges. I want reforms of the industry, and I want it to be as punitive as possible.

Henry Waxman has suggested corporate government reforms, including CEO compensation, as the price for this.  Some members have publicly suggested allowing modification of mortgages in bankruptcy, and the House Judiciary Committee staff is also very interested in that.  That’s a real possibility.  

We may strip out all the gives to industry in the predatory mortgage lending bill that the House passed last November, which hasn’t budged in the Senate, and include that in the bill.  There are other ideas on the table but they are going to be tough to work out before next week.  

I also find myself drawn to provisions that would serve no useful purpose except to insult the industry, like requiring the CEOs, CFOs and the chair of the board of any entity that sells mortgage related securities to the Treasury Department to certify that they have completed an approved course in credit counseling. That is now required of consumers filing bankruptcy to make sure they feel properly humiliated for being head over heels in debt, although most lost control of their finances because of a serious illness in the family. That would just be petty and childish, and completely in character for me.

I’m open to other ideas, and I am looking for volunteers who want to hold the sons of bitches so I can beat the crap out of them.

Meanwhile, here’s how President Obama would have responded:

As of now, the Bush Administration has only offered a concept with a staggering price tag, not a plan. Even if the U.S. Treasury recovers some or most of its investment over time, this initial outlay of up to $700 billion is sobering. And in return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform.
First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money.

Second, taxpayers shouldn’t be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street.

Third, taxpayers should be protected and should be able to recoup this investment.

Fourth, this plan has to help homeowners stay in their homes.

Fifth, this is a global crisis, and the United States must insist that other nations join us in helping secure the financial markets.

Sixth, we need to start putting in place the rules of the road I’ve been calling for for years to prevent this from ever happening again.

Quite a few economists agree that this bailout is a bad idea. Like Thers says, on Monday morning it’s time to start calling your members of Congress.

9/21/08 2:38 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , ,

As Wall Street Tanks, McCain Still Saying the Economy is Fundamentally Strong

John McCain obviously didn’t read any newspaper this morning, or he would have realized how incredibly wrong he is:

For those who can’t watch clips from their work computers, McCain, in a speech in Jacksonville, Florida, this morning, said, “You know that there’s been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall St. And it is — people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think still — the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.”

Watching the video, this wasn’t an instance in which McCain repeated a line out of habit — he read the quote from a prepared text. While he was reading the speech, the markets here and around the globe were tanking.


 

And, just as a reminder, this is what John McCain thinks is fundamentally strong:

 DJIA

You know, like McCain, I’m not an expert on this Wall Street stuff, but all it takes is to open a newspaper to find that there is something bad going on with the economy.

Update: The official statement from the Obama campaign:

This morning we woke up to some very serious and troubling news from Wall Street.

The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that are generating enormous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This turmoil is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.

The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store. Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans have brought us to the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression.

I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It’s a philosophy we’ve had for the last eight years – one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. It’s a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.

Well now, instead of prosperity trickling down, the pain has trickled up – from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street.

This country can’t afford another four years of this failed philosophy. For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market – rules that would protect American investors and consumers. And I’ve called for policies that grow our economy and our middle-class together. That is the change I am calling for in this campaign, and that is the change I will bring as President.

9/15/08 8:32 am | Comment (1) | Permalink | Tags: , , ,

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