"They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see... You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in -- in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10% unemployment."
Okay, but then are you still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the government? Presumably, your answer to that question would be: Look! Over there! Fat cat bankers!!!
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49 comments:
The giant pink Donkey in the room? Barney Frank(D) and Company; The real reason behind the housing collapse. *cough* - force banks to loan money to people who can't pay it back *cough*
I wonder if he means the fat cats at Fannie & Freddie who received million upon millions of dollars in salary and bonuses all before during and after the tax payer funded housing agencies posted billions of dollars in losses?
Nah...
Jamie Gorelick and the rest deserved the money.
Tax payers are suckers.
This is the part I don't get. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around re creative dividend accounting, but Congress, under Bush, tried to reign in Fannie and Freddie back in 2006.
If I remember correctly, Senator I-don't-get-VIP-loans Dodd led the filibuster that ended that attempt.
I've heard that there is no truth to the claim that part of the problem was the government leaning on banks to get people who couldn't afford to buy into homes.
Seems to me there's plenty of blame to go around.
I only catch 60 Minutes during football season while attempting to figure out how delayed the following CBS shows will be due to games running long.
I caught Obama's answer to this question. It was one long whine about how it just sucks that banks are repaying TARP loans and no longer under the thumb of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi (plus Franks and Dodd).
The report on regenerative medicene that followed Obama's bitch session was amazing, however.
"I know you are but how 'bout me?"
"That's not fair."
"Mommy, he hit me!"
"You guys caused the problem"
When banks can get money from the government at effectively zero interest, the banks are going to borrow it and lend it to the public at a not-zero interest.
The economy looks like it is zooming along, but it is all built on credit and can't be sustained.
That is the bubble Greenspan created, that just popped last year.
And Obama's fix, now that consumers and business can't spend money borrowed from banks any more, is to have the feds spend money borrow it the Chinese?
Does Obama know ANYTHING about economics?
The smartest president ever?
Not by a mile.
Fat cat politicians.
Rahm Emmanuel, another fat cat banker.
From Wiki
"After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel resigned from his position in the Clinton administration and became an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002. "
"In 1999, he became a managing director at the firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures."
Obama is so pathetic. His approval rating is down to 44%, so he tries to shift the blame to scapegoats. Blaming bankers is so 2008.
Next he'll blame the kulaks.
Or the capitalist wreckers and hoarders.
Or the Jews.
Whatever might work.
" ... or The Jews"
"Bankers" = code for "New York Jews"
He's already blaming the Jews ("Goldman Sachs" ... sounds pretty Jewish to me.)
But, Obama does have a point. Bankers are receiving billions of 0% money from The Fed, and then using it not to lend to Americans, but for currency carry trade. Of course they're going to do that because it's a no-risk way to recapitalize (perhaps the only way).
But the fact of the matter is that the Obama Administration could haver equired the banks to lend this "free" money to Americans. Obama ha chosen not to do that.
The Obama Administration is also actively protecting the bankers by refusing to allow bankruptcy judges to alter mortgages. He's refusing to allow the bankers to have to take forced haircuts.
The Obama Administration also gave the bankers 9 months to rig the credit card market and jack up everybody's APR to 30% before credit card changes were enacted.
Obama is like Tiger Woods. He seems disgusted now by all the whores he's been sleeping with.
Amateur.
What a rube.
Trey
Anything to divert attention from the responsibility of the politicians.
April, I just got your pink donkey joke.
Good one.
I am drinking more coffee and reading the post again to see what else I missed.
Trey
Bankers are middlemen, which is to say they profit from moving capital from where it is not needed to where it is needed.
They're paid for creating and using new information. That governments can't do that is why government direction never works.
The classic middleman story is the priest in an allied POW camp in Germany, who traded Red Cross package contents.
When new packages came in, he'd take his and start trading people for stuff they'd prefer to what they have; each trade profited both sides.
At the end of the day, he had the equivalent of two Red Cross packages.
He didn't create anything. But everybody was better off, everybody having something he preferred to what he had.
He earned his extra Red Cross package from finding and using information about who wants what and figuring out how to get there.
Bankers are the same.
The government, however, was carrot-and-sticking low income home ownership, and that false information is what made everything blow up.
So Obama is blaming the bankers.
Some indication that Obama understands the slightest thing about economics would be helpful.
Look, a squirrel in an expensive suit!
"[Even though I ran as the smartest, most thoughtful policy-thinking down-with-all-sides soul brotha politician that could make anyone comfortable that I knew what I was doing], I do not bring with me today the answer to the problems of our economic situation."
Is it ok to think Obama's pretty much a dummy yet? Even if his greatest transgression is to hand over all his elected power to party apparatchiks and the Pelosi-Reid axis rather than assert the person that he campaigned as, to me that qualifies him for dum-dum status after having acted as such for this long.
Here, Barry, have a lollipop.
wv: "frumic" -- of or pertaining to a lily-livered "nouveau-moderate" vision of Republicanism.
the knee jerk stupidity on this blog is amazing. there are actually folks on here who are defending the bankers and castigating the president, who, incidentally had nothing to do with the economic crisis except to have it land on his desk to solve.
why not blame the banks and the financial sector when they were at fault. the simple fact is they aren't lending, credit worthy or not, they are hoarding because right now it looks better to have cash reserves rather than loans of any kind. Bank of America makes a big deal out of repaying TARP but if you look at it (which few of you economic idiots ever do) BOA's banking continues to lose money. It is only through dilution of equity do they raise the money - that and a profitable trading floor - but if they were purely in the business of banking, they would be closed up tight.
Look. You folks know me.
And I agree with Obama (on this).
Not that there isn't a bunch of blame to go around pretty much everywhere, certainly there is. And Obama has made things much, much worse than any of us could have imagined, even those of us who find the man despicable.
But the bankers? About them, Obama is right. They should be burned at the stake.
castigating the president, who, incidentally had nothing to do with the economic crisis except to have it land on his desk to solve.
Let's see here, the Federal government gave billions of bailout money and act shocked and awed that the banker's are now sitting on the money and helping themselves to bonuses on the taxpayer dime.
Economic idiots? Yes that would be an appropriate description for the clueless fools who gave out billions with no conditions. Its not unlike the welfare recipients who always seem to have ample cash for liquor, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
there are actually folks on here who are defending the bankers and castigating the president, who, incidentally had nothing to do with the economic crisis except to have it land on his desk to solve.
That's not an excuse to continue to deflect responsibility for what is happening right now. He ran on his promises to fix things, so it's entirely fair to hold him to account for his failure to do so.
Shift the focus. Find a target the public hates.
Another bullshit performance attempting to stop his declining approval ratings.
Is there a reason idiot pols lack subtlety and nuance, tending toward the obvious?
He ran on his promises to fix things, so it's entirely fair to hold him to account for his failure to do so.
Well in fairness to Obama, its going to take years, if not decades to right much of the damage done, particularly trying to get some semblance of fiscal sanity with regard to the deficit.
But that assumes he would be doing the right things which, he has not. Case in point is health care reform which he has basically staked his presidency on getting passed, during a time of 10% unemployment, certainly makes people wonder what his true priorities are. Instead, his own party is embarking on a campaign of cannibalism over this legislation and unemployment claims are still coming in.
Instead he should have directed the stimulus not to his political cronies but to actual job creation, getting unemployment back down to acceptable levels would have given him the political capital to get health care reform passed.
So hdhouse is correct that he didn't have anything to do with the crisis but he certainly doesn't have a clue as to what to do about it. Maybe less time talkie talkie and more worky worky.
hdhouse said...
the knee jerk stupidity on this blog is amazing. there are actually folks on here who are defending the bankers and castigating the president, who, incidentally had nothing to do with the economic crisis except to have it land on his desk to solve.
Takes one who practices it to know it, I guess.
BHO received more banking money than anyone in the Senate, except for the Hildabeast and Christopher "girl sandwich" Dodd.
What Scott M said is almost correct:
This is the part I don't get. Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around re creative dividend accounting, but Congress, under Bush, tried to reign in Fannie and Freddie back in 2006.
If I remember correctly, Senator I-don't-get-VIP-loans Dodd led the filibuster that ended that attempt
Actually Dodd ran it from behind the scenes, Bambi was the point man.
paul a'barge said...
Look. You folks know me.
And I agree with Obama (on this).
Not that there isn't a bunch of blame to go around pretty much everywhere, certainly there is. And Obama has made things much, much worse than any of us could have imagined, even those of us who find the man despicable.
But the bankers? About them, Obama is right. They should be burned at the stake.
Remember the CRA? When Willie had it updated, the purpose was to force banks to take these high risk loans. Let me quote AprilApple:
The giant pink Donkey in the room? Barney Frank(D) and Company; The real reason behind the housing collapse. *cough* - force banks to loan money to people who can't pay it back *cough*
I wonder if he means the fat cats at Fannie & Freddie who received million upon millions of dollars in salary and bonuses all before during and after the tax payer funded housing agencies posted billions of dollars in losses?
You want bankers done in? OK, but save some marshmallows for The Zero, Willie Whitewater and Bobby Rubin (who made a fortune before he ran Chase into the ground), Dodd, and Slobbering Barney.
WV "kinge" The guy married to the queene.
How many bankers receive bonuses?
Let's look at government instead. Two years ago there was one, O-N-E, person at the Department of Labor making (certainly not [i]earning[/i]) more than $170,000 per year.
As of last month, there were 1,690 employees in DoL making that kind of money.
I could give similar examples from our local school board, the state bureaucracy, and even our county government.
Government is the problem.
.
I could give similar examples from our local school board, the state bureaucracy, and even our county government.
Indeed. Just today I was listening to an up an coming mayoral candidate talking about ways to get our fiscal house in order. One thing he said which stood out was when he mentioned, among other things, the maintenance and upkeep of city parks and pools and other basic services.
I always thought of police, fire and garbage remobal as basic services. Silly me.
Of course banks are to blame; all they do is loan money to each other and to rich snobs. They never loan money to people who lie on their loan applications and then default on the loan. Never happens.
Bart Hall: do you have a cite for that? Not that it sounds unbelievable, I'd just like to see it and possibly use it for future reference.
-Lyssa
Government is the problem.
Bart Hall: do you have a cite for that? Not that it sounds unbelievable, I'd just like to see it and possibly use it for future reference.
For feds, more get 6-figure salaries Average pay $30,000 over private sector
Sort of like visiting a prison, and the murderer points to the rapist and says, "He's messed up!"
Arturius said...
"Let's see here, the Federal government gave billions of bailout money and act shocked and awed that the banker's are now sitting on the money and helping themselves to bonuses on the taxpayer dime."
prime example of a stupid hack. that was Paulsen and Bush you buckwheat. get a life.
if you can't do that, then learn to read.
Sofa King said...
" He ran on his promises to fix things, so it's entirely fair to hold him to account for his failure to do so."
then tell your republican friends in congress to get off the dime and play ball. this 40 vote minority wears thin. the only thing they offer is delay. what about all that shit in the early part of this century with the "up or down vote"? you shitheads remember that crap?
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...
"How many bankers receive bonuses?
Let's look at government instead. Two years ago there was one, O-N-E, person at the Department of Labor making (certainly not [i]earning[/i]) more than $170,000 per year.
As of last month, there were 1,690 employees in DoL making that kind of money."
Hey shithead. how many bankers at AIG where we gave them 170 billion at least make that kinda money? Count them asshole. 16845 sound right to you? Now let's get to bonuses. You freaks on the right are so transparent .
It is possible to be angry with two groups of greedy people at the same time.
There aren't a whole lot of good credit risks out there at the moment. Is the idea to get bankers to lend to the bad ones, so we can blame them when it all blows up again?
House: All the charm of the eponymous TV doctor, none of the brains.
Poor Mr Obama; poor dems-can't get those nasty old wing nuts to play ball--the dems have the numbers they need in both houses--the numbers they are losing even faster are approval ratings.
The only thing our congress critters care about is getting elected--politics is a real bitch and the president is increasingly looking like a lame duck as far as 2010 mid terms go.
then tell your republican friends in congress to get off the dime and play ball. this 40 vote minority wears thin. the only thing they offer is delay. what about all that shit in the early part of this century with the "up or down vote"? you shitheads remember that crap?
What economics bill is currently being held up by Republicans?
It does sound to me like the estimable HD House is in dire need of pinching a loaf--or possibly he is all wee weed up. I am sure Titus could provide some assistance.
"Bankers" = code for "New York Jews"
There are NO fucking "Code words". Stop trying to defend the banksters by changing the subject.
Can we have a actual adult conversation in America about anything without the con artists and ideologues poisoning the well?
Sofa King said...
"What economics bill is currently being held up by Republicans?"
every last one you brain dead moron.
When banks can get money from the government at effectively zero interest, the banks are going to borrow it and lend it to the public at a not-zero interest.
Wha..What!? You mean profit. Can they do that? Are they supposed to?
"What economics bill is currently being held up by Republicans?"
every last one you brain dead moron.
Try actually reading the news every now and then.
every last one you brain dead moron.
That was a polite way of me challenging your credibility by asking for an example, which, I note, you have failed to do.
Would you care to do so?
Why can't we be mad at Obama, Congress, and the banks, among others. There's enough blame and anger to go around.
The Wall Street guys give as much, now more, money to the Dems than the Republicans. Schumer and Dodd are consistently pimping the agenda of the financial services companies in Congress.
This is the government people have voted in. The minute Obama starts pointing the finger at his fellow Democrats, as well as the banks, is the minute I'll listen to him on this stuff. (It's too much to ask that he point the finger at himself. For example, he could have pushed for legislation limiting bonuses, instead of falling back on some wishy-washy pay czar bullshit).
And when do we hear about the unions who helped destroy Ford and GM?
People aren't idiots. Enough with blaming Bush and the bankers. Start solving problems you arrogant, incompetent politician.
"Here is what I think they don't get...It was their irresponsible risk-taking in many cases that brought the economy to collapse," Mr. Summers [said].
And yet Obama wants the banks to start lending to businesses. As someone else pointed out, isn't that how we got into this mess? The government pushed the banks to loan money to home-buyers, and we see how that idea worked out.
How about if we let the businesses actually keep their profits? Insead, Obama wants to increase taxes, forcing business to need loans.
I can't decide if Obama is incredibly stupid or if he WANTS to destroy the economy. I know...I'm not the first to ask that.
Obama can be pretty happy that friend and foe alike have forgotten all about the fat-cat auto execs he helped out.
Here's Obama, who knocked down record campaign contributions from bankers and Wall Street fat cats, playing the class warfare card to bolster his approval ratings.
Tomorrow, they will be "racist fat cats."
My translated edition of Tenets of Populist Conservatism for the Non-Retarded breaks it down quite nicely:
The people who are more upset at this government are just showing that they're the type to believe in the kind of quick fixes given to speculative bubbles in the first fucking place.
An apparently little known fact is that these "fat cat bankers" are mainly Democrats. Robert Rubin, Clinton's Treasury Secretary, went on to Citibank. It was at his advice that Citi got involved in the credit default swaps that almost bankrupted the place. Stanley O'Neal was a friend and an occasional adviser to Obama. He changed the corporate culture at Mother Merrill and was, perhaps more than Thain, responsible for Merrill's fall. Clinton's daughter and Biden's son both work for hedge funds. I read somewhare that the fund Biden's son worked for had ties to Madoff. Then I never read anything more about it. I suppose the reporters were reassigned to cover Levi Johnson.....We all know that Ken Lay was a personal friend of George Bush. The interlocking connections between these big money men and the Democratic Party is never explored, but it exists. George Soros, Warren Buffet, and Franklin Raines are not known for their outspoken support of Republicans.
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