"getting it" is not the objective:Obama on
60 Minutes: (emp add)
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street . . . What's really frustrating me right now is that you've got these same banks who benefited from taxpayer assistance who are fighting tooth and nail with their lobbyists ...up on Capitol Hill, fighting against financial regulatory control. . . Which I think tells me that the people on Wall Street still don't get it...They're still puzzled why it is that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down 10, 20 million dollar bonuses after America went through the worst economic year...in decades and you guys caused the problem ...
It is folly to expect reform on the presumption that key - and powerful - people "get it". That's why we have government, to craft regulations and fashion policy that insures that people won't suffer unnecessarily (or unfairly benefit).
Can you imagine FDR being passive in the face of the Depression? Actually, Herbert Hoover's approach was that, absent government guidance and coercion, businesses would strengthen labor's hand (flattening the distribution of income) and expand operations.
Obama has dome some things, with the stimulus and unemployment expansion (largely a Congressional effort), but when it comes to Wall Street, he seems to think that they will act unselfishly - which is a forlorn hope.
posted by Quiddity at 12/12/2009 10:55:00 PM
Wall Street may not get it or they do and they don't care. More importantly Obama has staffed the Treasury and OMB with these same "clueless?" Wall Streeters.
Mean while we wait to see what bubble (Ponzi scheme) they come-up with next.
Is it just like Vegas? No, It's worse. In Vegas, at least, the Nevada Gaming Comission is trying to keep things honest.
Re "when it comes to Wall Street, he seems to think that they will act unselfishly..."
If he can handle shoelaces then he can't be that dumb. Perhaps there's something else going on here.
Agree with eb.
Obama's been good on a few things, but clearly he's in the banksters' pocket.
