Less than twenty-four hours from my Monday post, Faux Powerlessness, we learn the true state affairs. President Obama not only failed to use the powers of his office to admonish bankers, but also engaged in a virtual love fest with bankers at his vaunted Monday White House meetings with bankers.
The Banker -Administration Love Fest
Charles Gasparino broke the story in “Two Faces of O:”
In public, President Obama is on a tear against Wall Street. In private, not so much.
Over the weekend, Obama attacked fat-cat investment bankers, telling “60 Minutes” he didn’t become president to aid and abet Wall Street — which, only a year after the financial meltdown and taxpayer bailout, is now scheduled to hand out tens of billions of dollars in bonuses to its bankers and traders.
But the president’s meeting yesterday with the CEOs of the largest banks was nearly a love fest, I’m told by attendees.
The meeting was devoid of surprises. The White House “telegraphed” their modest message through talking points sent to the attendees last week:
- lend more to small business,
- reduce bonuses
- support Congressional efforts to enact regulatory reform.
Said one CEO who attended: “I expected to be taken to the woodshed, but the tone was quite the opposite.”
Obama has deemed these money center banks too big to fail and has guaranteed their debt. The Administration has allowed the banks to mint profits through: paying interest on reserves, eliminating competition through mergers, and steepening the yield curve so banks can borrow at zero and purchase higher yielding, long term government securities. A zero interest rate policy coupled with government guarantees against failure irrationally has encouraged speculation. Some of the speculative money flowed into commodities such as oil, driving up consumer prices. Bank profits and bonuses have soared at the expense of Main Street.
Elites Grow More Powerful at the Expense of the Middle Class
The Bush Administration began many of these policies. However, wasn’t Obama elected to effect change? It appears the Administration is more interested in Wall Street’s treasure trove of campaign contributions than effecting meaningful change. The outburst on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, in light of the Gasparino article, appears nothing more than a staged drama for the masses. Citizens who had hoped for change are waking up to the reality that they may have wasted their vote. Meanwhile elites grow more powerful and the middle class shrinks. This does not bode well for our republic.
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Related posts:
- Faux Powerlessness
- Collateral Damage
- We Can Handle the Truth
- Trust Once Lost
- Consistently Inconsistent
Tags: 60 Minutes, bankers, Charles Gasparino, elites, middle class, Obama
