By Steve Rhodes
“The largest banks are larger than they were when Obama took office and are nearing the level of profits they were making before the depths of the financial crisis in 2008, according to government data,” the Washington Post reports.
“Wall Street firms – independent companies and the securities-trading arms of banks – are doing even better. They earned more in the first 2 1/2 years of the Obama administration than they did during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration.”
The time for blaming Bush is long past, too. Obama has owned this from the start.
“There’s a very popular conception out there that the bailout was done with a tremendous amount of firepower and focus on saving the largest Wall Street institutions but with very little regard for Main Street,” said Neil Barofsky, the former federal watchdog for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, the $700 billion fund used to bail out banks. “That’s actually a very accurate description of what happened.”
Why else does Obama own this?
“[Austan] Goolsbee, the former chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the administration misjudged how quickly the country could recover from the economic damage of the 2008 economic collapse.”
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What does Obama have to say about this?
“I believe all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones.”
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What does David Plouffe have to say?
“Americans want leaders who will be fair and insist on accountability on Wall Street. But Republicans, including all of their presidential candidates, have essentially said, ‘Let’s give Wall Street a blank check.'”
Obama, on the other hand, is getting blank checks from Wall Street.
“He has courted financial executives for campaign donations, including inviting them to a campaign gathering at the White House. He has attracted more money for his campaign and for the Democratic National Committee from financial firm employees than all of the GOP candidates combined – a total of $15.6 million. ”
And about the fairness and accountability Plouffe speaks of:
“Banks also have benefited from the large increase during the recession in unemployment insurance. Increasingly, banks offer debit cards to the unemployed to collect their government benefits. These debit cards carry a range of fees that bolster banks’ bottom lines.
“What’s more, states – with their budgets shattered by the financial crisis and recession – have increasingly been moving to enroll new employees into Wall Street-run retirement accounts rather than government pension programs. That’s potentially more lucrative for Wall Street, which can charge fees for managing the savings of individual retirees.”
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“In New York City, the average Wall Street salary last year grew 16.1 percent.”
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See also: The Weekend in Occupy Chicago.
Keystone Light
Keystone Pipeline Decision Could Be Delayed Until After Election.
“On Sunday, thousands of onetime Obama supporters, including donors, environmentalists, campaign volunteers and at least one former White House staff member, formed a human chain around the White House to highlight the growing opposition to granting Keystone XL a permit.”
How To Become A Judge
“I have been a loyal Democrat. I voted in each of the Democratic primaries last 20 years. I helped the Speaker [Madigan] out on a number of elections in the south suburbs, same thing for [former state senate president] Sen. Emil Jones. When the Democratic Party wanted somebody to go down and testify in Springfield, I did that. When they needed help writing legislation, I did that.”
He got slated.
Introducing Reform Chicago
Chicago’s First Dynamic Reformer Pilates Studio.
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
You shoulda been there.
This Will Only Be A Test
In the event of a real emergency, for godsakes don’t depend on Comcast.
They’re Saying “Boooackhawks!”
All downhill after the anthem.
Should The Bears Really Be An 8-Point Underdog?
Maybe 10 is more like it!
Programming Note:
I’m back behind the bar tonight at the venerable Beachwood Inn. Stop in to watch the Bears, drink some Bell’s, shoot some stick and plug the jukebox. 5p – 2a.
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Paint it black.
Posted on November 7, 2011