Trying to explain the disappointment that many of of feel about the Obama presidency, Klein writes:
"All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack.
"Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are starting to entertain the possibility that their man is not, in fact, going to save the world if we all just hope really hard."
Friends tell me my expectations are too high, that the system resists change. But I know all that and so did Senator Obama when he ran. Obama said recently that he won't prosecute the CIA torturers who were following orders. He needs to reread Hannah Arendt. The world has been through this before.
You can read the rest of Klein's article in the Nation.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Who Wrecked the World's Economy?
Here's a snippet from Bill Moyer's recent interview with William K. Black:
*BILL MOYERS:* Yeah. Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?
*WILLIAM K. BLACK:* Absolutely.
*BILL MOYERS:* You are.
*WILLIAM K. BLACK:* Absolutely, because they are scared to death. All right? They're scared to death of a collapse. They're afraid that if they admit the truth, that many of the large banks are insolvent. They think Americans are a bunch of cowards, and that we'll run screaming to the exits. And we won't rely on deposit insurance. And, by the way, you can rely on deposit insurance. And it's foolishness. All right? Now, it may be worse than that. You can impute more cynical motives. But I think they are sincerely just panicked about, "We just can't let the big banks fail." That's wrong.
---------------
Ever wonder why the banks had to be saved? Read on.
*BILL MOYERS:* Yeah. Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?
*WILLIAM K. BLACK:* Absolutely.
*BILL MOYERS:* You are.
*WILLIAM K. BLACK:* Absolutely, because they are scared to death. All right? They're scared to death of a collapse. They're afraid that if they admit the truth, that many of the large banks are insolvent. They think Americans are a bunch of cowards, and that we'll run screaming to the exits. And we won't rely on deposit insurance. And, by the way, you can rely on deposit insurance. And it's foolishness. All right? Now, it may be worse than that. You can impute more cynical motives. But I think they are sincerely just panicked about, "We just can't let the big banks fail." That's wrong.
---------------
Ever wonder why the banks had to be saved? Read on.
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