Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

[Chomsky]

Another brilliant piece by Matt Taibbi.

All of this is great, but taken together, these reforms fail to address even a tenth of the real problem. Worse: They fail to even define what the real problem is. Over a long year of feverish lobbying and brutally intense backroom negotiations, a group of D.C. insiders fought over a single question: Just how much of the truth about the financial crisis should we share with the public? Do we admit that control over the economy in the past dec*ade was ceded to a small group of rapacious criminals who to this day are engaged in a mind-*numbing campaign of theft on a global scale? Or do we pretend that, minus a few bumps in the road that have mostly been smoothed out, the clean-hands capitalism of Adam Smith still rules the day in America? In other words, do people need to know the real version, in all its majestic whorebotchery, or can we get away with some bullshit cover story?

In passing Dodd-Frank, they went with the cover story.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/188551

[oddlots]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

I always loved the image of Johnston pulling out a bottle of whiskey and making a deal to get the crucial vote. The whole pragmatism meme. But this is absurd. The problem to my eye seems to be the absence of party discipline. Watching congress is like watching birds flock. The outlier, the last bird to join or the first bird to bolt holds all the power. That's absolute madness. Guarantees gridlock or worse when it really matters.

Tabbi's a godsend. Thanks for posting it.

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

I'll say.. great article.

[mesyn191]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

Yeah great read, if depressing.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

Yeah great read, if depressing.

+1

[leegs]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

+1

I almost didn't read the article, thinking 'this is old news', more expose of the now obvious crime scene in which we live. But I did read it, felt sort of mad, and learned that I am still net yet adequately cynical. A good article, and well worth the time to read.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

... and learned that I am still net yet adequately cynical.

That can be a challenge sometimes ... being adequately cynical that is.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

That can be a challenge sometimes ... being adequately cynical that is.

"No matter how cynical you get, it's impossible to keep up." -- Lily Tomlin

[BuckarooBanzai]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

From the article: "Sen. Bernie Sanders and others won a fight to allow Congress to audit the Fed's books for the first time ever."

A) Is this really in the bill?
B) If so, how typical of Rolling Stone to credit this to Bernie Sanders, when Ron Paul has been this issue's champion since day 1.

[Rajiv]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

From the article: "Sen. Bernie Sanders and others won a fight to allow Congress to audit the Fed's books for the first time ever."

A) Is this really in the bill?
B) If so, how typical of Rolling Stone to credit this to Bernie Sanders, when Ron Paul has been this issue's champion since day 1.

Because Ron Paul is not a Senator, and it was in the Senate that all the hurdles to it came, and Bernie Sanders was the sponsor of the bill in the Senate. It is in the Senate that a filibuster can be used to block the passage of a bill.

Ron Paul's Bill was defeated in the house (unfortunately)

This is no surprise. Neither party wants to audit the counterfeiting enterprise that is at the dark heart of the regime. The Republicans voted for it only for partisan reasons. When they are in power, the bill will never even come up. But here is the victory: through this device Ron Paul has added many more people to the vast numbers he has educated on the true nature of the central bank. The only victory that matters is in the hearts and minds of the people; good will never come from the top down. Ron Paul has advanced the cause of truth by a huge margin where it counts: educationally. We are being ripped off through inflation, business cycles, and redistribution, and through the corporatism and wars the Fed makes possible. That is Ron Paul’s lesson, and the reason we must End the Fed. See also his reading list.

Also on the Senate side - Senate Adopts Sanders' 'Audit The Fed' Amendment

The Senate today voted overwhelmingly to adopt an amendment, authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), forcing a comprehensive review of the Federal Reserve's emergency lending activities. The amendment passed by a 96-0 vote.

Though the measure was always popular, it faced extraordinary opposition from the White House, Wall Street and the Fed itself. Late last week, in a move that defused the opposition, and may have saved Wall Street reform legislation, Sanders agreed to limit the scope of the audit to emergency lending only, exempting other Fed activities.

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[don]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

I always loved the image of Johnston pulling out a bottle of whiskey and making a deal to get the crucial vote. The whole pragmatism meme. But this is absurd. The problem to my eye seems to be the absence of party discipline. Watching congress is like watching birds flock. The outlier, the last bird to join or the first bird to bolt holds all the power. That's absolute madness. Guarantees gridlock or worse when it really matters.

Tabbi's a godsend. Thanks for posting it.

This is what Congress has digressed to- being really good at fund raising and wringing the best deal for themselves from lobbyists. Crucial votes is harvest time for these pols. They may be (nearly always are) vague on the bill's details, but razor sharp on their own $$ leverage.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Re: Taibbi: Wall Street's Big Win

"emergency lending only"-- a toothless provision. not surprising.