Wall Street blackmail: It's not just for satire anymore
Wall Street blackmail: It's not just for satire anymore
Everybody got a good laugh recently over this article by uber-satirist Andy Borowitz:
American intelligence experts are analyzing a new terror video from the American International Group (AIG) in which the leader of the shadowy organization demands billions of dollars from the United States.
In the four-minute tape, which surfaced over the weekend and caused deep concern among U.S. officials, a man believed to be the chairman of AIG says that if his organization is not paid its ransom, "chaos and destruction will rain down on the American economy."
"If we are not paid billions more in bonuses and corporate golf retreats, America will be made to suffer," the man threatens.
Ha ha. Except that it's essentially true. Wall Street is essentially blackmailing the U.S. government, and thus the American people, but threatening to rain down fiscal ruin on everyone if the current monied class is not allowed to retain their jobs and, more importantly, their wealth. Think I'm exaggerating? Read this story from today's Wall Street Journal (h/t Talking Points Memo):
Bankers were shell-shocked, especially when Congress moved to heavily tax bonuses. When administration officials began calling them to talk about the next phase of the bailout, the bankers turned the tables. They used the calls to lobby against the antibonus legislation, Wall Street executives say. Several big firms called Treasury and White House officials to urge a more reasonable approach, both sides say. The banks' message: If you want our help to get credit flowing again to consumers and businesses, stop the rush to penalize our bonuses.
This is a complicated issue -- like a lot of people, I'm not convinced that a special tax on these bonues is legal. But the broader message is clear: Wall Street -- and not the American people or our elected representatives -- are calling the shots here. And it's disappointing that the Obama administration is fairly inclined to bend over backwards whenever the bankers call.
FDR's New Deal wasn't a slam dunk, either. Bankers and various millionaires were appalled at some of the steps that Roosevelt took in an effort to end the Great Depression, to the point where a few of them talked about staging a coup (True story.) But FDR proved it's possible to stand tall in the face of this kind of pressure when the public is on your side. Maybe the president should put down his Abe Lincoln books and concentrate his history studies on the 1930s.
FDR was a shyster too.— jwad56
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- "FDR's New Deal wasn't a slam dunk, either." It sure wasn't. It never worked. The jobs created by the war finally pulled us out of the depression. "But FDR proved it's possible to stand tall in the face of this kind of pressure when the public is on your side." Yes indeed. FDR stood tall in the face of this kind of pressure long, long after it became clear that he was wrong. That's exactly what we need. I'm curious, Will. Were you born an idiot or is it an aquired trait?— Fascinated
The funny thing is the coup plotters approached General Butler after he publically declared that he would no long be a "Gangster for capitalism" (no, that's not in the link Will provided). I guess they thought his patriotism could be bought. It didn't matter, some of these same American industrialists did business with Nazi Germany before and even AFTER the Nazis declared war on the United States – and quietly collected their profits after the war. Some, like Ford (I don't remember if Butler specifically named Ford - I know he named Dupont and Firestone) even got reparations for allied bomb damage to their German plants. The chutzpah of the fascists is awe inspiring.— Hamlet
Will you may have missed this but 9 of the top 10 bonus recipients and 15 of the top 20 have already agreed to return their bonuses amounting to about $80 M. Since the bonuses are now down to 0.5% of the total bailout can we start to focus on the other 99.5% of the money we are IMHO wasting.— bird11- Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
Maybe these AIG execs should form a "Bonus Army" and march on DC, camp out on banks of the Anacostia to protest the tax until Obama sends the troops out to evict them. Smedley Butler, where are you when we need you?- Comment removed.
- "Smedley Butler, where are you when we need you?" Uh, let's see, his incarnate may have been among the Generals who were "retired" during the run up to the invasion of Iraq? There is no way to measure the damage done to this country as a result of Bush's purg of the flag officer's ranks.— Hamlet
- "It sure wasn't. It never worked." . . . . . Actually it was working just fine. Given the improved economy, FDR finally began to trim back government spending to appease the Right, leading to recession in 1937. One also has to wonder whether things would have been different had the Supreme Court not invalidated the NRA (National Recovery Act) in 1935, however, the economic mobilization of WW2 picked up where the NRA had left off.
- "There is no way to measure the damage done to this country as a result of Clinton's demoralization of the entire armed services." Fixed.— IggleFan68
- Yeah, my GI Joe almost turned in his stripes when Clinton took office.— Hamlet
- MSL don't know if you want this type of trivia from an "uneducated bigot" but an interesting note about the National Recovery Act (NRA) is that the NRA symbols of the Eagle was adopted by the Philadelphia NFL franchise to name their new team, our beloved Philadelphia Eagles.— bird11
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
