Public Policy: 13 Bankers

Over the course of the past generation American oligarchs recreated the world in their image. Those efforts insidiously put in place processes that systematically dispossessed people almost everywhere of rights, property, wealth, and perhaps even their pursuit of happiness.

We as a people have been very fortunate to have up to now what some consider the fourth branch of government---an independent press. The founders considered freedom of the press so important it made the top of the list of the Bill of Rights. The press, in recent times, media---television, radio and the Internet----have been the brave, attentive and aware watchdogs over our “elected officials.”

At the end of this month, 30 April 2010, to be precise, one of the great journalist-watchdogs and more importantly national treasures, Bill Moyers Journal, will end its presence on PBS as a weekly broadcast. It will however, continue online. To be certain Bill has pointed us to those whom I hope will continue the effort in the same tireless manner.

In last night’s (Friday 16 April 2010) installment Bill interviewed, Simon Johnson and James Kwak “two of the nation's most respected economic experts and authors of the new book 13 BANKERS: THE WALL STREET TAKEOVER AND THE NEXT FINANCIAL MELTDOWN.

The broadcast was riveting, informative and for some, no doubt disturbing. If it is disturbing it is because many Americans would much rather believe the diatribe and invective that passes for news and information.

Just after the Great Depression the efforts of some Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt among them, attempted to level the playing field and “provide for the general welfare” of Americans, you know, like it says in the constitution.

Since that time the elite have done a sensational selling job. Their efforts have painted liberals as evil, greedy capitalists as good for America and the world and repackaged our republic as a democracy.

Through ceaseless efforts the oligarchs and their minions clawed back the little prosperity the average American received at the end of the Great Depression.

In the 1980’s Reagan capitalists worked hard to undo decades old regulations that had tied the hands of the greedy since just after the Great Depression.
In the 1990’s, those efforts were lead by Phil Gramm and his wife, Wendy. Their efforts with the complicity of our “elected officials” in Washington D. C. laid the groundwork for what would only a decade later bring us the Great Recession we now experience.

Last night’s installment of the Journal dissects the efforts of the oligarchs that have so daunted our economy and lives.

In the end, no matter what legislative effort is made bankers will simply sit back, read the legislative efforts and then pay professionals to find their way around the legislation. The new and improved "Maginot Line" short of Glass-Steagal robustness is destined to fail.

The majority of Americans for their part too busy watching reality television, mindlessly barbecuing and shopping the malls are likely to perceive lame legislative efforts as meaningful.

The few (and they are few) who are doing their very teabagger best to voice their disenchantment are the egregious, uninformed, meanspirited and sometimes violent fringe. Their disenchantment is with anything that resembles things or ideas humanitarian.

On the main this is a lagely unmendable misfortune.

BILL MOYERS: “Let me get to the blunt conclusion you reach in your book. You say that two years after the devastating financial crisis of '08 our country is still at the mercy of an oligarchy that is bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever. Correct?

SIMON JOHNSON: Absolutely correct, Bill. The big banks became stronger as a result of the bailout. That may seem extraordinary, but it's really true. They're turning that increased economic clout into more political power. And they're using that political power to go out and take the same sort of risks that got us into disaster in September 2008.

BILL MOYERS: And your definition of oligarchy is?

SIMON JOHNSON: Oligarchy is just- it's a very simple, straightforward idea from Aristotle. It's political power based on economic power. And it's the rise of the banks in economic terms, which we document at length, that it'd turn into political power. And they then feed that back into more deregulation, more opportunities to go out and take reckless risks and-- and capture huge amounts of money.

BILL MOYERS: And you say that these this oligarchy consists of six megabanks. What are the six banks?

JAMES KWAK: They are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

More:  Bill Moyers interview: Simon Johnson and James Kwak: 13 Bankers

          Bill Moyers interview with William K. Black

          Bexar County: Public Policy: 13 Bankers

Of bootlickers, lapdogs, rockstar wannabes and income inequality, poverty and race

Despite the efforts of great Americans over the past four decades, income inequality in our republic is greater than ever. For those who entered the labor market 40 years ago---income has increased not at all. For the tiny fraction (1%) at the top income has increased almost 400 times over what it was 40 years ago.


Last night on Bill Moyers Journal (PBS) Bill discussed the issue of income inequality in America.

Bryan Stevenson and Michelle Alexander

"Welcome to the Journal. On this weekend 42 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated -- gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee. Many of us still have the images etched in painful memory -- Dr. King standing with colleagues on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the next day lying there mortally wounded, his aides pointing in the direction of the rifle shot."

Doctor King was in Memphis to support the garbage workers in their struggle for a living wage. At the very core of the economic and financial condition we live in America today are the efforts of those whose generous incomes are paid by taxpayers. These are the bootlicking, lapdogs, the rockstar wannabes we know as our elected representavies. Our representatives are beholden to the oligarchs who made certain there was enough campaing money for them to win.

Once our representatives "win" we lose. Though you voted for them, their real support came from those with money whose interests the elected representative must now protect.

Though bipartisan cooperation is rare these days---it was a bipartisan effort that repealed the laws that lead to the “meltdown” of our economic system but made a ton of money for the oligarchs.

“The year before the repeal [of the Glass-Steagall Act] , sub-prime loans were just five percent of all mortgage lending.[citation needed] By the time the credit crisis peaked in 2008, they were approaching 30 percent.[citation needed] This correlation is not necessarily an indication of causation however, as there are several other significant events that have impacted the sub-prime market during that time. These include the adoption of mark-to-market accounting, implementation of the Basel Accords, the rise of adjustable rate mortgages etc.[19]”

“The bill that ultimately repealed the [Glass-Steagall] Act was introduced in the Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa) in 1999. The bills were passed by a Republican majority, basically following party lines by a 54–44 vote in the Senate[12] and by a bi-partisan 343–86 vote in the House of Representatives.[13] After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. The final bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90–8 (one not voting) and in the House: 362–57 (15 not voting). The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999.[14]”

Bill Moyers closed last nights edition of Journal with the following sobering statistics.

"Some 30 million workers are unemployed or under-employed, and for those still working, the median wage today is about $32 thousand a year, which is why so many people are working two jobs trying to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, as the economist Robert Reich recently reminded us, in the 1950's and 60's, the CEO's of major American companies took home about 25 to 30 times the wages of the typical worker. By 1980 the big company CEO took home roughly 40 times the worker's wage. By 1990, it was 100 times. And by 2007, executives at the largest American companies received about 350 times the pay of the average employee. In many of the top corporations, the chief executive earns more every day than the average worker gets paid in a year.

And then there's the financial world. Case in point: Ken Lewis, who at the end of 2009 retired as CEO of Bank of America. Only recently did we learn that, not long after his company received $45 billion in taxpayer dollars from the big bailout, Lewis raked in more than $73 million in pension benefits and stock, and was given an insurance policy worth $10 million to his beneficiaries.

But compared to some people, Ken Lewis is a piker. Hedge fund managers, who bet that taxpayers -- you -- would pay to keep the banks from collapsing, hit the jackpot. Last year, one of them alone made a cool four billion dollars. The top 25 scooped up a total of 25.3 billion.

So for those who played their cards right, there were profits galore to be made from the bailout. Just this week, the non-profit Center for Media and Democracy reported that federal agencies poured out a total of $4.6 trillion dollars “ trillion dollars - to keep the banks and Wall Street from meltdown. Those financial institutions have yet to pay back about two trillion of that, but who's counting?"

Bill---maybe that's the problem---almost no one is counting.

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL

Preview: Simon Johnson & Rep. Marcy Kaptur

When Barack Obama won the presidential election I was quick to remind my friends and his supporters to temper their “hope.” “No one can be elected president in America today who has any interest, desire or ability to alter the status quo.” That’s is a promise.

Notwithstanding, many Americans (some fairly lucid) still think things have changed or are about to change. Wrong---or at least not for the better for Americans---for the insurance industry---you bet.

Glass-Steagall Act anyone? Not likely.

More: Glass-Steagall Act

2008 All Over Again?

Diane Rehm Show (Simon Johnson: 13 Bankers)

Contradicting Secretary Geithner

Bill Moyers Journal Simon Johnson and Representative Marcy Kaptur

Bootlickers, lapdogs, rockstar wannabes and income inequality, poverty and race

The New Jim Crow