Bankers’ Show Trial Begins
“If we ignore history, we are bound to bail it out again.”
That was the opening note of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission struck yesterday by its chairman, Phil Angelides, the former state treasurer of California.
In an atmosphere that Madame Defarge would have loved, America’s bankers are now in the dock of public opinion, which has been boiling over more than a year after Bush and Obama handouts to save them followed by bad behavior that makes the aristocrats of the Ancien Regime look like Robin Hoods.
As they face TV cameras, bailout barons may be in for more than a public flogging. This Commission is “authorized to hold hearings; issue subpoenas either for witness testimony or documents; and refer to the Attorney General or the appropriate state Attorney General any person who may have violated U.S. law in relation to the financial crisis.”
But seasoned Washington observers know enough not to expect a parade of tumbrels to the guillotine. The bottom line (as the bankers themselves might put it) is how tough will be the regulations that the White House and Congress, both compromised by their Wall Street ties, will have the guts to impose when the Commission lays out its findings of greed and arrogance that will surprise no one.
6 Responses to “Bankers’ Show Trial Begins”
So they're going to get verbally flogged in public and coddled in private. Is there some way that I can get in on this?
I still say that public caning is not to barbaric to institute here in the U.S.. Quite appropriate in this circumstance.
Line me up a few million in bonuses, and I'll take a public caning!
A nice circus — from the same people that wanted to suppress “fishy” dissent. Unsurprising.
What's funny is how late it's happening. This is something that should have been happening at the start of last year, once Obama took office, at the same time as the stimulus or even before — a circus before the bread distribution. As we've seen all year, though, the Dems have bungled one opportunity after another.
What's next, a new inquiry into the decision to go to war in Iraq, and investigating Bush and Cheney? Whatever happened to the Dems' “Truth” [sic] Commission?
“Line me up a few million in bonuses, and I'll take a public caning!”
I had to laugh. Randi Rhodes (wacky lefty) has gotten good lately. A short time ago, she was discussing something involving a lot of money, but also involved prostitution or the equivalent, and she ended up that segment of her show by saying (in her New York dialect — I love it), “[giving me] Forty-five million dollars? You can call me anything you want!”
“public caning”
That's merely superficial, albeit appealing to the lowliest.
Now, as Barney Frank has said, “Getting money from these banks is a good way to expand government revenue without expanding the deficit.”
And the way to do this can even be given a cute name, appealing to the emotions of losers:
It's the “the Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee,” costing the big banks billions, lasting (for now) at least ten years.
It's a great way to keep Gummint Motors (GM and Chrysler) going. ([thinking] Maybe these people also liked what they saw when they visited the auto show, as one famous commentator said, like members of the Politburo inspecting the latest military developments in the good old USSR.)
Of course, some of it might be used to pay for health care “reform,” especially after postponing a tax on union health care plans for several years. And of course, that's assuming the Dems don't spend it on other things instead.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/01/14/barney-fr…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487…