Banksters Inc.

[marmar]

from AlterNet:




Wall Street Whiners Threaten to Wreck the Economy– Again
Posted by Zach Carter on @ 3:14 pm


I agree with everything Paul Krugman has to say about Max Abelson’s excellent run-down of the Wall Street whinery, but his critique stops a little too short. Abelson’s piece emphasizes that Wall Street isn’t really upset about any policies the Obama administration has adopted, since, as I and many others have noted, the Obama administration has been very friendly on that front. What they’re upset about– at least what they say they’re upset about– is the jargon. Obama called bailed-out bankers “fat cats” after they paid themselves obscene bonuses with taxpayer money. To the bankers Abelson quotes, this amounts to some kind of unfair discrimination. That’s absurd– the bailout barons Obama criticized had wrecked the economy and then paid themselves like princes for profits secured by taxpayer largesse. Those who did not benefit from such largesse have no reason to feel slighted by the critique, and those who did benefit have no reason to be complaining from their second homes in the Hamptons.

But what I find most interesting is that the cry-babies in Ableson’s story actually threaten to wreck the economy for the sake of being petulant. The key passage is at the end of Ableson’s piece:

Wall Street’s emotions have consequences. “If, as a result of this anger, credit becomes unavailable, particularly for small and mid-size businesses,” Mr. Schwarzman wrote in The Washington Post this year, before his Poland blunder, “then at best the economy will slow and, at worst, we will find ourselves in a dire situation.” He said bankers felt under siege and were responding by “becoming conservative,” a lovely little pun about lending and politics.

Credit does not just magically become “unavailable” because of “anger.” Some class of angry people has to decide not to make credit available. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/26/wall-street-whiners-threaten-to-wreck-the-economy-again/

[lunatica]

1. They just get so mad at that golden goose you know

that they'll kill it for sure.

[Scuba]

2. Greed knows no bounds. n/t