The Hill: Occupy protesters right to be disgusted with political leaders

[Huey P. Long]

Occupy protesters right to be disgusted with political leaders
By J. Morton Davis - 11/28/11 07:32 PM ET

Through their political donations and high-powered lobbyists, the banks and financial institutions of Wall Street have ready access to those in office — from the president, Congress and the Cabinet all the way down to executive agencies. As such, they play a powerful role in determining policy and passing special-interest laws. Like so many Americans, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are disgusted with our political leaders and the Washington establishment, along with the gridlock they have created. The fact that Occupy Wall Street might not be as focused as the Tea Party, or that a number of radical extremists have attached themselves to this movement, doesn’t diminish the validity of their core grievances.

The protesters contend that through “crony” capitalism, the giant financial firms make the law — many of them assert that Goldman Sachs is actually a powerful “branch” of the federal government. They insist that the reason AIG got a $150 billion bailout was so that Goldman Sachs would not suffer massive losses, and that the reason Goldman Sachs was allowed to become a federal bank overnight was so it could receive enormous funds at miniscule interest rates from the Federal Reserve.
The protesters note that the secretary of the Treasury at the time of the bailout was Henry Paulson, the former managing partner of Goldman Sachs, and that former Goldman Sachs managing partner and secretary of Treasury Robert Rubin was the one who rescinded the Glass-Steagall Act that had separated secure banks from high risk investment banking and trading, which eventually led to the excessive risk-taking and securitized mortgages that triggered the crash.

And, hardly surprisingly, the big Wall Street firms along with their financial cohorts are leading the fight against Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation and other measures designed to prevent another economic catastrophe.
No one at the banks has been criminally indicted despite the overwhelming evidence of misdeeds. And, unlike the rest of society, which is suffering terrible hardship as a result of the bankers’ behavior, they are even now enjoying immense riches.

What a deal. They must somehow surely adhere to the belief that God loves “Wall Street” and only punishes the little people. It is this attitude that has precipitated the protest rallies that have broken out against Wall Street. Protesters feel aggrieved and outraged by the fact that the enormous government stimulus was indeed successful in rescuing the “too big to fail” banks, as well as giant companies like AIG, GE, General Motors and Chrysler, but did nothing to rescue their jobs, generate new ones, revive the housing market or even help them to avoid foreclosure.

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http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/195763-occupy-protesters-right-to-be-disgusted-with-political-leaders

[mmonk]

1. TARP wasn't stimulus.

[MisterP]

7. and Dodd-Frank isn't designed to prevent another catastrophe!

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Cronyism defined:

The cops hassle my pal Skip, I have a national tizzy. The cops beat and pepper spray hundreds, arrest hundreds, from among thousands of peaceful protesters, I say nothing. That is crony politics of the worst kind. Justice meted out to cronies only. The masses can go fuck themselves.

[Huey P. Long]

3. And yet with all this out in the open, many are willing to just ignore it

and sit on their asses. Moreover, try to silence by a variety of means, those who would point this out.

[Zorra]

4. We're so much more focused than the Tea Party. And "radical extremists"?

We're focused on what is real.

The Tea Party is focused on the status quo smoke from Grover Norquist's cigars.

Also, could someone please point to the "number of radical extremists" that have attached themselves to our movement?

I haven't met any of them yet, have not heard any speak in the collective voice of the movement.

[Huey P. Long]

5. The teabaggers are more interested in being 'tough' on the weak and poor.

They support the powerful, and relish crushing the citizens.
Its quite the con they've swallowed. They spout anti-government rhetoric, but enjoy the Police State.

[Huey P. Long]

6. .

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. The Hill, heart be still

They are no longer making fun. This is progress.

[EFerrari]

9. The Hill is sloppy and at times pathetic. But

I bet if we looked we can find many instances of political leaders expressing their own disgust with this state of things without having to resort to OWS.