President Jekyll
…and Mr. Rough ‘n Tough Hide.
The two faces of O
In public, President Obama is on a tear against Wall Street. In private, not so much
Over the weekend, Obama attacked fat-cat investment bankers, telling “60 Minutes” he didn’t become president to aid and abet Wall Street — which, only a year after the financial meltdown and taxpayer bailout, is now scheduled to hand out tens of billions of dollars in bonuses to its bankers and traders.
But the president’s meeting yesterday with the CEOs of the largest banks was nearly a lovefest, I’m told by attendees.
Kind of a sneaky schizophrenic snake, isn’t he?
…Bam exhorts the banks to pull off feats that are competing and contradictory. They are told to toughen up and brace themselves better for rough times, yet at the same time they should loosen up and expand lending in an economy that still hasn’t fully healed. Go ahead and increase the risks you take—but please be sure to slash your own compensation and cap any upside for placing those riskier bets.
The banks face new pressure to increase capital reserves, contribute to a new $150 billion meltdown fund, endure a profit plunge under new derivatives regulation, earn lower returns in credit cards because of new restrictions—and President Obama is sulky because these “fat cats” aren’t doing enough to pass out free money all around?
Isn’t easy money what got us into the Big Meltdown in the first place?
“You guys caused the problem,” Obama says of the big banks in his little tirade on “60 Minutes.” Right—let’s ignore Fannie and Freddie, and Congress’s bipartisan effort to make home ownership easy-breezy for millions, and regulators for weakening capital standards, and the Fed for leaving interest rates too low for too long, and hedge funds and pension plans and individual investors for loading up on too much risk.
How can a President who is supposed to be so smart be so ignorant?
Political convenience, I guess.
Oh, it’s all about the convenience, all right. Conveniently most of the press keeps a lid on the whole fugly picture.
So far…
Morality, Nanny State, People, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
December 15, 2009 8:41 am
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“Schizophrenic snake”?
You’re insulting snakes everywhere.
And schizophrenics as well.
That goes double for me!:)