taibbi
GRITtv: Goldman's Coup
"They frankly own the place," Dick Durbin said back in April, referring to the power that banks hold over policy decisions in Washington. If they own the place, presumably they can make the rules. But as Goldman Sachs brings in record profits and prepares to dole out handsome bonuses to employees and executives, many are lauding the company's willingness to take risks. So is Goldman Sachs, dubbed by many 'Government Sachs,' a risk taker or a coup maker? And what will it take to confront what may be the most powerful lobby in American history? Matt Taibbi, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion, Robert Johnson, former chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee, and Michael Lux, co-director of Progressive Strategies and author of The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be on why the banks are benefiting and the American worker isn't. You can read Taibbi's recent article in Rolling Stone on how Goldman Sachs blew up the economy here.
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: Strangling the Vampire Squid
It is all going according to plan. Goldman Sachs is the first to achieve solid profits. On its heels, JP Morgan/Chase. And if the Summers/Geithner plan continues apace other banks will return to profitability as will other sectors of American business. We're told virtually every day that we Americans believe in Free Markets and we need, first and foremost, strong financial institutions. So bravo. We are on our way. The problem, as we have learned through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, is that in the new America one person's profit is another's demise. So, the making of those big bucks by Goldman, and others, is tied to some pretty dire and plain economic realities: No wage gains despite ongoing higher productivity; little if any mortgage help for those in need; 29% credit card interest for those most in debt; enormous, growing unemployment, especially for minorities and for young people; huge numbers of Americans, many working Americans, on food assistance. Strip it all away and there's very little of substance in the pipeline for vulnerable Americans. Look around, is there any meaningful plan in place to help a working family you know? Do people really believe that shoring up banks will improve their lives? Barack Obama is playing a treacherous game: what are all those political wizards in the West Wing thinking? That people will listen to pleas for patience, forever? The time to strangle what Matt Taibbi calls the Vampire Squid is now. Before it strangles all the life and breath out of us.
GRITtv: The F Word: Of Breadlines and Banks
President Obama was elected with a large enough mandate for fundamental change that he could forge a fresh social compact, lock in place a new set of mutual obligations and rewrite the relationship between the state and the populace. Sasha Abramsky's comments in his book Breadline USA (which I'm paraphrasing there) would be striking enough on any day. The need for change is obvious. In 2008 the official poverty line stood at a shameful $10,590 for a single person and $21,203 for a family of four. And according to the Census 37 million Americans were living at or below those numbers. In 2008, 28.4 million Americans were receiving food stamps, a number that's risen 19 percent since today's recession started. The need for change is obvious, and last November, the appetite for it became palpable. "President Barack Obama's election was an astounding transformative moment," writes Abramsky. "Tens of millions of voters, from the most liberal to the most conservative regions of the country, stood up and said no more to the divisive greed-driven policies and priorities of the recent past." But then there's this, from today's news. Analysts report that the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, a major recipient of government cash, has earned a staggering $2 billion in the last three months. The bank's stock value has soared 68 percent and the Wall Street Journal predicts that it's on track to pay out as much as $20 billion this year, in compensation and benefits to its employees -- or about $700,000 per person. As formerly homelss mom, Franceska Dillella told GRITtv today -- poor Americans, like those in her New York shelter, celebrated on election night. But well-connected Goldman didn't just get hugs or hope when they fell on hard times: Goldman received $13 billion from the Bush bailout of the failed insurance giant AIG and $28 billion more in low-interest loans -- plus insurance worth untold billions more -- thereafter. Now the bank's repaid that loan and bounced back: how? The Times says Goldman "Brilliantly" capitalized on chaos--making a fortune trading bonds and buying and selling volatile currencies in a shifting market, and making out from gambling on commodities like oil -- raising prices for everyone. Back to Abramsky. In Breadlines Sasha writes that if Obama rewrites the social contract and all the rest, he might be able contain the calamity of the 2008 economic collapse. "But if he fails that calamity will haunt the next several decades..." What's more too big to fail: The banks or the country?
