"The Great Vampire Squid Wrapped Around the Face of Humanity," a. k. a. Goldman Sachs
Hey, maybe all you hardcore law-and-order people who are so upset about immigrants coming here to wash our dishes and trim our lawns without proper documentation could also get a little bit excited about this: The SEC is now suing Goldman Sachs (memorably dubbed the Great Vampire Squid by Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi) for selling mortgages they knew were no good, hiding that fact from the public, and helping a key investor make BILLIONS of dollars by betting against those investments (while Goldman profited as well.)
Firebrand Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur aptly calls this “criminal fraud on a historic level,” which devastated millions of lives. The lawsuit is a good start, but Marcy is pushing for criminal investigations as well. Let her know we have her back, by signing this petition and affirming that “Nobody on Wall Street is Too Big For Jail.”
Meanwhile Senate Republicans bizarrely, and unanimously, continue to resist any financial reform at all, under the flimsiest pretexts, leaving the grownup party to go it alone once again, or risk yet another epic meltdown. Here, America’s most trusted news source explains some of the outrage more clearly than anyone else can, in a segment entitled “These F**kin’ Guys” :
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| These F@#king Guys – Goldman Sachs | ||||
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Great squid!
flimsiest pretexts
So flimsy, you’re not even going to tell us what they are. Thanks comrade.
Here’s a short but good read.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not included in financial reform legislation
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/04/fannie_mae_and_freddie_mac_not.html
I found the two paragraphs particularly interesting:
“In fact, as several analysts have pointed out, Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie, and the FHA are all repeating the same mistakes that got us into this mess in the first place. And yet, because admitting they need reform would shift blame for the meltdown from evil, greedy bankers to stupid, conniving Democratic politicians, it appears that the government is thinking “in for a penny, in for a trillion dollars’ when it comes to these now government owned mortgage lenders.
There’s no secret that Fannie and Freddie are going to need another infusion of cash to stay afloat. It may be as little as $60 billion or as much as half a trillion dollars when all is said and done. But what is most needed is for Democrats to own up to their role in this disaster and that Fannie and Freddie be prevented from wasting more of the taxpayer’s monies.”
Saaaay…..isn’t one of those flimsy pretexts a $50B slush fund that the banks pay into? And isn’t it strange that fannie/freddie are going to need another cash infusion to stay afloat? Hmmm….
I’m surprised stewart couldn’t figure this one out. He seems like such a smart guy.
You’re right about the republicans though. They have offered nothing in the way of reform.
It’s a short post, middleground. I went back and forth deciding whether to mention the financial reform bill at all. But I’ll expand on those flimsy pretexts… as soon as I get back from a couple errands.
Glad to see you made it back off that pier, I was getting worried about you!
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2010/04/rally-in-la-tomorrow-for-torricos-ab-656-oil-severance-fee-to-fund-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-123089
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2010/04/rally-in-la-tomorrow-for-torricos-ab-656-oil-severance-fee-to-fund-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-123102
Glad to see you made it back off that pier, I was getting worried about you!
Start worrying again. I just read that you were put in charge of this blog. 🙂
congrats!
Oh Great. Now I have to add another item to my agenda. Besides wanting to deport the illegals I now want these crooks to be jailed too. Hopefully, we can deport the illegals and free up jail space for these crooks on wall street.
Oh yeah – this conversation. I said “Senate Republicans … continue to resist any financial reforms at all, on the flimsiest of pretexts.” And maybe even “pretexts” is to generous of a word. All they have is talking points, talking points, talking points, which they get handed down from pollster Frank Luntz’ focus groups.
And in this case there’s about two of them. The constant refrain that the bill creates more “bailouts,” which anyone who studies it can see is the exact opposite of the truth. But pace Goebbels, just repeat it enough, right, and someone out there will believe it?
And just as nonsensically, they’re out there accusing Democrats of “politicizing” the issue. WTF? I try to observe objectively, but all I see is the Dems trying everything they can do to get GOP co-operation, just as they did with healthcare. They cajole, they negotiate, they throw up their hands, they ridicule and criticize, they go back to the table and try again… This is called “politicizing?”
The Republicans (the ones in Congress anyway) are just simple obstructionist dillwads, with NOTHING constructive to contribute. They just want to see Obama and the Dems fail at everything. I’m glad to see you’re apparently an independent; maybe you’ll agree that Senate Republicans resemble Monty Python’s Black Knight who could say nothing but “NONE SHALL PASS.” That did not turn out well for him, as you may recall.
OK just read your comment #2 more closely and I see I’m not done with you. Back later…..
one of my favorite movies. “All right then, we’ll call it a draw”, “..but look at the fangs, it’s a killer”. funny stuff.
anyway…so I guess if luntz (who i couldn’t care less about) makes $50B just a talking point, then there really wasn’t any need for obama to have it removed from the bill.
Doing a little more digging, i found this.
The House bill contains an authorization for the Federal Reserve for $4 trillion in “secured loans” to bailout individuals, partnerships or corporations in financial distress. Page 506 of the House passed bill, titled the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act states in part:
The amounts made available under this subsection shall not exceed $4,000,000,000,000.
The Senate bill has the same loan authority with no cap on the amount of funds available to failing businesses.
On page 1302 of the latest draft of Senator Dodd’s bill (a 1336 page bill) the Section titled “Federal Reserve System Provisions” modifies existing Fed “emergency lending authority” to make it easier for the Fed to loan monies directly to troubled financial institutions. This section expands the authority of the Fed to loan out money directly to firms in trouble. Free market capitalism does not include a federal backstop when a company fails. Conservatives and liberals agree that this form of crony capitalism, which looks more like socialism with private gains and taxpayer insured risk, is a terrible economic model.
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so come on man, let’s keep it real. This is a bailout bill.
can’t wait for you to tell me how it’s not.
and as i said, the rep. offer nothing in the way of a reform bill. that’s true. but it doesn’t mean that they have to support ANOTHER bad dem bill.
That doesn’t sound right. I’ll be back in a day or two. You know me. I don’t give up. Got other fish to fry right now though.