By Simon Johnson
It’s one thing to block Elizabeth Warren from heading the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
It’s quite another thing to deny in public, for the record, that any such blocking is going on (e.g., see this report; Michael Barr apparently said something quite similar today).
There is a strong groundswell of opinion on this issue from the left – see the BoldProgressives petition. But the center also feels strongly that, given everything Treasury has said and done over the past few months, it would be a complete travesty not to put the strongest possible regulator in change of protecting consumers. (See Ted Kaufman on the NYT’s DealBook, giving appropriate credit to the SEC, and apply the same points to broader customer issues going forward.)
This can now go only one of two ways.
- Elizabeth Warren gets the job. Bridges are mended and the White House regains some political capital. Secretary Geithner is weakened slightly but he’ll recover.
- Someone else gets the job, despite Treasury’s claims that Elizabeth Warren was not blocked. The deception in this scenario would be nauseating – and completely blatant. “Everyone was considered on their merits” and “the best candidate won” will convince who exactly?
Despite the growing public reaction, outcome #2 is the most likely and the White House needs to understand this, plain and clear – there will be complete and utter revulsion at its handling of financial regulatory reform both on this specific issue and much more broadly. The administration’s position in this area is already weak, its achievements remain minimal, its speaking points are lame, and the patience of even well-inclined people is wearing thin.
Failing to appoint Elizabeth Warren would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will go down in the history books as a turning point – downwards – for this administration.
The Baseline Scenario 
Let’s have a third option. Larry Summers and his sycophant, Geithner, are the ones to go.
Go Elizabeth!! It’s been one disappointment after another since this melt down. Not having Elizabeth seems par for this government. We need 10 Elizabeth Warrens to watch the kids in this candy store.
Thanks Simon for your usual timely post. I could not agree with you more. Having seen Elizabeth on “Need to Know” on PBS tonight I cannot see how the White House can get away with this one. Please Mr. O…appoint Elizabeth Warren.
Call me naive. This strikes me as an issue where a note to the White House in support of Elizabeth could make a difference. It really is a case of: “the straw that breaks the camel’s back.” The sad part is my belief that this administration is capable of doing just that.
Larry Summers is the best candidate for the helm of the CFPB. Go Larry!
If this were a world in which competence and integrity mattered, these two would go. As it is it’s a world in which tribal membership is all important; and Larry and Tim are members of the Wall Street tribe; a tight knit group of males that is low on integrity, mediocre on talent and high on chutzpah. Elizabeth Warren doesn’t belong to this tribe; she’s got too much integrity and too much talent, besides she’s not male.
I suspect the carrier that brought these pathogens into the White House was Robert Rubin, one of the senior members of the Wall Street tribe.
Amen to that Joyce. Long overdue. I suggest a line of Americans stretching from the West coast to the East coast to kick the bejesus out of Summers and Geithner.
You are right. This whole Hope + Change = Obama has turned into a train wreck,… smoldering and nauseating. I agree with the phrase, “complete and utter revulsion”. At least Bush was honest, you knew where he was coming from. Obama is a chamelion.
If Elizabeth doesnt get the job. I would feel that Obama neednt bother to run again as a Democrat. If he wanted to run as a Republican i could understand that and Rahm must go along with Geitner and Summers.
Tim Geitner reminds me of Reagan’s pick for the Interior Department. James Watt was so hated that he deflected much of the ire people felt toward Reagan to himself. Reagan used Watt’s unpopularity for political gain. Is that what is happening here with Geitner? Obama is a consumate politician and my trust is diminishing as the game is played.
True, all truisms. Sorry to say.
actually it would be the last straw, the last straw towards the business community that the white house and congress has been at war with, blasting sector after sector rhetorically and legislatively day after day, week after week, month after month since Obama took office. The appointment of Warren would cause every business leader to completely throw in the towel on the administration, convinced their anti-business bent has no chance of being reversed. There is nobody more anti business than Elizabeth Warren, I can’t think of anyone else even in the Obama administration that would give Michael Moore trailer-worthy quotes in a friendly interview for one of his documentaries.
There are a lot of academics like Paul and Simon who might fawn over her, but nobody in the real world, who deploys real capital and hires real people rather than exercises thought bubbles on blogs without real life consequences, views her as anything but an enemy to capitalism.
This is a true test in showing the true color of how serious of this administration regarding to protecting customers. Go Elizabeth!!
Absolutely correct. It has been so disappointing to watch the government’s “response” to this crisis and the time has come for them to put up or shut up. This is the big moment.
Have not as yet read a word of the story nor any of the comments, but could not agree more with the sentiment of the headline.
I love my President, but I love the People more.
Elizabeth Warren loves the People, and the People love her back.
Seeing that The Office of The President appears to be little more than a Central Bank sock puppet, there is no way Dr. Warren will get offered the position. None.
I want to be wrong…
You know, she conceptualized and pretty much designed the agency, and now the agency exists. I don’t see how this doesn’t count as a “win” for her even if she doesn’t get to run it. She’s been tough on Geithner during hearings, and now to have her work for him would be awkward (even temporarily until it transitions to the Fed).
How about option 3: she says she doesn’t want to run it.
Yes! James Watt, Rita Revell–annd–oh who was Rita’s boss. Geitner and Summers sicken me.
What will happen is summers and geithner will make life/work so miserably impossible that EW will not be around for the job. They have shown their craven mettle when they drove Brooksley Born out of her job.
You can grouse all you want about the vipers that the President has on his econ team, the fact is he WANTS them there, same for rahm.
This President is too intellegent, he won’t abdicate his sense of things, or responsibility, to a person who isn’t performing as he desires.
You complain about the ‘team’, look at the Coach.
I have followed Elizabeth Warren for years, ever since she was on Frontline talking about what the banks and their credit cards do to consumers.
There is no one else remotely qualified for this job. Elizabeth Warren is an unsung hero, and GREAT!!
A box…Wall Street has us in a box and they know it and there’s nothing we can do about it but accept it like we choose it and move on.
In the next election we will have the choice of a revulsion vote for the ‘turdblossoms’ who we worked to put into office (along with the prototypical ‘Uncle Tom’ of this century) or vote for the Republican opposition.
We have been fleeced, pantsed, wedgeed, and bitch slapped by the playground bully.
I believe that in the words of waste management we’re referred to a environmental biosolids, and our purpose is to become compost.
The funny thing is that the Prez still doesn’t see that he’s also being mocked and led by a carrot inch’s in front of his nose.
The Empire knows how to deal with these scenarios.
Stay tuned for a Smear Campaign from the Plutocracy’s Press Lapdogs aimed at Elizabeth Warren.
I’m an Independent and I gave money to Obama last election. I’m so disappointed in his lack of commitment to the values he ran on. No more money from me.
What will getting rid of geithner and summers accomplish? Now removal of their corporate whore boss would be a another matter.
Hallelujah! She’s perfect for the job of protecting the public in the real world.
Exactly. Matters turned into a train wreck because Obama was dissembling, concealing, disguising, cloaking; covering; equivocating his real intentions until AFTER he won the Presidential election. Everything he has done since then reinforces that interpretation.
Have someone who has demonstrated a concern about people placed in charge of consumer protection? Puhleeeeze! It’s a no-brainer. Anything less and the love for Obama will be down the drain.
I am the president of a corporation that I started in 1996. I would love to see Elizabeth Warren in charge of the big-boy club. The only business people who would not want the financial mess straightened out are the Big Bankers and their cronies.
I did this last night. Told ’em I trusted E.W. and don’t trust T.G. in the least. I don’t think it will make any difference and I think the die is cast for someone less forthright and effective than E.W.
Goldman got fined $550M which is pocket change and nothing but a symbolic gesture for both the SEC and Goldman. The people who caused the problems haven’t gone anywhere and they are still being rewarded with job security, financial compensation and legal absolution.
I guess that Obama and Co. are better than teapublicans but that’s damning with pretty faint praise. They are afraid of E.W. She has more integrity and concern for the consumer than the whole lot of Obama and Co. put together. The more of them you get together, the worse it gets.
Maybe you just can’t be president without drinking this hedge fund shyster Kool-Aid. I’m not sure that E.W. wouldn’t just end up quitting in a few months anyway, when she realized that she wasn’t going to get any cooperation. Maybe, if she isn’t picked and the reality of this situation manifests itself, the sooner we can better acknowledge the underlying nature of Obama’s corporate/bankster administration.
If she does get the job, what’s likely is Geithner and Summers will drive her out the way they (with Rubin, of course) did with Brooksley Born in ’99.
Dear Liz:
Come back when you’re seasoned (i.e. can be bought) like us and we’ll talk.
Lovingly yours,
Big O and Little T
The “business community” drove our country into the worst financial crisis in the past seventy years. Regulating business is the essence of effective capitalism. Unfettered capitalism is no better than any other unfettered ideology. Any power center needs a counter balance. The nonsensical “anti-business” rhetoric is meaningless. No one is this administration is anti-business; just look at the executive appointments. In your worldview Goldman Sachs is anti-business? Your rhetoric is tiresome.
I am a conservative who hates obama for so many reasons… but I want this woman as president. Liz = what this country needs. Please PLEASE put her in power of SOMETHING.
Yes, one of the main pathogen carriers was Rubin. But Obama could’ve appointed somebody else. Dunno why people seem so reluctant to hold Obama’s feet to the fire. He’s the president, right?
Roger that. If Geithner gets his way on this I for one am done with these guys. Just smoke and mirrors is all you are getting. There will be no base left. They have already lost the margin. Go figure. And I thought these guys were smart. Maybe they just think everybody else is plain stupid. Well they need to think again.
The “business community” drove our country into the worst financial crisis in the past seventy years. Regulating business is the essence of effective capitalism. Unfettered capitalism is no better than any other unfettered ideology. Any power center needs a counter balance. The nonsensical “anti-business” rhetoric is meaningless. No one is this administration is anti-business; just look at the executive appointments. In your worldview Goldman Sachs is anti-business? Your rhetoric is tiresome.
This is sour grapes coming from the progressives who pushed this fluttering intellectual pimple down our throats at the caucuses, with the refrain still ringing in my ears that i was racist because he wasn’t qualified for the job of Dog Catcher. Progressives have been thrown under the bus along with the labor unions by this useless president.
Here’s hoping that Hillary re-thinks about not running for the job that she is qualified to handle
I do agree Warren had better be occupying that seat, for if she is not there will be no campaign funds for the DNC from this donor til Obama is gone.
I’m sick and tired of Goldman and Sachs running the bank so to speak and depleting its massive resources to the few 10%. And then tossing us under the bus that belongs to us.
Are you being serious? Bush was not honest at all.
If Warren doesn’t get this job, I move that we draft her to run against Obama in 2012. She is smart, qualified and genuinely progressive. She would be terrific.
The best thing that could ever happen on this earth is for the criminal cabal that you call “business leasers” to be completely destroyed. After trillions in free, taxpayer founded dollars for these “leaders”, they haven’t contributed a job or their fair share of tax burden. They should pay back my (and all of our) money. Since no jobs whatsoever are being created by these “leaders” in the real world or anywhere else, they are useless parasites and everything that you say is either delusional or downright mendacious.
Ridding the administration of the two foxes Obama hired to guard the nation’ financial hen house is the best possible outcome – and sadly, the least likely.
Let’s not forget that the main universal criticism of capitalism is the fact that it produces an elite class of wealth and a permanent underclass of poverty if left untamed. Elizabeth is the only person in America who will moderate capitalism fairly for the benefit of ALL the citizens. Mr. President you owe it to the masses to select Elizbeth Warren for the position. Yes!
The club that is running the financial control of this country want to police themselves. If the Obama Administration allows them to hand pick the person and continue on without regard to the people, the already obvious will become too obvious even to the most asleep Americans. The Elite are restructuring this country and if Warren is passed on it will a major exhibit of proof.
I have seen Elizabeth Warren on TV many times and had the privilege of being a part of a conference call that she was on concerning this very cause. She has lobbied hard to get this done and cares about the American consumers who have been hit hard by financial institutions that took our tax dollars and paid themselves bonuses while continuing the same policies that made them near failures. She knows what she is doing and has a heart. We NEED Elizabeth Warren to head this. It would be a real disservice to the voters to do otherwise.
I worked for him, gave to him, convinced others to support him, and voted for him.
I now oppose his policies, his presidency, and the party that supports him, after being a life long Democrat.
Two years ago we were told that they had doubts that a black man and a woman were not likely to be elected. That black man is now our President and the woman is our Secretary of State. Let us not count our chickens before they hatch. Hope springs eternal.
I am with Dan. Warren for president. First blank of platform couldn’t that bankers start making their money the old fashioned way. Try earning instead stealing it for a change. Noe that is “change” you could believe in.
Summers and Geithner spend most of their time with their lips pressed tightly up against Lloyd Blankfein’s buttocks. That’s the way Lloyd likes it and the way Obama likes it–those hopeless bipartisan romantics.
There was a time when presidents appointed highly credentialed economists to the Treasury position. Obama appointed a Wall Street insider — that’s certainly not Change I Can Believe In.
Jc,
I’m assuming you are a satirist or a humorist. What capitalism?
the one heavily subsidized by government, that writes its own lines of tax code? Or the capitalists who run to uncle Sam when they squander their clients funds in gambling schemes- those capitalists? or perhaps the ones who are allowed like Goldman Sachs was today to get a slap on the wrist for cheating their clients, yes? or how about the “capitalists” getting secret loans through the FED to the tune of trillions 12 plus and counting…
to be paid by the tax payer if anything goes wrong. Those capitalists? Throw away your Atlas Shrugged copy – it’s sheer fantasy…..And yes, I own a business, hire people and interact with big and small business. Stop repeating Rush’s mumbo jumbo.
Regulation is essential. Big Business rarely does anything for the common good unless there is a regulatory gun put to their collective heads.
Elizabeth Warren is a weak reed. She was rolled in the hearings and she favored the compromise that placed the CFPA under the Fed. If she were half as principled as most here believe she never would have done that. Could it be that in compromising she knew the “financial reform” legislation would pass and that there actually would be an agency she would almost certainly head? I mean an honest person would have gone down with their ship. But that would have made her later appointment as head of CFPA impossible wouldn’t it?
Noticing also the rather out-of-character vehemence that Simon is emiting here. It would seem that he actually has an emotional dimension after all. Now if we could only get him out from behind that angel suit and those rose colored glasses that prevent him from calling “intellectual capture” what it is: Corruption. I’m just not sure that Elizabeth Warren justifies this kind of a tantrum, however.
What corporation are you the President of?
If you feel strongly, as I do, that Warren should be appointed, sign the petition AND contact the administration. Comment on articles, post it on Facebook, Digg it, blog about it. Ask your “friends” and fans to do the same.
If we do not apply equal amounts of progressive pressure on Obama and company, we have no one to blame but ourselves as he continues to move ever rightward. After all, it is the squeaky wheel that always gets the grease.
She will be vilified as an enemy of capitalism without a doubt. The fact that the bureau is within the Fed should help keep her from “hurting” capitalism, as practiced and defined at that level of government.
I would consider Warren’s function to be similar to that of Volcker. Nice names with broad appeal who hopefully are fighting the good fight. I’m not expecting them to win.
This will be the last straw if she is not put into the position. I am not donating to the DNC because I am fed up with this administration, but I’m only shooting myself in the foot. If the Republicans get in office we’re screwed, if the Democrats stay in office, doing what they’re doing, we’re screwed. We need a new party and it’s not Lipton Tea. I never thought I’d say I’m happy to be old, but I feel sorry for you young people, because,- – – – We’re screwed.
Was, once upon a time, a CEO myself for 16 years. Selecting people who will succeed on your team is the most difficult job for any leader. The system requires a new President to select scores of key jobs in a matter of weeks. Not possible unless you rely on a team of screeners. What you do is pick someone you trust (or who is trusted by someone you trust) to screen down to one or two candidates. Economics was not an Obama strength (nor was it a strength of any of the Presidents of the last 40 years), so he relied on someone’s recommendations to select a key economic advisor. Is Obama responsible for his bad choices… You bet! He should be replacing some of them. (Another scary, but essential process.)
Is it reasonable to expect him to make more than 40-50% excellent choices. No way. A good batting average for a competent leader with a reasonable amount of time and a good process is comparable to a good batting average in Major League baseball. That’s a reality that those who have never been in a position of leadership in a large organization don’t understand or would prefer not to believe. It is one of the fundamental reasons large businesses are so badly run… banks, oil companies, auto companies….etc. Governments are no exception; probably worse.
My take on it goes like this….since Ms Warren has been about the ONLY one of her ilk to express concerns for the middle class in the US, then we elect her for this position. If she isn’t picked, we refuse to vote in the midterms. Pure and simple. We’re sick to sh*t of the BS and we won’t stand for it anymore. Elizabeth Warren is our pick, period.
If Warren is not appointed, of some ‘moderate’ who sucks on the corporate teat like Geithner and Summers get it, Obama should be primaried unmercifully.
Poor Elizabeth. Yes, I would LOVE to have her get the job. But can she live up to all of your expectations? I don’t think anybody can. However, if she got the job, she would live up to enough of them to more than satisfy me…and to make a big difference. However it doesn’t seem to be Obama’s style to pick someone as aggresive for real reform as is Elizabeth Warren.
I’d want to draft her to be our next president even if she gets this job. I’ve had it Obama. He is as corrupt as Reagan – W were. All his “reforms” are shams where the same top 1% will profit the most. He plans to do what W couldn’t, turn Social Security over to Wall Street and cut it and Medicare and Medicaid until the poor elderly and disabled will be facing for real death panels but they’ll be facing them from the streets across our nations where they will be living when the right, with their puppet Obama’s help, will finally end every safety net for the poor.
Candidate Obama was a lie. Nobel Prize hell, Obama should have received an Oscar for his performance as Candidate Obama.
What do we do, how do we get a real Liberal into the White House in 2012? Will it ever again be possible to even get an honest person in the running or has Corp America done a total takeover? Someone tell me what one of the “little” “lesser” people like me can do, starting now and I’ll do it. I’m already only voting for the most genuine Liberals in my local elections come November. Is it too late? Will all the once middle class and the poor all be slaves of the top 1% by 2012? I’m not kidding. I’m scared. I’m one of those that lives on a fixed income and Obama’s hand picked right wing deficit commission wants to take what little I have away. I already live well below the poverty line. Even that is being begrudged to people like me.
Don’t believe the poor don’t vote. I cannot wait to vote Obama out if there is a chance someone that really is what Obama pretended to be can get nominated and elected. I would never vote for a Republican but I’m not going to vote for the lesser of two evils. I think we all deserve better than that being our only choice.
I’m a liberal and I, too, would like her as president.
It doesn’t seem to be Obama’s style to pick someone honest, period!
From Emanuel, to Geithner, Summers, Bernanke, Obama’s Monsanto and Dupont choices to head the USDA this has become one of the most corrupt presidencies yet. All that’s missing is Carl Rove and he’s probably the one that pulled a fast one on us with Obama. They knew they could not get away with a 3rd stolen election so they figured out a way to get another Reagan – W into the WS. They hired the world’s best actor to give us what we thought was the first real hope in 30 years.
Here’s another scenario.
Obama appoints Elizabeth WARREN but does not push or really support here nomination. Same thing he did with Dawn Johnsen. He will leave her “twisting in the wind” as he did Dawn J. After that, he will claim the big, bad Republicans were at fault and appoint Barr.
few people i know had and doubt that they could be elected
plus 2 of the 3 last sec of states had been females
And this is why big goverment will never work effectively for the people.
There is a tipping point beyond which Progressives will absolutely not support Obama further. Does the Obama brain trust know where that tipping point is?
If you don’t think it’s real, that a political tipping point exists, just ask the right wing voters who checked out and wouldn’t support McCain knowing that meant Obama would be elected.
It happened, it’s real, and it can happen to Obama.
Simon, where is the exact quote stating “Treasury’s claims that Elizabeth Warren was not blocked.” Even from your provided link: “Given her strong leadership on consumer protection, Secretary Geithner believes that Elizabeth Warren is exceptionally well qualified to lead the new bureau, and, ultimately, that’s a decision the president will have to make,” Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said.”
From Huffington Post (first posted: 07-16-10 03:27 PM): “ Top Obama administration officials rushed to praise leading consumer advocate and bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren on Friday as being “exceptionally well-qualified” to lead a new consumer protection office. But a senior adviser to Obama left open the possibility that she would not be chosen while administration officials did not deny a report that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner opposes her nomination.”
Earlier, from Huffington Post (first posted: 07-15-10 06:22 PM): “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has expressed opposition to the possible nomination of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a source with knowledge of Geithner’s views.” “Geithner’s objections to Warren taking over that role also involve her views on Wall Street, sources say. The longtime professor believes the nation’s megabanks are Too Big To Fail and have been among the biggest abusive lenders in the country. Her toughness on giant banks is said to be a longtime source of tension with Geithner.” “Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, is also said to have a strained relationship with Warren, though his stance on her nomination is not known.”
Sources say…. some say….. as in who….like, the source of David Axelrod? Depty Secretary Neal Wolin? Staff intern from Treasury?
I don’t think President Obama wouldn’t mind Elizabeth Warren but he also wants to maintain his political campaign promise of “No Drama Obama” Supposedly, President Obama does not tolerate drama and conflicting egos within his inner circle (being that his, will be the biggest in the room). Vice President Biden’s economic advisor, Jared Bernstein, would also be a good choice to lead the Consumer Protection Agency – Geithner wouldn’t be able to force him out if he (Geithner) was serious about keeping his own job.
Re: Senator Kaufman’s perspective on Goldman Sach’s settlement with the SEC, I would have to respectfully disagree; GS admits to making “mistakes”, not admitting to fraud and deception.
I trust the president & support him 100% to do the right thing.Prez has a lot of problems he is trying to fix that he did not create, here at home & abroad all the while bieng called hitler, stalin, the N-word,etc at the same time his supporters continue to cry & whine about every little thing. Heck why don’t you get off you butt & run for Prez in 2012, until then let Obama do what we elected him to do or go to the tea party.
I have pretty much given up on Obama. If EW doesn’t get the job, eithr I will sit out 2012 elction (I did vote for Obama in 2008)or actively work to defeat Obama irrespective of who his opponent may be.
duuhhhh
Too, there was a time when politicians listened to and were guided by the insight and knowledge provided by experts instead of making it up on the fly which is how they operate today.
Chris, you may trust him, but he simply ISN”T doing what he’s supposed to do. All his moves have benefitted, NOT us the general public- but the .00001 per cent – i.e., the super rich.
We did not elect a religious leader in whom we all should have absolute faith- we elected a man who said he would work for US and hasn’t. Deal with it.
He never wanted to do what we elected him to do. It was a sham. Obama protected Bush and Cheney and Wall Street and the bankers and had dirty back room deals with the insurance and drug companies and never for one second fought for any real HCR with a public option. Obama said “I will not sign a bill without a public option.” He promised transparency. Whatever became of that? He promised no lobbyists running his administration, what became of that too.
Why is it that after one of Obama’s bills passes everything goes up on Wall Street?
If only Obama would do what he was elected to do. Instead he’s doing what W didn’t have time for.
I was scared to death he wouldn’t win in 2008 and cried tears of relief and joy when on election night.
Now I just cry myself to sleep out of fear that the reality is no hope is coming. Wall Street, the banks, the insurance companies the drug companies, they all one. The Republicans won with Obama getting elected, everyone one except the people the grass roots people that worked for him and voted for him.
This is a man that defended Lieberman while telling his base to STFU. This is a man who has hired a team of thieves to surround him.
Sorry, if I could run I would but I think you realize how ridiculous that argument it. We’ve been had, pure and simple, WE’VE BEEN HAD.
Hey, tjl, I’m long past the tipping point and feel liberated.
I’m sure no one but the administration knows how big and recalcitrant the forces are out there that he has to contend with. While far from perfect, his achievements have been astounding
THE BASE WILL REBEL OPENLY AGAINST THIS AND DEMOCRATS WOULD NOT CONFIRM ANYONE ELSE BUT WARREN
Perhaps the President can begin to show that he is a true believer of this important legislation by appointing Dr. Elizabeth Warren as the first head of the new financial regulatory agency. It was Dr. Warren’s original idea and Obama used her name in the stompings to sale the concept. Now he must go the next step by appointing her to head it, even against Geithner’s objection. Dr. Warren is smart, has been studying this problem for so many years, is honest and is an outsider. Only her appointment will lend this process the credibility it quickly needs. Democrats must oppose any nomination that by-passes Warren–and not vote to confirm anyone else but her. The White should not be seen as a clique but the peole’s house working in the best interst of the people. Any further misstep on this would strike another blow to the base of the Democartic Party–and there would be a lot of noise about this!
Larry is best suited to sling burgers in the CFPB cafeteria.
I am glad you remember Brookesley Born vs. Summers, Rubin and Greenspan. Geitner is of the same ilk. If Elizabeth Warren is not appointed I will be absolutely disgusted with Obama. WARREN FOR PRESIDENT!! (Why couldn’t that happen? Are all American voters influenced only by the amount of money spent on ads.? )
Some may want to withdraw support, but in the final analysis, the alternatives are simply unacceptable. Palin? Jeb? Paul? Mitt? Seriously? Obama’s not perfect, but he is on track to push through more major legislation in a shorter amount of time than any president in a very long time. This despite a Republican party whose sole agenda is to make him fail and the most daunting set of crises in our lifetime. Perhaps progressives and those disillusioned should work with our president instead of weakening the effort by continually threatening to withdraw support. Remember, every day you wake up, the Bush era. We could be back there in a heartbeat.
The subplot of the Warren drama is, will Wall Street deign to be regulated by a woman? There are a lot of big swinging d**** on the Street who say, not bloody likely.
Wall Street is the last civilian tree house for the boys. Why do you think the buildings are so tall?
It is a no brainer. Dr. Elizabeth Warren needs to be given real leadership. Anything else the Obama administration is showing true transparency in that they are not really caring about the people. You cannot use her to get this passed and then overlook her. What foolish move. You better really appoint her.
Otherwise I do not see the Dems winning in ’10 nor ’12. A lost decade for sure.
Does she want to do this? She is certainly very service-oriented, but she may prefer a non-administrative role that would permit her to continue to criticize the administration’s policies — and the work of the commission. It will be a nightmare, with low pay, endless hours, and total exposure to destructive sniping.
I agree – Obama could turn his integrity around almost overnight if he were to replace those two. At least he could regain some ground by putting Warren in the proposed post. That at least must be done!
Whether she chooses to accept or not… the offer should be made. She has kept us informed for months and has fought hard for much of this. She deserves the position and would be the best choice.
The key to political power for followers is making unacceptable alternatives real to the leaders.
When the followers throw in the towel up front admitting that the alternatives are unacceptable – they are conceding power. Nothing changes.
It’s the same game of chicken we all learned in kindergarten. It’s the nature of the thing.
Geithner is the “public servant” who made the latest Wall Street collapse mess happen!
Obama’s moment to put up or bow to the Clintonistas!
Either he’s REALLY outraged at the way Wall Streeters insisted that they’re entitled to their bonuses from the Bailout or he’s just their dummy and might as well quit the Presidency and go live on his 30 pieces of silver OR he’s one of us who rose to be President and intends to make his mom and grandmom, watching him from above, proud.
If he’s the latter then he’ll tell Geithner: Tim, consider yourself lucky that you still have a job after your tax trick and get with the program. WE THE PEOPLE need someone to keep the kids out of the shark tank, period, and she’s it!
Obama stuffed the White House with Clintonistas. These are the people who made the Wall street mess as PBS so clearly showed:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/
So you chose Mr. President, you’re with the people or corporate/banker slugs!
DEAR PRESIDENT OBAMA–you told people to read HUFFPO and we are…
WE ARE WATCHING your decision on this…THIS BUREAU WAS WARREN’S IDEA! SHE’S BEEN AN ASTUTE, ARTICULATE– YET SURREALISTICALLY POLITE– WATCHDOG.
i am as loyal a follower as you have… (in 2008, i enlisted friends to raise 15K for you, with chili and music in evanston, il… the larger effort led entirely by women in evanston, raised over 50K for your campaign–in CHILI cook-offs, of all things.)
PLEASE LISTEN… ELIZABETH WARREN is FOR middle america… nominating her to LEAD this bureau IS THE RIGHT THING, THE ONLY THING to do…
You will lose women’s votes, if you fail to nominate her for this position…
lynn t.
I find it fascinating how often my fellow liberal Democrats proclaim that Obama is somehow being untrue to them (us), this is the end of his administration, his economic team is evil, etc. Let’s start with his election: he was never so liberal as many liberals claimed. Let’s turn to his Cabinet: he appointed people with experience or a solid background who had to clean up a mess in every department (one commenter said Treasury secretaries used to be economists–this is, to put it mildly, wrong because that has rarely been the case). He promised health care reform and got it–he couldn’t get all that he said he wanted during the campaign, and lefties blistered him while generally doing little to try to pressure members of CONGRESS, where the bill had to pass, to act–except when they attacked Harry Reid, who painted a masterpiece in the end by getting the 60 votes he needed to pass legislation. We got at least some degree of financial reform and one of the Senate’s great liberals, Russ Feingold, is too busy demanding perfection to accept anything. Thanks, Russ.
Look, I wish Obama were more liberal. I can name many areas where I think he could do better or differently. But I am sick and tired of so-called liberals who don’t know from their back end to third base about the real world telling me and everybody else how things MUST be. You don’t like what’s happening? Get off your butts and get out there and elect more liberal Democrats. Give your money to the right causes instead of whining here. I’m out in Las Vegas doing my best to try to help reelect a Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, who has done an incredible job and now faces an opponent who wants to eliminate Social Security, and a congresswoman, Dina Titus, who is as liberal as it is possible to be in a moderate district that never elected a Democrat before she won. Go do something useful and quit sounding like the parodies of yourselves that the right claims we are.
I lived through the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, and Johnson. All were more effective than Obama, and none of them betrayed his primary constituency the way Obama has. This progressive is very disappointed.
Yes indeed. Show Summers and Timmy the door and get Krugman and Warren in the drivers seats. Does that sound like “change we can believe in President Obama?”
Well described.
Who said anything about throwing in the towel? In fact, when the followers move towards the unacceptable, the leader assumes he needs to move in that direction — since that’s where people are heading. Rallying behind the president and working to make him – and in the process us – better, empowers him to take more risks and further the agenda he originally set out to follow.
Ms. Warren has integrity. Make her the head of the consumer protection agency would be a great step.
President Obama has a real chance to protect the little person.
Not nominating her would finish me from voting for him again.
All the best
Bravo! And thank you, for expressing my thoughts better than I did and for doing your part to get Reid reelected. I’m frustrated with the withering base that fails to comprehend what the frightening consequences of divisive whining may be. Get off your butts indeed — we need to be working to better the situation and stop threatening to jump ship every 5 minutes because we can’t have it all, at once.
Please join the Facebook group supporting Elizabeth Warren at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103000713088833 .
Elizabeth for President! I’ve been saying this for a LONG time too :)
If Obama knows what is good for him, he’ll appoint her to a prominent position to help keep her out of the running. I could see an effort to primary him with her taking shape.
Interesting perspective that, I believe as you say, most of us are ignorant to or don’t want to believe.
I do think though that Elizabeth Warren has a proven record of being a worthy watchdog for this venue. She shoud be head of the CPA and she should have teeth big as anyone else involved in our economic decision making process. IF Obama does not appoint her, it will send a chilling message to us all about where he ISN’T coming from…a point of view that consumers need real protection.
I won’t be voting for President Obama in 2012 if Elizabeth Warren doesn’t get the job. Period–not even if the 2 times divorced, 3rd wife Catholic Newt Gingrich or 10%+ unemployment is an ant John Boehner runs for Presidential office. Me and my family will look for others or just stay at home and eat pizza November 2012 if Elizabeth Warren doesn’t get this job.
IF ELIZABETH WARREN DOESN’T GET THE JOB I AM FINISHED WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, AND I WON’T EVEN REFER TO HIM AS SUCH. PERIOD. THIS IS IT OBAMA, BE A DAMNED MAN OR WE ARE DONE WITH YOU.
It is three of the last four secretaries of state that were women, but who’s counting (Albright, Powell, Rice, Clinton)
Gee, somebody hates Obama. I am ever so curious as to what reasons you have to ‘hate’ Obama. Please list some, maybe I will agree with you.
I’m led to believe that an anti-Warren petition just may be in the works. It will point to her weakness at the hearings and to her squishy softness in accepting the unprincipled compromise that led to the passage of the sham legislation which places the CPFB under the Fed. Can it be that we have Geithner to thank for these developments? I simply can’t imagine.
Will she become the Obama admimistration’s
Brooksley Born? Last straw for me if
that turns out to be the case.
I concur, Elizabeth Warren needs to be appointed…period. No appoint, no vote…period.
Nicely said. But my way of doing that is with a line in the sand past which I will no longer go. I crossed that line a couple of weeks age. The only way I’ll support Obama is if he figures out what my issues are and do something to woo me back. No more of my time is to be wasted hoping.
Michael,
to describe Geithner as someone with experience who could clean up the ‘mess’ is either willful ignorance on your part or willful mendacity on your part.
Geithner’s criminal behavior at the NY Fed should have done more than disqualify him for his current position – it should have led to an indictment.
Obama promised traditional Democrats quite a bit – including a public option. He then worked his hardest to tank many of what he had promised.
Your willingness to insult Democrats who hold Obama to even just 30% of his word will accomplish just one thing – it will further alienate those who campaigned so hard for him two years ago.
I really have a hard time understanding the “Big Government” comment. Government has an important role to play in our economy and lives. It can stimulate and protect. It levels the playing field so that small companies can compete with large ones. When managed effectively it does all this with a relatively small footprint. Does no one remember, under Clinton/Gore, government became efficient and got smaller at the same time. They were not perfect by any means but we had surpluses and American life was improving.
I said I trusted him to do the right thing. I believe he is doing his best under the circumstances -dealing with the party of NO & the ConservaDems in the senate like Ben Nelson, Landreu, Liberman, Pryor, just to mention a few. So either he’s gonna get some reform or non at all. Quit being such a baby & grow up okay!Health care, financial reform can all be improved in the future but if he didn’t get it done now even with the imperfections it probably never was gonna be done especially with the GOP poised to gain more seats in congress. Your beef should be with the senate, Obama has tried everything to get his agenda passed. He has tried twisting arms but that only works in dictatorships, you really think Obama can say anything to Nelson or Liberman to make them do something they won’t do? please. It is always in the senate that good legislation gets watered down & filerbustered with the help of some Dems. Hillary wouldn’t have faired any better either so what alternative do you have? Either run for office & be the leader you wish he was or grow up & realize that lasting change doesn’t happen overnight especially when you have entrenched interest even in your own party who are fighting tooth & nail against you.
I don’t think you understand the scope of the problem… Which means that you don’t read Johnson or, on the conservative side, the FT’s William Buiter.
There were plenty of conservatives and liberals who wanted temporary receivership\nationalization of the big banks right after the crash.
Now THAT’s bipartisanship. But if it ain’t corporate bipartisanship, Obama ain’t pursuing it.
BTW, tell me how widening the Afghan hole into which we pour tax dollars borrowed from China et alia is responsible, humane, or somehow an improvement over Bush.
You’re kidding yourself.
I’ll be voting Democratic in 2010 and 2012, but I sure as hell will be working to primary Obama.
I agree completely with everything you said, nice to have a grown up in this conversation.
Thanks for the heads-up. It wouldn’t surprise me at this point.
I agree with Michael.
One of the major things hurting the Democrats (in addition to the 9.5% unemployment rate) is that currently the Democratic wing of the Democratic party is demoralized and not motivated and will have a low voter turnout, while the wingnuts on the right are strongly motivated and will turn out.
Appointing Elizabeth Warren to this position is the one most important thing Obama can do to correct this problem and motivate this part of the Democrats’ base to turn out and vote in November.
Thank you – it would provide a thin veneer of integrity, and as a loyal Dem (akin to being a Cubs fan) I’ll TAKE WHATEVER I CAN GET – even if it’s just a temporary souvenir pennant appointment of Warren before they tear her to shreds.
Appoint Elizabeth Warren!!!
what is all of your peoples problem. There are plenty of people qualified for the job. There is some sort of obsession with this woman on this site. Get real and read a book people before acting like sheep and criticizing Obama.
What is wrong with all of you. Nobody’s been nominated yet. All of this is heresay. You’re all idiots for assuming. Get real.
You’re right – I’d accept Simon Johnson in the same position. But I ain’t gettin’ that, either.
And Obama will have only himself to blame in 2012…
But I am optimistic, as you put it, after all, there are plenty more qualified people for that position.
What is your obsession with Obama?
Looks like comments section has changed. But realistically speaking this is a non issue. Nobody reads these comments except for drunk retards for which I am one. But that is proabably smarter than the electorate and the spammers that are paid to post so go blow yourselves.
pls that was a stroke of genius
nobody bad an ‘insider’ to produce great results
give the man , our great President a break
enough with the abuse
it is easy to talk but talk is cheap
i think he is doing the best he can with what he has
let us trust him
he cannot do it alone – we need to help
our trust would be of great help
pls – if you can do better …run for President
let us see what u r made of
No, Mike, we’d be idiots, after witnessing the Obama admin in action these last 18 months, to believe that he would appoint anyone with integrity. If there were integrity, geithner and summers would never have been appointed.
But you’re assuming this. He has appointed very qualified people to most posts. I don’t understand the animosity or the distrust.
Quite frankly his administration has been the best that I’ve ever experienced. Call me young. I’m 30 but I’ve never seen or experienced better.
Well, thank you for those edifying last words, “so go blow yourselves”, which pretty much sums up the depth of the remaining OFA volunteers and die-hard Obama supporters.
u do not seem to understand
having people with knowledge is the ‘key’
Obama’s integrity is not in question here – why do you all seem to think u can have a go at him when he is proving to be the best President ever ?
Stop it already – get a life..
or run for President yourself and find out the truth about what u can and cannot do…
bunch of idiots
so unAmerican not to back your President regardless
good , who needs silly people like you
instant gratification
miracles from day one
is what u are all talking about
Rome was not built in a day
go to the right and good luck to you !
I’ll repeat since my last comment won’t be accepted. Blo all that jazz. Obam spporters will always win since they are not paid but believe that he is doing right. right is in the eyes of the beholder. And it does not pertain to religion. Right is na na na an na na na na.
Here here
could not have said better myself
these people just like to bent nonsense
they do not read , just watch Fox
Saint Drunken Beck
who is enjoying stardom based on lies and ugliness
how did he get away with so much ?? it is beyond me
30 is way too old to remain so willfully naive, I’m not much older than you but for God’s sake at least I’ve read about previous presidents. Why not start with Robert Caro’s ‘Master of the Senate’ which details a real Democratic leader, LBJ. It ain’t pretty, but it sure beats what this admin is dishing out.
Nixon was more progressive than Obama. So was Eisenhower.
Read some history and think it over.
I also hate all you freak Warren maniacs. Get a life. you know nothing about finance nor will you ever. But sidenote I kinda like her.
IF THE GOP WERE TO STOP THINKING OF THEMSELVES
MAYBE THIS ADMINISTRATION COULD GET ON WITH THEIR AGENDA TO HELP AMERICANS
THEY ARE SORE LOSERS and we all know what happens to them
figure drunken B as speaker of the House
nausiating
Since we are in a downward spiral lets get the end over with sooner than later.
He is going to get a lot of drama when the Progressives either start marching or when he is defeated.
You are wrong – of course she will get the job
sit and watch it happen
take my word for it !
I’m pretty positive I know mush more than gruel. So eat it. Also when it comes to knowledge suck it. So to consume. Eisenhower did nothing nor did LBJ except medicare but that was crammed down his throat.
Brilliant exposition of the altered reality perceived by unquestioning Obama supporters.
So you like to sigh all over your balls?
Right, except that he just recess appointed his new head of Medicare to avoid a Senate fight. Now that we know is actually capable of by-passing the Senate when it counts, there would be no excuse for refusing to recess appoint Warren to this position.
yes dear
The Tea Party people do not like sensible people
they like crazy people
Elizabeth Warren is far too sensible for them
i agree EW is the only American woman qualified to be our President
she has it all : intelligence, presence, elegance, wisdom !
“let Obama do what we elected him to do or go to the tea party.”
No. I intend to keep criticizing him and keep pressuring him to do the right thing. You just keep sitting in your Obama church worshiping him and leave the pressure to those of us who are less naive than you.
Also I’m probably way richer than you are. I’d like you to fetch me a lemonade you poor paid blogger.
hating Obama just demonstrates u do not know enough about this wonderful human being
or you are allowing yourself to be guided by others
the man is as sensible as Elizabeth , they get on extremely well
she admires him and likes him very much
pls hate is based on lack of knowledge
read , get to know him – you will soon change ur mind
read ‘The Promise’
If Obama loses Elizabeth Warren or reduces her significance in any way, we should do every thing in our power to make sure he is not re-elected First he passed up the opportunity to have Paul Volcker and knew that Summers could not get confirmed as Treasury secretary. Summers Geithner and Emanuel should be replaced immediately. And Gates right behind them.I think that Emanuel is a “Cancer on the Presidency” He should be replaced first. What financial wizard decided to borrow 100 billion a year from China to fight an unwinnable war?
you did the right thing
thank you very much for helping elect the best President EVER to have existed in America
He takes all the abuse from ugly people to help u and me have a better future
go ahead vote GOP and good luck to you !
I’ve been trying to get a blackmail strategy going with the Democratic base for months — to virtually no avail. But you’re hitting it on the head here. Make a simple demand, or several. It’s irrelevant now, because it’s so late in the game. But I figured that the 3000 empty suits who run the Democratic Party just might take notice of any boycott movement that threatened to keep an additional 5 or 6 percent of the Democrats in front of the TV on election day in November — and possibly destroy thousands of Democrats across America, from the Courthouse and City Hall, to the halls of Congress. After all — the party, and it’s traitorous handlers and operative deserve a fate worse than death — for defrauding the American people once again.
No, he protected YOU
if only u took a moment to really think before u speak
and he picked the best – even if damaged goods – available
who better to guide u than a crook ? ask the Republicans they will tell u all about Cheney
Being a President is not what you think it is
i admire him for wanting to make a change
He also defended Clinton whilst she was stubbing him in the back …. He is above all of us, sensible and wise
You will eat your words but will u be brave enough to admit it !??? doubt it, you all want SUPERMAN
and sorry SUPERMAN does not exist or else we would have had him stop the gash of oil in the Gulf of Mexico
whatever !
but know that ur criticism is not constructive mate
can u hear how ignorant ur comment is ?
go ahead start backing Rush L , Beck and Palin
you deserve all u will get
after they have chewed u up – u will think O is a saint
ha-ha
how simple minded can u be
it is what we call in the UK “cut ur nose to spice ur face”
ha-ha
I may have deleted my recent move-on.org type emails too quickly — is there a groundswell here that I’m not aware of? Petitions, call campaigns, etc? This surely is important, if only for we who so fervently supported obama, to our continued “faith.” He needs to hear it in every way he can. Warren seems the real deal.
Can anyone point me (others?) to such ongoing efforts, to join?
Get real. Nobody but drunk A holes do anything on these sites but vote. So go suck an egg. Also I like frogs.
YES< LET US ASK HER SHALL WE ?
I KNOW SHE DID NOT WANT TO BE A JUSTICE
SO IT IS POSSIBLE SHE HAS SOMETHING ELSE IN MIND
BEFORE U GO MAKING UP UR MINDS ABOUT ALL OF THESE
EVENTS
LET US HEAR WHAT SHE HAS TO SAY
HER TAKE MIGHT BE MORE CONSTRUCTIVE THAN URS
I HAPPEN TO KNOW SHE LIKES OUR PRESIDENT , THEY ARE JUST AS WISE AND HE NEEDS GOOD AND BAD AROUND HIM TO BALANCE IT ALL OUT
THAT IS HOW LIFE IS
U NEED TO BALANCE IT ALL OUT
The reason for the US Government having less than the 50% chance that large businesses have of having good people in charge is simply because they have to be ratified by the nincompoops and crooks in the Senate.Obama has to have someone lesser than Warren but who will be ratified.
NO HE WILL NOT
BECAUSE WOMEN ARE SENSIBLE
ELIZABETH WILL BE ELECTED IF SHE WANTS THE JOB
NOT ANY TIME SOONER
GIVE IT A BREAK
Yes, Edwin Lee, it is tough for the best of CEOs to hit gold with personnel choices. But good CEOs give the individuals a chance to show their stuff – and if they can’t cut it, they get the boot.
You, as a CEO, know better than many of the rest of us that Obama’s lack of executive experience and leadership is very, very evident. I keep waiting for him to learn. Hope this decision will show that he is learning.
I’m no CEO, but as a former banking exec (no, not one of those that brought the house down) and management consultant, I find his lack of leadership and consistency appalling.
If he blows this one, it may not be a marked turning point, but it will be one more thorn in the side of his supporters who are falling by the wayside with every new failure to clean house and de-Bush DC.
If the opposition hates you and your own people have no hope left in your ability and willingness to do what you were elected to do, just how do you win elections? How do you even pass legislation? How do you accomplish anything?
Incorrect. You do not get to tell people “Agree with me or you’re and idiot and not an American”. This country was FOUNDED on the concept that when anyone in this country, including the president, decides that what is unequivocally WRONG is suddenly RIGHT… you have the right to stand firm and say “No. What’s wrong is wrong” and not budge. The government is REQUIRED to not only allow that right, but defend it to the death. THAT is being American, not blindly supporting whoever is elected.
Weaklings and cowards keep their mouths shut. Patriots stand up in the face of corrupt men and institutions.
And for the record, Obama’s just as corrupt as any president I’ve ever seen. Only a slight improvement over Bush, and that’s just because he hasn’t started any NEW wars. He’s kept the same inadequate economic policy, blown it on getting us out of Bush’s wars, and shown that he’s quite willing to allow powerful men to continue doing whatever they like. Just another puppet of the oligarchs. I voted for him, but only because I knew he wasn’t as bad as the competition.
If Warren doesn’t get the job, my perception, the perception of a moderate, will be, Wall Street/Big Business are indeed running the show – Not congress – Not the president.
Sorry don’t buy it. Obama as Senator had plenty of time to meet and understand the players and the system. Your fundamental assumption is that he came in blind and cold. He did not. Aside from the time of his time in the Senate, he had a very long primary season to begin to pick his staff and formulate his polices. If he did in fact make decisions at the last minute, he is one piss poor leader.
I hate to inject perhaps a more cynical viewpoint but given the magnitude of wealth on Wall Street and the dependence of not just American prosperity but global prosperity on it’s ‘graces’, no president has the courage or perhaps suicidal tendency to challenge the nature of Western style capitalism. The notion of the Smithian ‘invisible hand’ of free market balance has taken on new meaning with so much wealth concentrated in so few hands. The international finance system is far greater and more powerful than any single set of global leaders much less a single leader, threatening collapse at the slightest lack of confidence (ie ‘socialistic’ fiscal policy). This is also true of the military industrial complex, from which much wealth is generated. This paradigm is evidenced by the extremeness of the budget deficit austerity movement globally when value and massive amounts of capital is generated every minute, every day.
You are a coward, an apologist, a troll, and an awful speller. Please stop posting.
“Will be”? Apparently you’ve missed the past 30 years. ;-)
here , here
Excellent ! u are my hero
so well put – fed up with people having a go at a the very person who is showing cares…
even if he is a liberal through and through, he is intelligent enough not to abuse the situation
in those people’s eyes he is dam if he does and dam if he does not. It makes me ill to hear their reasons
instead of realising what the alternative would be
only have to watch the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush and the rest of Fox to turn my stomach
Give the man a break is all I can say
President O is just doing it the only way he knows how
ditto Reid and even P
Everybody should think like u , help Democrats keep their majority, let us show the crazy GOP they need to change or perish …
DEMOCRATS stop being scary cats
get out there and help President O maintain some order in our country even if u do not like the way he does it
just accept he knows better
as well as he can make mistakes too
BRAVO MICHAEL, thanks
you silly person Ted
“if i do not get my way….. u r not having my kisses mama”
pls – go on…Elizabeth will love to hear that !
you go to McCain and Palin
good luck mate
I’m astonished that there is only one intelligent and capable person in the United States, and I’m more astonished to discover that the consensus is that if Obama does not appoint this — the only person in the universe who understands economics — to the Consumer Protection Commission, then all of reality will cease. These are just such surprising things to learn. Wow.
Defectors
if u need an excuse…. who needs u
watch and learn
EW would think u all very, very weak
as well as ill informed
Indeed; it would be the last straw. All bets off for 2012. Next thing you know, he’ll be turning the Net over to the Telco/Cable Co’s.
yes or read Michael’s comments:
I find it fascinating how often my fellow liberal Democrats proclaim that Obama is somehow being untrue to them (us), this is the end of his administration, his economic team is evil, etc. Let’s start with his election: he was never so liberal as many liberals claimed. Let’s turn to his Cabinet: he appointed people with experience or a solid background who had to clean up a mess in every department (one commenter said Treasury secretaries used to be economists–this is, to put it mildly, wrong because that has rarely been the case). He promised health care reform and got it–he couldn’t get all that he said he wanted during the campaign, and lefties blistered him while generally doing little to try to pressure members of CONGRESS, where the bill had to pass, to act–except when they attacked Harry Reid, who painted a masterpiece in the end by getting the 60 votes he needed to pass legislation. We got at least some degree of financial reform and one of the Senate’s great liberals, Russ Feingold, is too busy demanding perfection to accept anything. Thanks, Russ.
Look, I wish Obama were more liberal. I can name many areas where I think he could do better or differently. But I am sick and tired of so-called liberals who don’t know from their back end to third base about the real world telling me and everybody else how things MUST be. You don’t like what’s happening? Get off your butts and get out there and elect more liberal Democrats. Give your money to the right causes instead of whining here. I’m out in Las Vegas doing my best to try to help reelect a Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, who has done an incredible job and now faces an opponent who wants to eliminate Social Security, and a congresswoman, Dina Titus, who is as liberal as it is possible to be in a moderate district that never elected a Democrat before she won. Go do something useful and quit sounding like the parodies of yourselves that the right claims we are.
But the people did work with Obama. From my 40 years of voting no other candidate had such an organized grass roots level of money, organizing and support. The people fully backed him.
Now the argument is that we the little peopld didn’t do enough to support Obama, and as a result, Obama because of our apparent weakness was forced to adopt right wing polices.
Dude, you obviously have drunk the kool aid. Let me spell it out for you. I know, I know, you are all grown up and stuff, except that hasn’t cured your naivete. Just cuz you repeat the WH spin
it does not make it so. It begins with Obama appointing Geitner
involving Rubin and Summers….no, they don’t work for us they work for Wall Street….12 trillion lent in secret to bankster – to be pick up by the tax payer if anything goes wrong…yeah, cool move.
Secret meeting and dealing with the pharmaceuticals for health care. No Obama NEVER even attempted to defend the Public Option. He idiotically escalates the Afghan war….can you spell quagmire? can you spell rendition? can you spell the order to assassinate an American n his orders without due process? can you spell Patriot Act? a most unConstitutional act affirmed by a “Constitutional Scholar”, Can you spell off shore drilling? how about nuclear power? Kill the lunar program, yeah real smart.
Obama is a very good republican president- no, progressive ideals are not represented or enacted. In short what we have here amount pretty much to a fraud. YOu can say you are for something, look at people in the eye – then turn around and do the opposite. Get a clue- Obama is here to serve the worst corporate interests and people like you blindly support him.
do u mean u when u speak of integrity ?
look at urself in the mirror
and MAKE THAN CHANGE !
oh we question just like everyone else
but we are also sensible enough to trust we elected the right person
not superman
the MAN for the job
and he is getting on with it
despite the amazing opposition
and the party of NO
My impression is that Warren will be like Volcker. A mantle piece quickly marginalized by the Administration. Ironic, Obama appointed a guy who bet against the American housing market as budget director, and executive who destroyed the public option to implement the new HCR law, and just mandated no mmoney for life saving abortions within the high risk pools, and yet gives a wimp response to Warren as viable candidate for a regulator.
no next thing we will hear is that the likes of
Glenn Beck or Palin make sense to them
wow… so sad
She will probably be more constructive
from outside
just saying
for all we know she does not want the job
Get real he did not have enough votes
and like the intelligent man that he is
he knew he had to compromise
watch and see public option will be implemented eventually
bill had to pass first
step by step it can only get better
u r the naive one that thinks
u have to ram things down people’s throats to
obtain the best for ur people
this is not Cuba or Venezuela
we have got the right person at the top
the whole world is appreciative of him
just dwell on that
is the world wrong and u r right ?
I’d just like the CPC to be run by a person who has emphatically proven himself or herself to approach the playing field from the perspective of us, the people, the citizens, the “consumers.”
Elizabeth Warren is the best of bunch.
It must be Elizabeth Warren.
Robert.
I feel your pain, you can’t come to terms with the fact you were duped, you bought the line and you believed- except, is a BIG lie.
No the people don’t have the right man on the job- Wall Street and big business does.
The CIA has a term for people like you, you are an unwitting supporter for the deception being committed and you don’t even know it. The term is: useful idiot- dwell on that cowboy.
Your blind faith does our country wrong, an dthe perpetuation of the big lie continues. Bush could not have done better. Period. Own it.
Agree completely with your analysis of the process. Disagree that it’s the same in Government as it is in large corporations/organizations based on one simple fact: Government leaders are required to get approval from another branch of the government.
Given the way the Senate works, or rather how it is currently not working, Obama’s picks are getting stonewalled and filibustered at every turn. The one’s he has in there now such as Geithner, Summers, etc. were voted on and approved early in his term. This being an election year, I doubt he’d be permitted a vote on the floor for a new SecTreas that would be “acceptable” to Republicans.
Robert, I’m starting to think you are paid shill here or a fool.
Tim Geithner has been a suck up to Wall Street from the git go. I do fear that his close association with Obama signals we were wrong about Obama and change, and that Obama is in bed with the Banking Industry too. Barack, tell me it ain’t so! For Geithner who is a total weakling on the Wall Street thing to oppose EW is such an obvious revelation of his true loyalties and double speak, it’s hard to even look at it, but if Obama doesn’t trim this guy’s winigs soon we can only assume he was with Sachs and the rest the whole time. We are losing faith! Now if Geithner goes and EW’s in his left and Centrist capital wlll rise a little.
Wow that’s good, but maybe that’s the balance we need. Capitalism ungloved on Wallstreet has us all mesmerized in a very bad way, because it has destroyed us. Somewhere in all this it just can’t be a boy’s club but has to come to term with reality. EW being on this thing would send a message, “change” what happened to that. Did Obama become co opted so very soon. Very discouraged in CA.
Obama is no more of a puppet of the oligarchs than anyone, which is to say we are all their puppets. That’s not Obama’s fault. Stop blaming him for this country’s conservative bent. He knows how to win the game by the minimum of points. He proved that in passing healthcare reform. Unfortunately he has little choice: pander to the money interests and win, or stand on principle and lose, becoming a lame duck in the process. He chooses option 1.
Warren has never really held any public office. She should perhaps be given aN independent consultancy role in the new agency but not the lead role. That way she would be able to continue her critical role of independently appraising the reforms.
Great post. So well said.
I think a lot of you are living in a left-wing bubble where no Bible-thumping, drill-baby-drill-chanting, anti-government right-wing nutjobs ever tread. Look-Obama beat an old, mentally soft guy with a cancer history. Big deal. This country is still conservative, and if you expect any actual liberal legislation to get passed, you can forget it. We’re a dumb, conservative country full of people who don’t know right from left, think Obama is a fascist, and think that government is evil, but that big corporations are harmless benevolent entities. What exactly do you expect Obama to do in this environment?
Wow. Have you ever nailed with a direct hit bulls-eye. Looking at your blog to see who you are. Congratulations. Period.
Yeah, great idea, David. Get rid of Obama so we can get Romney, Jindal, or Huckabee in there. Would any of those three gentlemen accomplish your objectives?
Here we go again. More of you criticizing Obama for being too favorable to Wall Street. Let me put it this way. The Obama administration is a finger in a very large dam of conservative will in this country. If Obama goes, you can kiss this country goodbye. The Republicans will put us into the Second Great Depression faster than they can say, “failed stimulus”. We have to hope to hold the House and Senate, and pray that people wake up over time.
I’m one of the “patient” progressives. I agree 100%. I didn’t think U could be disillusioned by BHO, but not appointing her would make that possible, if not likely.
Did the Democrats filibuster Bush at every turn?
Here’s where Obama’s coming from: He tries to bring about change, but the Republicans play like a team and try to block everything he does while spewing corporate-sponsored rhetoric.
What’s your solution?
I can’t say that I would agree with Elizabeth Warren being the end all, be all for the job. She certainly has my vote! Unfortunately, it doesn’t count and it is left to the great plutocracy that is the American government.
What I can say is that anyone left of center that decides to be fickle and choose this opportunity to divide the fragile Left is missing the big picture.
Our in-fighting threatens to establish a new coalition of Limbag Righties, Palinite Wasilla Chin-Chillas, of Crooked Angles, spoiled Rubios and Rank Pauls.
Our unity is crucial to holding back these wackos from using the Bush recession to their advantage.
It was their policies that took this prosperous nation that celebrated the Millennium as the undisputed world leader with a budget surplus and turned it into a second fiddle to China, deeply in debt for a simple political issue of Medicare Part-D, rapidly cutting taxes for the richest Americans, for… no reason other than to exacerbate the failing middle-classs with taunts of success, and it all happened in one decade!
After all, Reagan set the policy of giving the corporations everything they wanted. Guess what? It failed!
The connies have rammed this country into the ground. Do you remember why you voted against Bush? Well remember it now! The corporate interests are spending hundreds of millions to cling to the status quo and defeat Obama’s fairly moderate agenda. They like things the way they are! Because America is a land of opportunity… for them! The rich!
I guess we, who do the actual work in this country, deserve to die in a convalescent home. We don’t deserve a pension or a reward for a lifetime of loyalty to a corporation. Isn’t it ironic that an employee of a corporation who has given up 30-50 years of service is somehow more disposable than some douche-bag that was brought in for a few months to fix a ‘fiscal’ problem that was most likely solved by the upswing in the economy?
Yes this magic man fixed everything! It had nothing to do with the hard work and diligence of the employees of this crooked corp. No, the magic-man at the top did all of the work!
Corporate America has failed us! It is time to abandon the fantasy that these billionaire Repug Wall Street hacks are somehow going to fix this problem without our intervention.
The American Military is the greatest fighting force on this Earth, and yet, it is the greatest example of a Socialist enterprise the world has yet to offer. Free health-care, tax-free purchases, loans, education grants and a great deal of incentives that cowardly politicians have passed down to look as though they faced those I.E.D.’s themselves.
Yet they did not!
The time has come to hold the clowns in Washington accountable. That means that the meek Dems and the even lower Repugs, who stand for nothing else then rugged individualism = selfish coward-ism, need to figure out a way to make Washington work again!
Things are not going to change with a new election. We need to stand up and show the powers that be that we are a force to be reckoned with. These T-Baggers are just another distraction that keeps the middle-class from realizing its true potentiality!
Let’s show Wall Street that we, who do the actual work in this country, cannot be counted out of the political process!!!
JC, you may be right, but that only proves that the majority of business owners in this country fail to understand that they have contributed to our current economic problems by their anti-government, anti-regulation zeal. The real enemy of capitalism in this decade has been capitalism’s desire to make up its own rules for the benefit of the few and at the expense of competition, free and fair markets, and the nation in which they operate. Like schoolchildren who made up their own rules, only to find that the result was inefficiency, imbalance, and failure, they need to accept strong government leadership to stop incentivising the high-risk, short-term mindset. I have an MBA. I would rather start a business in a well-regulated environment as opposed to a poorly- or under-regulated one like we had under Bush-Cheney.
jc…..you are either a complete doofus or a liar.
“Business” is killing the working class. Not the other way around.
In a democracy the majority is supposed to rule.
The majority are the working poor and the just plain poor.
Not business…….
Progressives would have been filibustered out of health care reform. The unions would have had their public option gutted in the Senate anyway. Which fantasy world do you live in that makes you think the USA is like a progressive European nation?
The elite restructured this country in 2000. Maybe you didn’t notice.
His miracle was getting elected in the first place. What? You want another miracle? A brain-wave altering device to un-brainwash the Rush Limbaugh-Sarah Palin crowd? Good luck with that.
You must be joking if you think conservatives wanted to nationalize the big banks. If any of them claimed they wanted that, it is only so that when the Obama administration did so, they could call them socialists.
Sigh, 30 years takes us back to Reagan, no further. Basic math, dude.
This administration is CLEARLY the best since Clinton.
You two self-righteous clowns take the cake. Who are you to demean the work we are doing by your snide remarks? People like you two are clear examples of what is terribly amiss with our Party.
For the Republicans, it’s party first, America second.
These guys talents just aren’t necessarily the ones the nation needs. I think they’re great at keeping certain Monopolies from going belly up!
Sorry above posters, the “self-righteous” clowns reference was to Green and Dianejks.
What is truly disgusting is seeing the argument, ad nauseum, that we should all be thanking out lucky stars that Obama is there to hold back the rising tide of conservatism; and that we(progressives) should accept all of his horribad corporatist policies because the alternative is so much worse.
What a crock. Obama is a HUGE disappointment, and no amount of evil and banality on the Right justifies his total capitulation to his Wall Street buddies and the health insurance industry.
Remember that Obama has plenty of political capital and influence over members of congress to get things passed that he WANTS to pass – like emergency war supplementals that he promised would be part of the budget instead of hidden behind emergency budget requests.
But, we should all just accept these travesties, because the alternative is so much worse…
Carter’s one-term presidency reminds me more and more of Obama’s presidency. One of the greatest weaknesses of Carter was the team he relied on — Hamilton Jordan, Jody Powell, and Bert Lance still come vividly to mind.
For Geithner who is a total weakling on the Wall Street thing to oppose EW is such an obvious revelation of his true loyalties and double speak, it’s hard to even look at it, but if Obama doesn’t trim this guy’s winigs soon we can only assume he was with Sachs and the rest the whole time.!!!!
Well stated. Liberals seem unable to realize that they are losing the public opinion war with the conservatives. It is not because Obama has failed to support more radical reforms in health care or financial reform. It is because they have failed to make a compelling case to the public for more decisive reforms.
@Edwin Lee: i disagree with your basic premise. Yes, Obama is weak on economics, but he had enough time and advisors to get this VERY IMPORTANT appointment right. and he knew this appointment was the most important. As we can see now, Obama did not want anything but the status quo for BIG banking and BIG finance. Geithner is a mechanic. He knows how the existing system works and is trying to put it back the way it was (Humpty Dumpty). That is what Obama wants. Obama may want to change some things, but BIG banks and BIG finance is not one of them. It is becoming obvious that Obama is not a political risk taker.
The new financial regulatory reform legislation gives Geithner too much power. Elizabeth Warren should head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
For a better understanding of the issues involved, visit:
http://donovanlawgroup.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/how-credit-derivatives-brought-the-u-s-economy-to-the-brink-of-a-second-great-depression/
Yes!
Anonymous was right the first time: 2 of the last 3 sec of states HAD been females. (As in, before Hillary.)
“intellectual capture”
“You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, ‘What did that man pick up?’ ‘He picked up a piece of the truth,’ said the devil. ‘That is a very bad business for you, then,’ said his friend. ‘Oh, not at all,’ the devil replied, ‘I am going to help him organize it.'”
Fourth option: Obama goes and we run a challenger in 2012. Elizabeth Warren? Ted Kaufman? Anthony Wiener? Rachel Maddow? Anyone else interested, please put your name on the list by the door.
Mr. Johnson wrote:
“Failing to appoint Elizabeth Warren would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will go down in the history books as a turning point – downwards – for this administration.”
“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates
Wall Street is a hypertrophied gland that is threatening survival of the entire organism. It is the tail wagging the dog. We need doctors to perform surgery and administer radiation and chemotherapy to restore its function to a useful level. . Elizabeth Warren is such a doctor and so is Elliot Spitzer.
He can’t just annoint her and he never announces who gets a position until AFTER a person is vetted. You’re going to have to quit making up anonymous sources who say Warren is blocked unless she has been thoroughly vetted and passed thru Senate confirmation. Then throw your little hissy fit!
SPITE your face.
Spitzer is a failed man already. Can’t stand to hear or look at him.
She is the only one devoted to consumers.
Too bad Geithner was appointed to oversee the regulations, They put the fox in the hen house.
Axelrod: Elizabeth Warren A Candidate To Head New Consumer Protection Bureau
July 16, 2010 01:02 PM – Boston Globe – excerpt
WASHINGTON – “White House senior adviser David Axelrod said this afternoon that Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren was “obviously a candidate” to lead a new consumer protection bureau.
The head of the new bureau is one of the most far-reaching new positions created by the financial legislation Congress gave final approval to yesterday. President Obama is expected to sign the legislation next week and begin implementing various provisions of the 2,300-page bill.
“Elizabeth Warren is a great, great champion for consumers,” Axelrod said this afternoon in a conference call. “She’s obviously a candidate to lead this effort.
There are other candidates as well, but Elizabeth is certainly a candidate.”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/
* I’m no rocket scientist, but I think this falls in the category of, damned by faint praise. This is akin to saying Babe Ruth is “certainly a candidate” for the hall of fame. Is there a better candidate waiting to be vetted? Wake up.
If Obama gives in to this ridiculous pressure from a person who has dropped the ball again and again, he shows himself as another weak Democrat more concerned with avoiding making corporate America angry than with actually standing up for the people. It will be the last straw for me, too.
Elizabeth Warren came to the table at a request from Washington to do a singular job. She has been, in my view, beyond reproach for clarity, integrity and GUTS…Are they afraid she will speak the truth to power and carry the intelligence with her to back it up. I do agree with Simon Johnson that not appointing her will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for those who support this administration. Timothy Geithner should not have this power to block her. President Obama, please man up and choose this quality woman.
Elizabeth Warren is a True Believer in financial reform and saving the Middle Class. She speaks with singular passion and conviction about these topics (see her appearance in Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story), and this is precisely why she terrifies the banking community. If the White House picks someone else, they won’t mention this is the reason, of course — they’ll offer some bland non-justification justification. From the banks’ view, the new agency is the Inquisition, and they’d rather not have Torquemada herself running it!
Short List Emerges for Consumer Guardian
July 16, 2010 – New York Times – excerpt
WASHINGTON — “The Obama administration, savoring Congressional approval of a far-reaching financial regulation bill, now faces a crucial choice over who will lead the powerful new consumer guardian created by the legislation.
“A three-person short list includes Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor whose proposal to create the agency was embraced by Mr. Obama and who is the favorite of liberal advocacy groups.
The other candidates are Michael S. Barr, an assistant Treasury secretary who helped shepherd the legislation through Congress, and Eugene I. Kimmelman, a former consumer advocate who is deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division of the Justice Department.”
I couldn’t agree more!
Apparently “Anonomous” does not know anything about Spitizer except that he was involved with a prostitute. Spitzer was exceptionally effective fighting corruption on Wall Street.
Timothy Geithner is Barack Obama’s Donald Rumsfeld.
That analogy may be hyperbolic, but he is the reason I will not be voting for Obama again.
“Whoever is chosen for the five-year term will have to deftly navigate bureaucratic politics. Critically, the legislation sets up a new council of regulators, led by Mr. Geithner, that will have the power in some instances to nullify the new bureau’s rules if they are deemed to jeopardize the stability of the financial system.”
“Needless to say, the President is correct. Whatever it was he said.”
“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
Donald Rumsfeld
It’s no wonder that the country is in such shambles! We have people voting based on race and gender? Profoundly ignorant.
JULY 16, 2010 07:17 ET
UPDATE II: “Simon Johnson’s criticisms of Geithner linked in the above update are well worth reading, but his claim that Geithner opposes the appointment of Elizabeth Warren (first reported by The Huffington Post) is one which a Geithner aide now emphatically denies.”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/07/16/contradictions/
One small step.
Interesting conversation. I really think many of you touched upon it but no real home runs. In my opinion, after looking at the pattern since Eisenhower warned us about the Military, Industrial,(first draft also said “Congressional”), (today we can add lobbyist)Complex; we can see who is really in charge of this country and it is not the “elected” officials. (Eisenhow warned us but did nothing but kick the can down the road)The power base lies with the Oligarchy and religates the authority of those we think have been elected to basically two roles; 1)Cheerleaders for the super wealthy power base and 2)As a buffer between the classes to make the motives of the rich at least somewhat digestable to the majority. If anyone in particular steps too far beyond their particular given role, they will be at best marginalized and at worst eliminated. We need only to look at what happened to Kennedy (see “JFK and The Unspeakable”) along with Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy and all the rest. They all were killed as soon as they got too close to the people and too threatening to the Oligarchs. In this day and age even “Plausible Denial” is no longer a necessary tool but instead the atrocities are right out in the open. (See Cheney and torture) So in the end, look what happened to JFK and you have your answer.
If Ms. Warren wants the job, she should have the job.
I don’t know why anyone is so surprised at how weak Obama is. His previous voting records say it all…he never took a stand, always voted neutral. What kind of leadership is that. Weak. He goes where his ego takes him; he is not a statesman or a leader. (I am not a conservative bigot either if that is your first thought.)
Agreed. Mr. Lee’s blog is quite impressive. Thank you Edwin for your comment here.
Why do so few of us keep the scorecard on the Obama administration? Or keep on associating hope with a single individual’s charisma. The de-bushifying of the White House and many federal depts was an obvious second step. But the first step was selecting a radical cabinet (radical in terms of replacing Bush/cheney), and that step never occurred. So, you see, if you kept the scorecard, you would know that Elizabeth Warren is NOT appointable. And I applaud Mr. Johnson for his article to draw attention to the fact that her appt is important, but I am too cynical now about our decrepit federal leadership. We might do better to resort to letting the prosecuted criminals run our country like they do in Eastern Russia. Or even just admit that Wall Street is criminal but we will let them keep the puppet strings of the Federal govt in their hands.
Every citizen should be armed with a good summary of information that makes it clear how years of wealth concentration has created the mess we are in. I am middle class and I see it tumbling down all around me. How many unemployed friends, family, children do you need to have? How many people that have lost their homes do you need to know? How many acquaintances under mountains of debt to be aware of?
“When the President signs the financial reform bill next week, Elizabeth Warren should be standing right there next to him as Obama announces her as his appointee to be the first Director of the Federal Consumer Protection Agency.
Anything less would be a slap in the face to all Americans…”
http://tinyurl.com/25cydp8
“Warren is the lone sensible voice within the Obama administration. There is, with no exaggeration at all, no other administration official who deserves her or his job more than Warren does. If—and this is a big if—the US survives the current crisis, there is no one who deserves more accolades than Warren. Heck, half the men (and perhaps the same percent of women) in the country have already proposed marriage to her.”
http://wallstreetpit.com/35695-bitch-slap-fest
People when are you going to wake up OBAMA was not put in power to lead but to follow instructions of of the money whores of europe aka the Rothschilds, Obama is their useful puppet I am sorry to say and as his usefulness declines there will come a point
in time when they will remove him to further the chaos and their
agenda, and yes this may happe very, very, soon this maybe the
October suprize nobody wants to see happen
Absolutely, totally 150% agree!! The straw that broke MY camel’s back was the deep water drilling but this just adds one more fracture to the spine!
I agree.
This is the decision that will decide my continued giving to the Dem party.
Best of all options. The corporatist lapdog Obama resigns and a real leader takes his place who doesn’t kowtow to the rich and corporate interests.
Elizabeth Warren will NOT be selected to head this agency. REASON: Tim Geithner is basically serving as Treasury Secretary while “feathering his nest” for his Big Job On Wall Street with Goldman Sachs or whoever, after he leaves the Administration, or after the Administration leaves us, whatever comes first.
If Liz Warren is selected, Geithner will bear much of the “blame” for selecting this person that the banks consider odious, vile, and anathema to their interests. Geithner will be forever tainted and his name will be “mud” on Wall Street.
Since Geithner is primarily interested in his own private sector future after his current job, and that future depends on his “crediblity” and not looking like an “anti-business” zealot, Liz Warren will definitely NOT be selected for this job!!
Summers, Geithner and lets leave out Rham Emanual, all should go.
After the health care bill many people lost all the enthuciasm in this administration to do the right thing. There was a very low expectation on the finreg right from the begining. The derivatives effort kindled the interest for a while and that too fizzled out in the end. I would be really surprised if Warren is chosen for the post even though that is the most obvious thing to do. Well, the democrats will learn their lessons in fall the hard way.
For Elizabeth Warren
July 16, 2010, 3:22 PM – NY Times – Paul Krugman
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/for-elizabeth-warren/
I have been and continue to be a strong supporter of President Obama. He can claim some real accomplishments such as the removal of lobbyist from government advisory panels, appointment the first Latino to the Supreme Court, passed health care reform, passed financial reform, improve this country’s standing in the world, began the process of winding down the Iraq war, set a timeline for getting out of Afghanistan, appointed highly qualified cabinet members such as Holder and Chu, and has attempted to bring some semblance of civility to politics.
Even though I am a strong supporter, I do not agree with all of his policy decisions. However, I think he is one of the most intelligent and eloquent president that we have ever had in this country.
I too would like to see Elizabeth Warren become head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In a recent hearing she raked Geithner over the coals for his department’s ineptness in dealing with the house foreclosure problems. Geithner’s objective has been to preserve the financial industry’s status quo; unfortunately, he has equated this will the goal of maintaining a healthy and honest system. The current system is neither one of these.
I too would like to see President Obama take a more progressive stand of a lot of issues; however, his decisions do not occur in a vacuum. The pressures on him to maintain some continuity with the past and to attempt to move this country forward are immense. What is missing from this matrix is an organized mass show of support for his agenda. This should be the wind at his back–it must be critical, principled, and progressive.
Oh, she won’t be heading up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For anyone who saw her (rightfully) embarrass Mr. Geithner on C-SPAN during her panel’s questioning of him, and given Mr. Summers and Mr. Geithner’s sway over this administration, there is just no way she’ll get that position. Wish it weren’t true.
Well said. Very astute, sir.
AGREE!
My prediction is that Elizabeth Warren will not head this new agency. She is much too threatening.
And the Obama administration is in decline regardless unless a serious upset of Republicans occurs in the next election cycle.
The only way this changes is if the Republicans are seen as going too far in their crazy partisanship. No matter how bad it gets, I do not see that as likely.
I am a registered Democrat, but I’m seriously considering going independent. Democrats have proven time and again that they are too weak to govern. Having both houses of congress and the presidency, they should have gotten what we were promised, single payer, etc. When Republicans in the Senate threaten a filabuster, Dems should have made them do it. Let the American people see Repubs reading the phone book for two weeks. But no,every single time republicans threaten a filabuster, Democrats caved. Pathetic!
I have known Elizabeth Warren for 20 years. She would be superb at this job. So would 20 other people. The arguments of the Ariannaites – the single most self-absorbed coterie on the Left, are absurd. Mr. Johnson (whoever he is) cites not one factual item for his claim of universal support. The hard truth (which Professor Warren in her humility would laughingly agree with) is that not 1% of Americans even know who she is,
Let’s pick our fights with the president when they matter. No when we just disagree.
You know these people don’t care. Obama fooled us and now the country will get what it deserves. An extreme right wing congress in 2010 followed by an extreme right wing president in 2012.
This will be our down fall. Obama and his administration will go down in history as one of the most frustrating presidencies.
Geithner is power hungry and I knew after Obama appointed him and Summmers that we were in big trouble.
Don’t even get me started on the health care bill mess that Obama and company passes.
People have ALWAYS voted based on race & gender, except that up until now it had to be white and male.
If we had a parliamentary system Obama would be forced to hold an election due to his plummeting numbers and the lack of confidence the population now has.
He would lose right now.
Can we not pick ANYONE who doesn’t cone from Goldman Sachs??
You are spot on in your statment regarding your writings on competence, integrity, WallStreet, and Rubin!
If not head of the CPA, then forget Kagan and put her on the Supremes. This woman is a gift to the US, she goes on Bill Maher and says the word Fu*K in public too. WHo better to be on our side???
This decision is a moment of political clarity for the POTUS. He’s been kicking the Progressives in the teeth for a long time. He’s surounded himself with Gold Sax people. He “saved” the country by giving Billions to Wall St. He will not choose Eliz Warren, it would be consistent with his overall rule.
Amen.
As a guy working in south Chicago I have similar motives, but not the talent, of Mr. Obama. But he has forgotten the needs and capabilities of the vast majority of citizens.
I think Robert Rubin poisoned the well.
I think our only hope is to primary Obama out in 2012; if, in this day and age of intense propaganda, this can be accomplished. Obviously he needs to go.
President Obama is a disappointing centerist. The only reason he has ever seemed progressive is because the right in this country is so reactionary and crazy. Obama is not a liberal. He is not interested in helping ordinary people find jobs, have real health care protection, or financial security. He does enough to look good, but little more.
Why does it have to be a black man and a woman in which I have no problem with? Shouldn’t we be electing and appointing the best qualified people based on their experience and their merits nit just their race or gender. If we are voting based on race and gender now I believe the women was way more qualified than the black man.
Why does it have to be a black man and a woman in which I have no problem with? Shouldn’t we be electing and appointing the best qualified people based on their experience and their merits nit just their race or gender. If we are voting based on race and gender now I believe the women was way more qualified than the black man.
I agree, If Obama does not appoint her, i’ll know he either got in the white house for the wrong reasons or he has no spine. Either way he will lose my vote, confidence and trust. My wife feels the same way.
Annonymous, you see clearly. Short of a miracle, within a decade, give or take a few years, the poverty level in the United States will profoundly increase. Many of the right wing’s wannabe rich folk and their children will be in that boat. We will be a two class society and our nation’s global importance will be as tiny as the group who live well. Our national security will be seriously compromised as will be our ability to respond to natural disaster within our own borders. There will be much civil strife, crime, and gang wars. Racisim and other forms of primitive tribalism will likewise increase among the poor as they fight with one another for resources, including low wage jobs. The death of democracy from this long and painful process we are going through since the election of Reagan will be realized.
Robert, how dare you question the patriotism of anyone commenting on this board. Our president’s judgments and actions, like those of all presidents before him, are subject to critique by all citizens, but especially those of us who voted for (and volunteered or donated money) for him based on what he told us he stood for. He is losing his base more each day. When you have as many enemies as he does on the right, keeping faith with your friends is a must. Many of his decisions on key appointments is equivelent to giving his base the finger. It is that simple.
I went ahead and signed the Bold Progressive’s petition, even though 2 days ago I’d gone on the White House website, http://www.whitehouse.gov/
and sent a comment on the “contact us” page saying that I felt Ms. Warren should be appointed the head of CFPB, even if Mr. Geithner did not like it.
Simon Johnson is right, this will be the “straw that breaks THIS camel’s back,” if Elizabeth Warren is not appointed.
Obama’s top people have been doing a lot of whining this week about why the progressives don’t support him. If he ditches Warren, the progs just going to sit back and watch this sucker go over the cliff in November, and maybe in 2012. Depend on it.
Progressives: you keep repeating the same mistakes. There is no Savior. Obama wasn’t “The One,” and EW will not be riding in on a white horse. Neither will Hillary. Start organizing locally. We will need a long, ground up endeavor to change things. So stop freaking out about it. Work on your attitudes and spirits, because you will need it.
Pragmatist wrote:
“Let’s pick our fights with the president when they matter.”
Is there a more important financial issue facing American consumers today?
Join my Facebook group
Name Elizabeth Warren as Head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=137689176252163
If we can put Betty White into a hosting slot on SNL, maybe we can also do something that, y’know, matters.
Geithner and Summers are, maybe, in just the right place.Highly visible foxes in the hen house. They are advisors…. Not the Boss. But this is crucially dependent on their being kept in muzzel and harness. We use them, not them using us! PC
The fact that it has become so important as to who gets the CFPA job demonstrates how weak the new agency is. If the protections spelled out in the law are so vague and toothless that the effectiveness depends so heavily on who gets the job then that means the next republican president will just appoint another Brownie which will render the CFPA useless.
On Point EXACTLY!!
You make a good point. Lazyness makes us want to look to a savior to do all the hard work for us. Unfortunately, we missed the boat on this one. The law is already written, and as I said in a later comment, since the effectiveness of the CFPA depends so heavily on a savior like Warren, this proves how weak the law is. The next republican president will appoint a 25 year old college republican campaign office envelope licker to the CFPA and that will be the end of that. The time to have a positive effect on this has passed.
Rugged individualism does not mean selfish cowardism to me. You see, here on the right, we keep government’s hands off of our money. Then, we give to charity.
You quote the “help” to vets. The medical care vets receive is abysmal and a national disgrace. The education grants given wind up being a cult exercise in brainwashing. There is no focus on real education in most colleges consisting of primary focus on factual knowledge and critical thinking ability… genius at work. Rather, the rugged individual is expected to be conformed into a brainless follower who will obey the increasingly large corporate state. Yes, corporate state. Even China, which is said to be a “communist state” is nothing but a corporate state where workers are exploited for the corporation of the state. The wealthy are fewer and more wealthy, the corporation larger, but it is a corporation with guns, police state power, from which the only relief would be political or violent revolution. Slavery to the corporation is the reality of communism/socialism, and the corporation is the state.
Rugged individualism means we deplore the large corporations that have grown, Goldman Sachs, Haliburton, etc., etc., etc. through government control. I call this “organized crime”.
The free market does NOT produce large corporations making their wealth through government contracts and government largess. A corrupted business market, corrupted government system does. That is fascism.
Fascism will slide into communism/socialism because same produces the corporate state with the wealthy elite being fewer, more wealthy, the workers having no rights, no benefits, and forced to work as slaves at the point of the barrel of a loaded gun.
Government is force.
Government is corporation.
Government enforces slavery.
The Tea Party is our best hope to return to liberty, free markets and freedom from the leftists who pose as “socialists” but are really marketers for the wealthy few corrupt corporatists who through organized crime tactics and reality control our government whether a Democrat or Republican is in office.
We need true representatives of the people, return to free markets, return to charity, and that rugged individualism restored which will tear down the monopolied interests of the big corporations, organizes crime, and the wealthy elite fascist liars who say the people will get socialism when really the system of the corporate elite with the smallest few will become the most powerful, the most wealthy, the most tyrannical, and the people will be the most enslaved with “nowhere else to go” and the only path of liberty from slavery will be revolution political or violent.
Give us liberty or give us death.
We will not be slaves of the corporate elite.
We are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, often, and we know our rights to be free under God who gave us liberty as equals created by Him. And we need no CRUTCH of a lying corporate state to redistribute wealth. We know better than to trust criminals with God’s work.
We choose free will charity, every time. It works. And enslaves no one.
Grace.
You got it right, Joyce! I hope many people seeing this
will write letters to the white house demanding that
professor warren be given the consumer appointment
and disdaining geithner’s public statements.
I loathe Geithner – he and summers are dreary hang-overs
from bad, dead and gone days — they are basically
oportunists and like ben nelson, undeclared republicans.
OBAMA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF. BUT, AS WE
KNOW, HE IS SUCH AN EGOTIST HE JUST DOES NOT MAKE
MISTAKES.
Where is Teddy Roosevelt? I want to vote for him.
Why does this surprise anyone when ALL of black America voted almost unanimously for the poser in charge?
If Obama caves on this then he deserves to be vilified.
Obama is a great campaigner and orator, but unfortunately, he is not a great leader or visionary.
How ideal would it be to replace Timothy Geithner with Elizabeth Warren or Brooksly Born? We have yet to see two more qualified policy makers, and either would become the first female U.S. Treasury secretary in U.S. history. Ironically, there is a lot of hoopla about the so-called consumer protection agency TO BE HOUSED IN THE FED. hahaha. How soon we forget that the Fed and Congress are responsible for the economic catastrophe. Remember, both entities have the authority of fiscal and monetary policy, and had little to no interest in regulating the Wall Street/Corporate pirates, the kick backs must have been great.
Placing the Consumer Protection Agency in the Fed, the most powerful institution in America, assures the agency’s powers will be null and void. Think about it, if the Obama Administration cared about consumer protection, there would be no need for another useless bureaucratic agency. My reasoning is that, there was a chance to place a new Fed chairman in office, and there were (3) Fed governor vacancies on the board until late spring. If the administration cared, they could have very easily placed CONSUMER ORIENTED individuals on the FED BOARD and at Treausry!!!
For example: Elizabeth Warren, Joseph Steiglitz, Brooksley Born, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, Dennis Kucinich, and William Black
These individuals are CONSUMER ADVOCATES! Change the culture, and you change the institution. Congres, SCOTUS, and the Administration FAIL.”
Bush was honest?? Bush expanded the corporate state of the government. Bush lied about WMD’s in Iraq. Bush lied to say he was a Christian. As a Christian, I resent his lies and deceit and the evil of that cretan in office. He was as conservative as a corporate monster, Skull and Bones satanist, and UN globalist could be as he moved to create the fascist police state and shred the Constitution, tripling the size of fascist government, and bankrupting us through foreign wars that empower only the wealthy elite who sought control of oil, heroin, and the people group of those nations. Bush is a national disgrace and Sotero is his twin.
(Check facts. The man denies that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, denies the Bible as the inspired infallible Word of God, is a lifelong member in a secret society that is a satanist system moving to install one world government. This IDEA that these lying elite Republicans serve conservatives or the Constitution or the people in general is a con. They have no morals. They have no conscience. They are Goldman Sachs and illuminati cult members.)
“The next republican president will appoint a 25 year old college republican campaign office envelope licker to the CFPA and that will be the end of that. The time to have a positive effect on this has passed.”
My money is on, Adam Storch, a 30-year-old former Goldman Sachs manager, recently appointed as SEC Enforcement Division COO. Tongue-firmly-in-cheek.
Goldman Sachs is fascist. Read up. David Rockefeller states that competition is a sin. They seek monopoly through government and the destruction of the middle class to create their caste system. They seek to impoverish and destroy the people’s of the world to create fascist totalitarianism through corruption. If Bernie Madoff was “pro-business”, so is Goldman Sachs.
You betcha!! Absolutely nauseating last straw betrayal of any hope that Obama administration has any consideration for Main Street’s interests. As if Geithner, Summers et al ever hinted at that from day one. All these days later the last nail in the coffin will send supporters actively campaigning against such hypocracy. Shame and farewell to democracy. United Corporatocracy of America completed by the Obama administration and the Bush Supreme Court.
Americans’ Trust “Shattered” & CEOs Still in Denial, Elizabeth Warren Says
May 06, 2009 – Yahoo
“Americans’ trust in the financial system has been “shattered” in the past 18 months, says Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor who chairs the Congressional Oversight Panel.
“What we’re having to do is change an entire culture. Let’s be clear: The folks who’ve been running these multibillion-dollar institutions – they are accustomed only to talking to other people who run multibillion-dollar institutions. And the rest of you can stay far, far away. What has fundamentally changed is they’re now taking taxpayer dollars. And the taxpayers think that gives them a seat at the conversational table and the decision-making table. And it’s taking a while for those CEOs to figure out the game has changed. And I do believe the game has changed.”
http://tinyurl.com/3yrgldh
Compare Geithner to Nero, fiddling whilst Rome burns. If Warren isn’t elected then this country is circling the drain. We’re already on the verge of collapse – a million more foreclosures due next year, no jobs, fewer prospects, out-of-control mega-banks, looming deflation and…. Geithner seems to like it that way. Clearly, he’s standing in the way of the kind of change we were promised by Obama.
Geithner and Warren Duel Over Banks’ Health
June 22, 2010 – excerpts
“When it comes to the health of the banking system, Timothy F. Geithner and Elizabeth Warren don’t see eye to eye.
“The stress tests that we performed in February of 2009 calculated possible losses through December of 2010, but commercial real estate losses, because of the way they are set up, will be much larger in 2011, 2012 and on into 2013,” Ms. Warren told Mr. Geithner. “How could you be confident of these financial institutions without rerunning the stress tests?”
Mr. Geithner said that banks would face some challenges, but he said that bank losses after the stress tests in 2009 were not as severe as first projected. That means the banks have more of a cash cushion than they currently need to absorb future losses, he said….
Ms. Warren reiterated that the stress tests did not take into account the huge potential losses that the banks could be facing in the coming years…
He (Geithner) was confident that the capital ratios the government set for the banks last year would be strong enough to hold the banking system together.
Still not convinced, Ms. Warren said that the banks face yet another critical capital draw from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage finance giants. Freddie Mac wants to give back $5 billion worth of troubled mortgages it bought…
Mr. Geithner said he did not know the total value of the mortgages that Fannie and Freddie want to push back to the banks, even though they are both under government conservatorship.”
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/geithner-and-warren-duel-over-banks-health/
Lets be clear on Geithner.
The man ran the “black ops” division of the federal reserve, and he has helped cover up the aig fiasco. By the way if you want to continue with a cover up the easiest way to do so is ensure those who engaged in the fraud remain in charge. (bernanke and Geithner). Then you allow them to appoint the people on the other side. The NY fed appoints the board fo aig and has discretion to remove people (sorry I don’t have the link).
Weown aig and still don’t have the e-mails. I believe such massive fraud happened and such gross negligence that they had no choice but to cover it up by appointing the same people. If you know the histriy of the warnings of the housing crisis you know even the BIS warned bernanke (I believe geithner ws there as head of NY fed). This warning was nver reported to the board of governors of the fed.
I will also add that the summer before the melt down ,when they were all saying things would be fine, Geithner and Bernanke were making plans about what to do in the future meltdown. it was at these meeting Geithner proposed government backing of all financial debt. so the plan was there all along, they just decided to choose who would be allowed to fail in order to get the plan enacted.
Then follow the money and you know the rest.
cover up and criminial behavior for sure. You think they can really let out how bad our leaders screwe us. there would be riots and the financial oligarchy would be overthrown. That can’t be allowed to happen at any cost. That is what I believe is behind the Obama appointments.
Baloney. Organizing locally is just a mantra and excuse for postponing real change forever, which must be led from the front. There was local organization there during the campaign and it just got frittered away by opportunism and corruption. Now all you’ve got are “attitudes and spirits.” A load of metaphysical nonsense.
I have another scenario: Obama, as usual, sells-out. Ms. Warren runs against him in 2012 and wins against B.O. & the Republicans. We have our first woman president & someone of intelligence, compassion, & guts to fight for ordinary Americans.
I wrote Elizabeth Warren at the Congressional Oversight Panel. Here is a copy of my message:
congressional@yahoo.com
I want to thank Ms. Warren for her courage, compassion, & concern for ordinary Americans.
If, in 2012, she should want to run for president against the current marshmallow, she has my vote!
well is
dianekjs
Corporal Agarn? Oh, that’s Larry Storch. Is he available?
Robert I have to agree with those who say dissent is every American’s duty when they see things are not going as they should. I donated to, campaigned for and voted for Barack Obama. However, I have to agree that his performance to date on health care, financial reform, supreme court nominee, etc. have all been sadly exercises in bending over backwards trying to please his enemies more than those of us who supported him. I would like to see him be a two term President, but I really don’t think it is going to happen because he is alienating independent voters as well as many progressive voters. He needs to reaffirm his commitment to the progressive agenda he campaigned on and develop a stiff spine to deal with all those who are going to resist him. Better to die fighting for what you believe in than to live as a compromising coward who is disrespected by friend and foe alike.
I’m all for it. There’s too much left over hand holding with Wall Street from the last admin. Give ’em the bum’s rush. Geithner is pathetic.
The foreplay before the announcement bears a striking resemblance to what transpired with the “financial entities stress tests”. People who knew nothing were deceived by the complete vacuousness of the various exercises; people who knew something were disappointed, again.
Earlier comments about about well-monied vipers runnung the show are spot on. Take Lloyd Blankfein – please.
I’m with you. Why can’t we get a few people with brains and spines appointed. Obama’s the one who called her to the White House to form this thing in the first place. He needs to stop appeasing people with the bipartisan thing, use some moxie, and do a few bold things. This isn’t all that bold, but it’s right.
Warren is genuinely concerned about America and Americans, Geithner is a dick.
300 comments and counting !!!
Obama worked at one of the most respected schools in the world in regards to economics. He was only one phone call ( a local one at that) from several Nobel laureates to assist him in the selection. Instead he ran right down the middle and hired the old guard. Don’t kid yourself Obama has never and will never sway more than a few degrees either way from the path of least resistance.
Far Out!
I must say..with 100% “Seriousness”..that is the most cogent..perfect..and accurate account of the current nightmare I’ve yet witnessed!
Thank You!
Bob-citigroup-Rubin..Michael Froman..larry-micromanaging megalomaniac-Summers..are the Axis of Evil.
But..Rubin..is..literally..as in To A Moral Certainty..a Force of unmitigated corruption!
His entire “Record”..is quite matter o’factly..one prolonged “Backroom Deal”..Repealing Glass-Stegall and “Deregulating Dirivitives” as Clintons Treasury Secretary..he then..goes..immediately..to work for Citigroup for a waiting contract worth $126 million/7 years. He was solely..almost literally..Solely responsible for Both..the creation of “Citigroup” and the Toxic Assets they..and He..would utilize to bring us to this point.
That Rubin is still around..is testament to corruption so deep..so penetrating..so widespread in “Government”..that frankly..its no longer “Government” at all..its:
Govcorp!
And Summers..Pe-eww..the less said of him the better..anyone who’s resume included a “No Confidence” vote from Harvard after running the Largest Endowment in the World into the ground..well..hey! “Government” is the logical step!
Elizabeth Warren is a Hero!
it saddens me to see..even the “Daily Show”..secretly bowing to intensely Powerful connections as the disgustingly fake “Reform” passes..and they simply “failed” to alow her to tell it like it is.
Cryin shame.
Frankly..I’m beginning to really..as in “Fer Reals”..accept..the painful reality..that America..is Not Going To Make It!
This isn’t “Histrionics”..I’m deadly serious..I do not see any way forward! We are cornered. Justice is Cornered..Truth is Cornered..Liberty is…gasping for air under the crushing weight of lethal corruption!
We are on the brink!
This aint your grandads “The End Is Near” sandwich board!
Obama – We’re ready now for you to show us:
WHO is your base?
Mr. President, plwase show us now…
WHO is your base? Appoint Ms. Warren
Why do we vote these same men into Congress year after year?
As a Senate staffer in the 1990s, I have spent hours conversing with Professor Warren. As you said, she would make a superb chief for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The issue isn’t how many people we can count who have outstanding qualifications for this job. (Robert Reich is another who comes to mind.) The issue is that noone else has worked longer, for more hours, and more diligently on this issue, and few contenders have her skills to communicate these issues in a compelling way to the public, to elicit public “buy in”, if you will.
I’m afraid those are exactly some of the qualities this Administration and its friends in the banking lobby desire the least for this position, though. And that’s why I’m convinced she won’t be offered the job.
We must have Warren. If not Obama continues to create the worst of crimes. Creating tremendous apathy among his dwindling base.
Sorry to say this…but Ms. Warren isn’t the “Hail Mary” she’s made out to be, period! Her flagrant, yet subtle blandish anterior periphrasis rhetoric…assimilates parallels straight out of the “Cryptic Bourgeoisification Era” (the south wind blows north?)? The wonderment of her “Harvardian” cause resonates grandiloquence quixotic temerity! PS. Timmy gets his marching orders from Rahm in “Mandarin” where the Prez just laterals the backfield pass?
It is amazing to me that President Obama comes in a very, very distant second compared to President Nixon on consumer protection!
Let it be said again!
President Obama is a distant second to President Nixon on consumer protection!
I don’t really think that Sumner and Geither should be proud of a single thing they have done!. They may have enriched themselves and their faimilies and offspring but they have done it at the expense of their country! They have acted more like Mobutu in the Congo who destroyed the richest country in Africa in order to make friends with Swiss Bankers!
Where is Motbutu Now! Where will Summner and Geithner, and their nominal boss be in a couple years? Having lattes with Mobutu?
As a disappointed with some of the policies implemtated thus far, failure to appoint such consumer advocate will indeed provoke me. How long will It take the White House to realize they are loosing their base support. Are they really that tone deft.
Another example of state and local government distress “Back to the Stone Age.”
7/17/2010 11:48:00 AM – by CalculatedRisk
“From Lauren Etter at the WSJ: Roads to Ruin: Towns Rip Up the Pavement
Paved roads … are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was cut in many places amid budget shortfalls.
“I’d rather my kids drive on a gravel road than stick them with a big tax bill,” said Bob Baumann, as he sipped a bottle of Coors Light at the Sportsman’s Bar Café and Gas in Spiritwood.”
“A lot of these roads have just deteriorated to the point that they have no other choice than to turn them back to gravel,” says Larry Galehouse, director of the National Center for Pavement Preservation at Michigan State University. Still, “we’re leaving an awful legacy for future generations.
Some experts caution that gravel roads can be costlier in the long run than consistently maintained asphalt because gravel needs to be graded and smoothed.
A gravel road “is not a free road,” says Purdue University’s John Habermann, who organized a recent seminar about the resurgence of gravel roads titled “Back to the Stone Age.”
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575370950363737746.html
bunch of idiots
so unAmerican not to back your President regardless
Click your heels and raise your arm when you say that!
I am still a CEO and I appreciate your response however as a CEO who does not answer to a board of directors nor to shareholders I understand the absolute right to make my own decisions unencumbered by committees. I do defer to my employees on most decisions regarding hiring people they have to work with. However when it comes to deciding who is to take key positions it is my decision only and I do what is in my opinion best for the companies I founded in some cases 35 years ago.
I too, think it’s a great idea. Why have a fake Republican running the show when we can have real Republicans?
Vote Obama out. Vote every Dem out.
I’m a “just the facts, Ma’am” type of amateur political wonk who realizes that to be a war lord and/or drug lord is the highest ambition of a depraved self-appointed “elite”.
I suggest you pop in the flick “Gangs of New York” for a wake-up call as to the only way the Rethugs, The Wrecking Crew, in going to get their paws on the levers of “power” to MANAGE THE FUTURE
EVER again.
If the “little people” always lost POWER to a psychotic “elite” throughout history, we would not be having this conversation on line, would we?
The “little people” DO always WIN, especially when REAL, not “existential”, SURVIVAL is honestly at stake.
then you don’t know very many people
If the President can’t be held accountable to make 80% good choices, then the paradigm needs to change.
I assert the hierarchical, top-to-bottom, paradigm needs to be ousted, just as much as the “trickle-down” (i.e. “piss on”) economic model.
Again, I point out Mondragon as a model for worker-coops, where managers are chosen by those who they manage (i.e. worker/owners).
We need to think outside the box.
Question authority: $2.26tn 2010/2011 “off-budget” and growing military cost for Iraq (can someone say civil war, once we unwind our forces?), but mostly for Afghanistan where Al Quida doesn’t even exist anymore for the last five years! What’s Up,…with this?
This really would be the last straw.
I’ve watched Obama bail out the very people that have WRECKED the American economy and financial system. I have absolutely no hope that a real advocate for the people such as Ms. Warren would be selected as the head of the CFPB.
I can no longer support or vote for Obama or ANY OTHER Democratic Representative or Senator. Will the Republicans screw the people even worse? Probably, But right now it’s the Democratic party doing the screwing so out they must go.
I have been a supporter of Warren since she first came on the sceneexplaining the financial crisis and offering solutions; she appears to have an unlimited reservoir of common sense. I think the source of all these ills is the sale of elective offices to the highest bidder ; then the elected official dances to the tune of the donor rather than doing what is best for the public. I’m speaking of large corporations ; in my opinion the recent Supreme Court decision was a death sentence for a true representative government.I am reluctant to inject politics into this discussion (but it’s non-partisan and is issue oriented); however I would like to ask a favor of those of you who may be interested in making grass roots efforts stronger. I ran for the Va. legislature last year, as an independent and on what I believed to be vital principles – campaign finance reform, tax reform, term limits and honest re-districting. It is my belief that to take back our govt and make elected officils responsible to citizens , we must vote out some heavily entrenched incumbents, no matter which party. Once we do that , those in office will realize they’re vulnerable and at least theoretically will tend to the people’s business with as much attention as they pay to their own self interests. The favor : will you please check out my website and tell me if you support what I’m trying to accomplish and how I’m going about it.Questions and suggestions are welcomed. I know this is not at the national level, but if you take care of the small problems at the lower levels, you won’t have the bigger problems at the higher levels. Thank you for your consideration.
In case the website did not show up in the address , it is billgrogan.com .
I will not vote for Obama in 2012.
I will not vote for some hateful out-of-our-pocketbooks-into-our-bedrooms Republican.
I WILL vote for an independent ticket that includes people such as Dean/Cantwell/Sanders/Grayson/Feingold/Kaufman.
If there is no appealing 3rd party candidate, I will leave the P/VP checkbox unmarked.
NEW PETITION: DUMP GEITHNER!
Question authority: The military budget for 2010/2011 Iraq (somebody say civil war once troops are unwound?),and Afghanistan is at a run rate of $2.26tn. (that’s trillions with a “T”) most of which is off-budget. The Al Quida are in Western (Coastline) Africa making billions in the drug trade throughout Europe as mercinaries for Columbian, and Mexico’s drug trafficing – and yet, still dabble in heroin (not as lucrative as our south american counterparts) to make a few extra billions? What’s Going On(?)…I mean, “What’s Up” with that?
Basel: Where Financial Reform Goes to Die
July 16th, 2010 – bnet insight – excerpt
“….banks hate to have money just lying around — they’d rather leverage it and speculate with it — they always opposed tougher capital requirements in the treaties known as Basel I and Basel II. (Yes, the new one is Basel III.) If they are not forced to keep more money on hand, then all was in vain…
Here’s the worst part: if some governments had handled the bank bailouts with a tougher hand, they would not be in this mess. See, Germany, especially, never forced capital down its banks throat the way the United States and France did. So a bunch of their banks are — though this is often hidden through accounting tricks — undercapitalized and weighed down with losses. So now they find themselves in Basel with a weaker hand, and needing to dumb down international rules so they don’t whack their own banks.
…the Treasury Dept. has always seen big U.S. banks as its clients, and tries to please them.
If Geithner is willing, in the sunlight and transparency of Washington, to oppose someone who would keep a sharp eye on the banks, what is he willing to do in the closed rooms of Basel, a city most Americans could not find on a map? Only the bankers know.
UPDATE: It appears there was more going on that simply Geithner heading off Warren’s appointment — we may never know the whole story. In any case, the Treasury is now saying publicly that Warren would be an excellent candidate to head the new agency. That won’t save Basel III, though.”
http://blogs.bnet.com/business-news/?p=3431
Let’s just ignore the fact that Treasury will turn Tarp from a tax payer give away under Bush, to a profitable program under Obama. Let’s ignore the fact that the economy and jobs have gone from a free-fall to stable growth. Let’s ignore the record investment in green industry and the growth of manufacturing. Let’s ignore the fact that the G-S has paid the largest liability in SEC history. Let’s dismiss the fact that Warren already has been hired by this White House. Let’s forget that since Obama took office women and gays have more rights and that regulation of the Health industry and financial industry have been strengthend to defend the consumer.
We should except nothing but pure progressive ideal appointments and abandon this administration if it strays. Progressives should make this administration pay for not being pure and sit out the 2010 election, handing the Democrats and the president a loss and control of the legislature to Republicans. That will for sure make the Progressive point.
Somewhat true, gender would seem to make one a candidate for this tribe, but actually it takes absolute greed, the kind you sell out your country with. Another member of this tribe would be Meg Whitman, and yes the name says it all, she’s female!
@ 12 startruth
1. The notion of “free markets” brought you all that you protest. We need “competitive markets,” not “free markets.”
2. You enslave no one except everyone who doesn’t fall into your biblical model (e.g. gays, independent women). You are no different than the Taliban.
3. If one was to even accept that a Messiah could exist, Jesus was hardly “the one.” Take a look around – if you were willing to be honest with yourself, the obvious would be obvious.
You have bought a story hook line and sinker, thus demonstrating you have no critical-thinking abled mind of your own.
Could you kindly post your drivel somewhere else? Thank you.
or is the base so absurdly shrill and dogmatic that they just can’t listen to them anymore.
In less than 2 years the Obama administration and the D-congress have done more for progressive politics than any gov for over 2 generations. Progressives are so used to loosing, that even when they start winning they respond like losers.
EXACTLY,Obama did a lot of talk to get elected and has indeed great oratory skills, but he has failed to use them and since picked insider people. e.g., Summers and Geitner the outcome has been predictable: very, very weak regulation of the corporatist interests that are ruining this country. He is I am afraid a disappointment to put it mildly.
Dear Mr. Lee,
I want to tame lightening bolts as a source of renewable energy – want to add another patent to the list? :-)
That’s an attempt at charm – the :-) symbol.
I don’t play well with “others”. I am genetically deficient – no brown-nose gene, or sell-out gene, or compromise with horror and iniquity gene
because owning a 20K pair of shoes makes me forget I have no soul and my guru says that’s okay…
I’m a little person, knee-jerk kind to those even little-er than me, wicked sense of humour, and a possessor of “science” knowledge that can’t be taught – but can be discovered by an adventurous spirit.
Okay, and I like a good weapon in the pocket as much as the next guy because the other genetic deficiency is intolerance towards rabid raccoons and robots :-)
“Taleo” database needs re-programming :-)
Kind regards,
Annie
Please wake the F up and realize that powers taken by the Executive via Bush and now Obama and the cronies chosen show a sinking ship. Obama would have never need the oval if he wasn’t in on it. We don’t need a nice guy, black, asian, green, whatever; we need a house cleaning. The current situation just shows that our parties are one, not two. Its good cop, bad cop over and over and over… What’s to lose? Our freedom and liberty. Time for us to submit, revolt, or move the hell out.
TARP happened under Bush, but Obama’s team will make it a gain for tax payers. The Dem congress has been passing unprecedented leg to help working folk and average consumers. Not voting Dem and handing the legislature to the Repubs because you think legislation hasn’t been ideologically pure enough will set progressive politics back another decade and render it powerless. I don’t think the nation can wait another decade for progressive reform. We need to advance the ball, not leave the stadium.
It’s spelled hearsay; shame on you for calling us idiots.
@ Laverenti – I concur that Warren compromised – which was surprising and disappointing. Her stands on propping up the housing market (housing prices) has also been frustrating.
You’ve posed a plausible explanation as to why Warren compromised re the CFPA being under the Fed, but I’m still a bit skeptical. Warren just doesn’t strike me as that ego driven. What other reasons could have been in play? Maybe compromise was a way to see the CFPA come into existance, instead of seeing falling by the wayside?
Never wanted to believe it was true. But here with a moderate to left president/congress, the expectation is that Elizabeth Warren, an individual who one would expect to act as a kind of non-wall-street, consumer interest counter balance to Tim Geithner would be selected to this position. If someone else gets the job (one who would be more persuasion malleable), then yes, I’ll finally realize that my hopes over this past 30 years have been nothing more than simple naivete.
Mike, would you be offended if I told I thought you were a nincompoop ? You wouldn’t ? Ok- I think you’re a nincompoop .
Well said ! Please check my comment further down.
apparently his base are a bunch of whining pessimists that are willing to abandon him b/c he hasn’t won them enough. The Progressive movement is on the verge of self destruction because they don’t know how to accept gains. If we abandon this president now and do not work hard for candidates in this election all progressive power will be lost. It’s not him and it’s not them, IT IS YOU.
“It will go down in the history books as a turning point – downwards – for this administration.”
I think that already happened – it was shortly after his election when Obama announced his economic team of Geithner, Summers, etc.
Obama and the Dems have knocked the regressives back on their heels and just when the fight becomes viscous b/c the regressives are fighting for survival the progressives are ready to walk away from the fight because they haven’t won yet. Obama’s base became apathetic as soon as he won office. That’s not his fault, that’s the fault of demagogues and ideologists. Progressives have won major victories with Obama, the problem is, they don’t know how to win.
Great post Simon.
I’m predicting Obama will go with Angelo Mozilo instead of Warren just to continue with the same sensibility that brought us Liz Fowler to implement the health insurance company bailout and David Petreaus to implement more disaster in Afghanistan.
Dubious numbers there. TARP is the tip of a rather large bailout to Wall St you would know about if you read many posts on this blog. Various estimates as to the complete scope of the bailout range from $4 trillion to a potential liability of $23.7 trillion. Auditing the Fed would get us much closer to the truth, but the WH is fighting very hard to prevent an audit.
Sources here:
Click to access bailouttallyjuly2010.pdf
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Total_Wall_Street_Bailout_Cost
http://www.geldpress.com/2010/02/bailout-237-trillion-sigtarp/
Click to access July2009_Quarterly_Report_to_Congress.pdf
So saying TARP “makes money” puts you in ill-informed category at best, and several more evil categories at worse (I hate to be blunt, but there it is.)
As for “we need reform”, I could not agree more, which is why if you will read this blog more at depth, you will have an understanding that saying the current FinReg bill is “reform” is putting lipstick on a very large, ugly, smelly pig.
I’m not so much ideologically pure as very practically concerned that passing bills to the right of Ronald Reagan after thirty years of voodoo Reagan economics and massive deregulation will not work. This what the economic crisis of 2008/2009 showed us in stark clarity. Doing more of the same and calling it “progressive” is just a bunch of lies.
Anon, “We might do better to resort to letting the prosecuted criminals run our country like they do in Eastern Russia.”
Exactly. It’s social engineering in reverse – lo and behold, the “criminals” start worrying about “justice” for their enterprise – no way around “government” and “law”, is there?
“Geithner is weakened” … barf…
How about, Geithner is fired, along with Summers and Bernanke. ….. and while were at it Bushbama, don’t let the door hit you in your scrawny arse either.
A true rat pack.
Adam, your naivete is both cute and grotesque, you obviously have drunk the kool aid and must be quitedizzy for allowing yourself to be spun.
The charade begins with Obama appointing Geitner and involving Rubin and Summers…of all the people out there! he manages to pick the
ones who were directly responsible (along with republicans during the Clinton administration) for dismantling the Glass Steagall Act, the removal of which made
the 08 collapse inevitable. BTW do you really think the SEC slap on the wrist to Goldman really means anything? their stock went up that very day and more than made up
for the “fine”. laughable. Criminals buying off the “authorities”. The rest of your list seems equally pathetic and misinformed, let;s see: 12 trillion lent in secret to banksters – to be pick up by the tax payer if anything goes wrong…yeah, cool move.
Secret meetings and dealings with the pharmaceuticals on health care. No Obama NEVER even attempted to defend the Public Option. Got that? He idiotically escalates the Afghan war….can you spell quagmire? how can you spell rendition? can you spell the order to assassinate an American n his orders without due process? Give the man the Nobel for peace, oh wait they did give ti to him- why?
Can you spell Patriot Act? a most unConstitutional act affirmed by a “Constitutional Scholar”, so Bush of him.
Can you spell off shore drilling? how about nuclear power? can you? Bottom line, Obama is a very good republican president, Bush could not have done any better.
This isn’t about a “progressive agenda’ is about a blatant act of deception, the perpetuation and expansion of corporate power at the expense of the the public. It’s impact
will be with us for decades.
As a real advocate of true capitalism, I hope you’re getting paid to post this stuff.
No other explanation of why you would come to such a well informed blog and push this pile of -stuff- out there would reflect well on your character.
@Stan Bryant’s comment, “[Government] levels the playing field so that small companies can compete with large ones.”
NOT TRUE! Government favors big companies. Big companies love new and lots of regulations because small companies can’t comply. Regulations make the barriers to entry and competition so large than only a few big players can compete in any venture. Excessive regulations force small players out and stop new (small) players from even trying.
“Progressive power”? With all these sellouts? Is that some kind of joke?
I’m a conservative and I support Elizabeth Warren.
She lead the principled opposition to the bankruptcy reform act (BAPCPA) that was sponsored by greedy credit card companies.
You guys are completely misunderstanding Melinda’s post.
Her point is that there is still hope that Warren (or someone else of equal stature) will be appointed. She is pointing (rightfully) to Barack Obama’s election as evidence for “hope”.
Also, you gotta be kidding me if anyone predicted Barack to even make it through the primaries, let alone the presidential election. e.g., look at this Politico article after Obama’s NH win, which describes Hillary’s bid as “once all-but-inevitable”.
@unimpressed – I really really doubt Barack Obama was elected because he was a black man. That being said, the other 2 options we could potentially have had right now are:
1) Hillary Clinton – You really think she would have been any different? The problem with Obama’s financial team is precisely that they talk, walk, and act like Bill Clinton’s financial team (in fact, they effectively are his team). I doubt she would have appointed anyone different.
2) McCain – Do I really need to say anything here?
The link to the Politico article
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7695.html
Pardon my ignorance, but that is the impetus for NOT appointing Warren? And what dire consequences attend upon her selection?
Harkin Circulates Letter Backing Elizabeth Warren As Consumer Bureau Head
07/17/10 10:17 AM ET – thehill.com – excerpt
“Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is looking to gather senators behind a possible nomination of Elizabeth Warren as first head of a new consumer financial protection office.
“It will be especially important that the first director be someone who will not cave-in when pressured by the financial industry, which we expect will be enormous,” he said.”
http://tinyurl.com/24luxct
The Only qualification to be president is to be older than 35, be born in the US, and win enough State elections to win the Electoral College vote (or the Supreme Court, given recent elections)…
Nearly everyone posting comments here is probably qualified to be president. it doesn’t mean they should BE president, and this is also the case (unfortunately) with presidents.
“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” – Douglas Adams
The “tribe” is global and very small in numbers, but disprortionately large in wealth and power. I call it the corporate plutocracy.
Because we have a two-party system that excludes more than the two wings of The Corporate Party (R & D) (with progressive exceptions in the D party). We need a Parliamentary system, as in Europe.
It seems like Brooksley Born all over again, the person trying be the ethical public servant is being suppressed by the same cast of characters.
I’m just waiting for someone to say “Let them eat cake”…oh, that’s right, they just did with the unemployment benefits.
“Fend for yourselves Peasants” – we see how that worked out.
Yes, Joyce, out with Larry and Tim and IN with E. Warren, the best of the best. I adore this woman, who is a true advocate for Americans and their families. I will be through with Obama and his Administration if Elizabeth Warren is not give this job. It is as pure and simple as that.
If not Elizabeth then Brooksley Born for goodness sake!
Let’s see…Tom the Harkin from Ethanol, too “No- Farming Pre-Paid Subsidizing” in the Billions from the US Taxpayers – wants a consumer watchdog looking out for the good people of America? A lifetime politician whose governing from Hawaii most of the time! Another idiot pulling at straws wearing the tacit face of a concern democrat while sleeping with the republican’s. They all smell of the same avarice “Machiavellian Syndrome” neo-carnage – a classica, and chary_”sparrow in the treetop”_umbrage opus de`jour – how pathetic!
Oh . . . If only I could!
The entire bail out seems to have been a set up by Wall Street, for Wall Street. They’re the only ones who benefited from this program. The unemployeed (i.e. Me) hasen’t really seen much change. Elizabeth Warren has been the only bright light in this whole scam. She has been the source of explaining what really happened to all of the money. Here is someone who has worked hard for the people. Her reward is to be laid off.
I am from Chicago. I have been a supporter of Pres Obama from day one. You need to put this person in charge. I have taken my lumps for the Dem party. Please consider Elizabeth Warren as the only just candidate for this position.
Elizabeth Warren would get my vote as well. Maybe we could get Arianna Huffington. Now that would represent CHANGE and it would drive th GOP out of their minds.
if a facebook campaign could put Betty White on SNL, urge folks to call the white house and leave a message for the President – appoint Elizabeth Warren AND get rid of Summers and Geithner.
Re: @ natalie rosen___”The straw that broke MY camel’s back was the deep water drilling”? Just wait for the “Pig Iron Pipes” to fracture under so much pressure. Believe me…when I say they were sold to the Driller’s for a discount from China rather than build/produce it here and buy it here (Pig Iron is slag that gets mixed into the final smelting process to save on tonnage when less skimming is overlooked), how pathetic. In the past it was the Japanese that sold us “Pig Iron Steel & Pipes” that America bought because of no infrastructure – unable to manufacture steel in our own barren country. PS. Structural Steel,Plates and Pipes are filled with deep “carbon (swiss-cheese) pockets” for lack of QC (x-rays), and American graff at the highest levels. Just waiting…should be a big bust like everything else in the land of opportunity for foreign entities!
Could you dare show me kind sir, some tangible evidence of her highness’s doing. As I venture too recollect – regulation for consmers has been on a downward spiral for the last twenty years! Show me the (Money) proof…
I’d like to make a suggestion to Baaaarrrrak!
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2010&cid=N00004207&type=I
maybe if you spent less time reading this blog and more time with the actual bill you would have a different perspective. The Leg is decent and it’s certainly not right of Regan, that’s simply absurd hyperbole
Thanks for the personal attacks.
Maybe I am naive. I know I was naive in 2000 when I voted Green instead of Gore and progressive politics spent another 8-years in the wilderness.
Adam Farrell Wortman, a paid shill or a fool? I think Glen has provided enough info for you refute the specifics. Calling it “absurd hyperbole” makes you sound like Rush Limbaugh with his perpetual inability to respond to actual data.
Sycophantic displays like your are sort of pathetic, really.
Well Adam, you seem prone to falling for the wrong thing, and you know what? you are doing it again. Obama’s hug and nurture a corrupt bansker will not really help you. Just sayin’
liz warren be “the man.”
I think the SEC prosecutors took a deal they couldn’t refuse b/c they didn’t have the best case and that if not strong enough it was still more strength than the government has ever shown.
I’m no fan of the Afgan war, but Obama is not doing anything different than he said he would do and I do believe we will be withdrawing soon, but yes, not soon enough.
Your backroom pharma topic is actually recycled Repub talking point. The White House announced and released the info on those meetings and then they were reported as secret. Without a hyper-super majority the public option was never politically possible and after progressives let the TEA Party control the Health debate it was even less possible. Sorry but politics exists in reality and the country is still too far right for an ideal public health system.
The Fed acts as the Fed pleases, it is not controlled by any president.
I’m not a huge fan of Summers or the G man but they took a TARP program that was designed to loose Tens to Hundreds of Billions and will now most likely turn a profit.
Ever here of “Wanted: Dead or Alive” This policy is as old as the republic (not that its a good one).
I’m actually a terrible speller and obviously not indoctrinated enough for this blog. I may be spun, but I’m not wound so tight to believe Obama is a republican.
I am sorry, but of course, you realize, I have read the Legislation and I have read informed opinions from those who have read the bill (because reading the bill and understanding the bill are two different things, unless you are a congressional aid/lawyer steeped in reading law) and the consensus is not good. This was covered in blog posts here:
https://baselinescenario.com/2010/05/25/regulation-vs-structural-change/
and in many other places. The bill is heavy on regulation vs. forcing structural reform, so the bill is ineffective unless the regulatory agencies are also reformed. That has not yet happened, and the whole point of this blog post you are responding to is how it is being PREVENTED by blocking out people to lead the new agencies who would enact real reform.
You know, I think you may have a point. I’ve been falling into the trap as well, but in the back of my mind, I realize that Obama has to compromise with a lot of low lifes. Hard liners who never compromise usually get nothing. Look at Reagan’s policies in Central America. There are good things in this bill, and in the health care bill, although both are seriously deficient in many ways. At least something got done. We may not like the level of compromise, and maybe Obama could have fought harder for certain things, but his action were based on his considered judgement. Maybe he did his best, and he hates these financial people as much as we do. Everyone says he’s a pragmatist. Well, this is what pragmatists do. They fight for what they think they can get, and abandon the field when they think the fight becomes too costly.
Maybe we should stop bitching about his supposed failures, and continue to support the guy. The lower he polls, the less political capital he has. Do we really want the republicans back in charge? We all know what that would get us.
Let’s take a breath, and a step back, and evaluate where we are.
This isn’t a question of “indoctrination” for this blog, objecting and expressing opinions outside the spin zone might upset Rahm Emmanuel or you,
To sit passively while we are being sold down the river might only be viewed favorably by those busy emptying our pockets. Sure, quiet victims are the best, aren’t they? just ask Goldman.
Glen posted pretty good links I’m sure you haven’t bothered to check. At least check this one: http://www.geldpress.com/2010/02/bailout-237-trillion-sigtarp/
watch the vid and then see if you can continue your blind defense of the TARP program.
Whatever you think Obama is- he ISN”T what he claimed as candidate. One of the most amazing 180s in political history. A perfect Eastern establishment president – translation- old money is behind him, they use a larger vocabulary, they might be a tad more smooth, but the fix is in nonetheless. Obam is undeniably a part of that- built in plausible deniability is an old technique.
I am neither a defender nor detractor of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Frankly I’m not knowledgeable enough about economics to know if his policies are right or wrong. I am knowledgeable enough, however, to read multiple bios of him, and it is just not correct to call him a “member of the Wall Street tribe”. As far as I can tell, he has never been employed by a Wall Street firm. Indeed, since the late 1980’s he has been in public service, think tanks, and the like. Like him, dislike him, or have no opinion, but at least be honest about him and his background, and don’t descend into baseless name-calling.
Maybe Elizabeth Warren could takeover Tim’s job.
Reagan and Truman had worse ratings at this point in their presidencies than Obama. ’tis true. He’ll pull ahead. He’s got to get the hard stuff done now. He’s not governing for today. He can’t. Political suicide. Reagan knew this too. He’s governing for 16 months or so from now. All the “hate” now will pick up steam through November. The Dems will lose some pieces of the pie. Checks and balances will give our government some better footing. But Obama will most likely stay focused on having that home at 1600 Penn Ave for 8 years instead of 4. He’s actually playing this game much like Reagan did. All the feel good policy and the jobs will come and they’ll come by, my guess, Spring 2011… wait and see
earle,florida wrote:
“Could you dare show me kind sir, some tangible evidence of her highness’s doing.”
You be the judge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren
Americans expect one woman, who is courageous enough to stand up to the power of shadow banks and businesses that operate outside the legal jurisdiction of the United States, to stand up to Geithner while Congress is afraid to do their job . Banking is Congress’s job not the Federal Reserve’s job. We pay the house and senate almost 100 million dollars, to work for the financial interest of others. Americans wake up and read the entire constitution. We have 300 million people in the United States and one person stands up and challenges the banks. What a democracy we have to promote in other countries.
I’ve already made it clear to my congressman in Johnson County, TX that if Elizabeth Warren doesn’t get nominated, appointed and installed as the head of the new Consumer Protection Agency, I’m voting for the Republican running against him. Warren is the only person who gives a damn about the average Joe and Jane Doe. Tim Geithner, that tax cheating liar who is in the pocket of Wall Street bankers as much as Hank Paulson was, can go get stuffed if he doesn’t like it.
But, since the “CFPA” is not independent of Club FED, she’d only be a maidenhead under the BushCObama FED’s dicktakes, in any case!
Absolutely True!
Steve,
my I suggest ypu take a big long look into how the ny fed chair gets selected. By the way the NY fed is a private bank. If you serve in a job that isn’t paid by wall street, but you get the job because of those on wall street, and keep that job for the same reason you are in effect employed by wall street. So the statement you make mya be true in the legal sense, but is in no way factual. in fact it is really a distortion.
I believe the post should read with bush you could at least tell we was telling a lie. Much harder with Obama.
As far as I cam concerned the two factors showing Bush and Obama to be the “same are as follows. Both made sure th two greatet crimes of the last 30 years on the american people were covered up. Under Bush they happened, the financial crisis, and the wmd war in Iraq. Obama decided as a policy not to go after those who were guilty of crimes. In effect his appoinment of bernanke and reappointment of Geithner showed intent ot maintain the cover up. No investogation of the wmd mess showed the same things. Therefore I really see more of the same instead of change I can believe in.
they have always been taking tax payer dollars, via tax breaks, susbsidies, and the discount window at the fed, and government contracts.
sometimes you go to he american people and then say this won’t reform work and instead of passing sham reform I am going to veto it. This may force some real reform. if then you don’t get it when the system collapses you will. I won’t pass something that makes people thing the system is safe when it isn’t
regan did not dismantle glass stegal, a deomcrat did. a republican took us off the gold standard and created the environmental protection agency (nixon) one could argue that since regan didn’t get rid of glass stegall not putting it back is to the right of regan.
right of target gus!!!
Re: @ Anonymous____wikipedia.org has been compromised for years…not a good source of unbiased/accurate data:-(
Re: @ Anonymous___wikipedia.org has been compromised for years – their data is biased, and skewed with inaccuracies :-(
Loads of good discussions here. So, I think we’ve established that there’s nothing to expect from either the Republicans or the Democrats.
So, when do we start this third party? Or are we still waiting for godot?
You know, Melinda, I for one have gotten tired of hearing that line for the past year and a half. I don’t care about identity politics. It’s high time for the change that goes further than skin deep. Bush and Cheney destroyed this country on many fronts: economic, social & legal. If Obama can’t restore the regulations that make capitalism work, expect more oil disasters, Wall Street bailouts and poison in our food and water.
Warren seems like the logical choice….she’s an expert in contract law and a liberal…also, I know a girl that looks just like her, all mousey with glasses and the hair, and I’m gonna ask her out the next time I see her.
Warren seems like the logical choice….she’s an expert in contract law and a liberal…also, I know a girl that looks just like her, all mousey with glasses and the hair, and I’m gonna ask her out the next time I see her.
The dire consequences for appointing Warren are that you will be too evenly represented as a consumer – dire for the finance boys on Wall Street.
You all should read some other topics – From “Hope” -Barbara wrote” Typical happenings in Washington when it come to anything regarding money. America must decide what type of country it wishes to be, and then conform public and foreign policy to those ends, and not the other way around. Politicians have no right to subjugate the constitutional process of government to any foreign organization.
Banks are utilities for the rational allocation of capital created by savings, and as utilities deserve special protections. All else is speculation and gambling. In banking, simpler and more stable is better. Low cost rules, as excessive financialisation is a pernicious tax on the real economy.
Financial speculation, as opposed to entrepreneurial investment, creates little value, serving largely to transfer wealth from the many to the few, often by exploiting the weak, and corrupting the law. It does serve to identify and correct market inefficiencies, but this benefit is vastly overrated, because those are quickly eliminated. As such it should be allowed, but tightly regulated and highly taxed as a form of gambling.
When the oligarchy’s enablers, hired help is the politer word, and assorted useful idiots ask, “But how then will we do this or that?” ask them back, “How did we do it twenty years ago?” Before the financial revolution and the descent into a bubble economy and a secretive and largely corrupted government with a GDP whose primary product is fraud.
Economics will not provide any answers in and of itself. Economics without an a priori policy and morality, without a guiding principle like the Constitution, is a heartless monster easily manipulated to say whatever one wishes it to say, if they are willing to pay enough economists to say it. Its reputation as a science is greatly exaggerated.
Take just about any financial problem, give it to Washington and they will eventually screw it up and always in their favor. Social Security is a perfect example. The practice of using every dollar of the surplus Social Security revenue for general government spending continues to this day. The 1983 payroll tax hike has generated approximately $2.5 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue which is supposed to be in the trust fund for use in paying for the retirement benefits of the baby boomers. But the trust fund is empty! It contains no real assets. As a result, the government will soon be unable to pay full benefits without a tax increase. Money can be spent or it can be saved. But you can’t do both. Absolutely none of the $2.5 trillion was saved or invested in anything.
That is how the largest theft in the history of the world was carried out. 300M people worked and saved their whole lives to set aside $2.5Tn into a retirement system that, if it were paying a fair compounding rate of 5% interest over 40 years of labor (assuming an even $62Bn a year was contributed), would be worth $8.4Tn today – enough money to give 100M workers $84,000 each in cash! The looting of FICA hid the massive deficits of the last 30 years in the Unified Budget. Presidents and Congresses were able to reduce taxes on the wealthiest Americans without complaint from the deficit hawks, because they benefited. The money went directly from the pockets of average Americans into the pockets of the rich.
Now that it is time to repay those special bonds in the Trust Fund, we are inundated in opinion pieces in the leading newspapers and magazines complaining about Social Security and its horrible impact on the budget. Government finances have been trashed by foolish tax cuts, unpaid wars, tax loopholes for corporations and the very wealthy, the failures of economists, the greedy search for greater returns in financial markets and the collapse of moral values in giant businesses, but Social Security is supposed to be the problem that needs fixing…
Social Security is not “broken“–the money is in the Trust Fund. But the people who manage the finances of the United States don’t want to repay the bonds held by the Trust Fund. They want to default selectively against average people, their fellow citizens, who paid their taxes expecting to be protected in their retirement. Refusing to repay the $2.54 trillion dollars in bonds held by the Social Security Trust makes the US look like Greece, just another nation unable to govern itself coherently. The people who manage US finances come from the financial elites, the best that Wall Street and enormous corporations have to offer. Selective default exposes them as charlatans. The claims of the economics profession to expertise are puffery. Their theories about the benefits of tax cuts are proven false. Their mathematical proofs about free markets collapse in the real world.
Nothing will change until the people demand it either by vote or revolution and as per the Declaration Of Independence, we have the right to dump the current government and begin anew.”
Well put, and let us see if a miracle of transformation could happen where the tribal level persons mentioned could put aside their immense egos for the sake of something greater – what an example for the world!!!!!!
I find it amazing that anyone with a braincell still defends Obama or thinks he’s anything at all like the hologram he projected during the campaign. Warren won’t be chosen because she does not play for the Wall Street team that paid Obama’s way. (sorry kids, you blew that money you shoveled out for a pigment color, not a person. accept it. move on. )
Obama knew exactly what he was doing when he chose the Goldman crew to run things. He planned it all along. For god’s sake, WAKE UP. From his days as a state senator he always chose his contributors over his constituents.
The Obama apologetics are now officially idiotic. He’s done not what he said he’d do (public option, no mandate, close gitmo, etc etc) but what any close reading of his history telegraphed he’d do.
Oh, well…I guess people still get to get all goose pimply that they voted for a black guy.
Sorry, Larry is best suited to be a burger in the CFPB cafeteria.
I don’t think that Obama is a camelion, he has a charletan. And, you’re right about Bush, the man was an idiot, without pretense, and a puppet to Cheney. We knew it, it was awful, but at least it was easy to see. Obama is owned by Wall Street, and, he’s a blithering intellectual if he thinks we can’t see it. Change, my ass!!!
Shelley, I read your blog and was shocked at how closely your thoughts mirror my own. I fear the collapse of our society which I believe is coming will lead to a rise of fascism as people struggling try to deal with what’s happened to them and look for someone to blame. Unfortunately Americans won’t respond like the French at the Bastille. It was bad but at least they blamed the right people. Here’s hoping we’re both wrong about how bad it will probably be. Have a good day anyway. Laurie Fredericksen
JC, the only business people who dislike EW are those who make money by telling and selling lies. You must be smoking something.
There is a good reason why we all love Liz. She is smart, truthful and rational, qualities we haven’t seen combined in a potential political leader in a century or more. Those qualities can’t be found inside the beltway, at least in combination. We need to find grounds for impeachment, and failing to support EW for the CFPB may just provide enough fuel to move that forward.
” wikipedia.org has been compromised for years – their data is biased, and skewed with inaccuracies”
Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica
CNET News – December 15, 2005
“Wikipedia is about as good a source of accurate information as Britannica, the venerable standard-bearer of facts about the world around us, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature.”
http://tinyurl.com/4honf5
Declaration of Independence states that ” All men are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
For a man to travel the road towards happiness, its important that his rights as a consumer are protected by those whom he elects to run the state. Having done so, he can then be free to pursue happiness. Elizabeth Warren is the best person to run this bureau and champion the cause of the consumer. Firstly she has the requisite knowledge and expertise in the area of consumer protection. Secondly Elizabeth has the courage and conviction to fight for consumer rights against those who would want at there will to crumble upon these rights for their profit motives. She has demonstrated this as a well researched author , as a Professor of Law at Harvard University, with her appointment as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel and above all by her authenticity and by raising some tough questions. She is the right person to champion the cause of the consumer.
We as the consumers of this proud nation have a voice and its of paramount importance that this voice be spoken unanimously so its echoes can be heard in Washington DC. This is the time when we the consumers need to stand tall and being fully aware of our political, social, business and other influences need to be untied and see that Elizabeth Warren is appointed to this chair however strong is the opposition to appoint her. She is the best and we want the best to represent us and protect our concerns.
Make others aware and sign a petition and make your voice be heard. Now is the time !!!!
VP (Conscious Consumer !!!)
Signing options at http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/sign/petition_warren/
Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, presidents need a crisis to shine.
Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America: we have the leader for our times.
I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it’s time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.
Obama is our last best chance. He’s worth laying it all on the line for.
This is a man who in the age of greed took the high road of community service. This is the good father and husband. This is the humble servant. This is the patient teacher. This is the scholar statesman. This is the man of deep Christian faith.
Good stories about Obama abound; from his personal relationship with his Secret Service agents (he invites them into his home to watch sports, and shoots hoops with them) to the story about how, more than twenty years ago, while standing in the check-in line at an airport, Obama paid a $100 baggage surcharge for a stranger who was broke and stuck. (Obama was virtually penniless himself in those days.) Years later after he became a senator, that stranger recognized Obama’s picture and wrote to him to thank him. She received a kindly note back from the senator. (The story only surfaced because the person, who lives in Norway, told a local newspaper after Obama ran for the presidency. The paper published a photograph of this lady proudly displaying Senator Obama’s letter.)
Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kindly but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Obama is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.
Obama puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to win politically you need to be tough. He can be. He has been. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic American. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.
Obama has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first black contender for the presidency who will win, Obama, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged racial hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country. By stepping forward to lead, Obama has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no white candidate ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been even for white presidents.)
Nice stories or even unparalleled courage isn’t the only point. The greater point about Obama is that the midst of our worldwide financial meltdown, an expanding (and losing) war in Afghanistan, trying to extricate our country from a wrong and stupidly mistaken ruinously expensive war in Iraq, our mounting and crushing national debt, awaiting the next (and inevitable) al Qaeda attack on our homeland, watching our schools decline to Third World levels of incompetence, facing a general loss of confidence in the government that has been exacerbated by the Republicans doing all they can to undermine our government’s capabilities and programs… President Obama will take on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He faces not one but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times.
As luck, fate or divine grace would have it (depending on one’s personal theology) Obama is blessedly, dare I say uniquely, well-suited to our dire circumstances. Obama is a person with hands-on community service experience, deep connections to top economic advisers from the renowned University of Chicago where he taught law, and a middle-class background that gives him an abiding knowledgeable empathy with the rest of us. As the son of a single mother, who has worked his way up with merit and brains, recipient of top-notch academic scholarships, the peer-selected editor of the Harvard Law Review and, in three giant political steps to state office, national office and now the presidency, Obama clearly has the wit and drive to lead.
Obama is the sober voice of reason at a time of unreason. He is the fellow keeping his head while all around him are panicking. He is the healing presence at a time of national division and strife. He is also new enough to the political process so that he doesn’t suffer from the terminally jaded cynicism, the seen-it-all-before syndrome afflicting most politicians in Washington. In that regard we Americans lucked out. It’s as if having despaired of our political process we picked a name from the phone book to lead us and that person turned out to be a very man we needed.
Obama brings a healing and uplifting spiritual quality to our politics at the very time when our worst enemy is fear. For eight years we’ve been ruled by a stunted fear-filled mediocrity of a little liar who has expanded his power on the basis of creating fear in others. Fearless Obama is the cure. He speaks a litany of hope rather than a litany of terror.
As we have watched Obama respond in a quiet reasoned manner to crisis after crisis, in both the way he has responded after being attacked and lied about in the 2008 campaign season, to his reasoned response to our multiplying national crises, what we see is the spirit of a trusted family doctor with a great bedside manner. Obama is perfectly suited to hold our hand and lead us through some very tough times. The word panic is not in the Obama dictionary.
America is fighting its “Armageddon” in one fearful heart at a time. A brilliant leader with the mild manner of an old-time matter-of-fact country doctor soothing a frightened child is just what we need. The fact that our “doctor” is a black man leading a hitherto white-ruled nation out of the mess of its own making is all the sweeter and raises the Obama story to that of moral allegory.
Obama brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work for everything they’ve gotten and had to do twice as well as the person standing next to them because of the color of their skin. His experience of succeeding in spite of his color, social background and prejudice could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Obama radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness.
Speaking as a believing Christian I see the hand of a merciful God in Obama’s candidacy. The biblical metaphors abound. The stone the builder rejected is become the cornerstone… the last shall be first… he that would gain his life must first lose it… the meek shall inherit the earth…
For my secular friends I’ll allow that we may have just been extraordinarily lucky! Either way America wins.
Only a brilliant man, with the spirit of a preacher and the humble heart of a kindly family doctor can lead us now. We are afraid, out of ideas, and worst of all out of hope. Obama is the cure. And we Americans have it in us to rise to the occasion. We will. We’re about to enter one of the most frightening periods of American history. Our country has rarely faced more uncertainty. This is the time for greatness. We have a great leader. We must be a great people backing him, fighting for him, sacrificing for a cause greater than ourselves.
A hundred years from now Obama’s portrait will be placed next to that of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Long before that we’ll be telling our children and grandchildren that we stepped out in faith and voted for a young black man who stood up and led our country back from the brink of an abyss. We’ll tell them about the power of love, faith and hope. We’ll tell them about the power of creativity combined with humility and intellectual brilliance. We’ll tell them that President Obama gave us the gift of regaining our faith in our country. We’ll tell them that we all stood up and pitched in and won the day. We’ll tell them that President Obama restored our standing in the world. We’ll tell them that by the time he left office our schools were on the mend, our economy booming, that we’d become a nation filled with green energy alternatives and were leading the world away from dependence on carbon-based destruction. We’ll tell them that because of President Obama’s example and leadership the integrity of the family was restored, divorce rates went down, more fathers took responsibility for their children, and abortion rates fell dramatically as women, families and children were cared for through compassionate social programs that worked. We’ll tell them about how the gap closed between the middle class and the super rich, how we won health care for all, how crime rates fell, how bad wars were brought to an honorable conclusion. We’ll tell them that when we were attacked again by al Qaeda, how reason prevailed and the response was smart, tough, measured and effective, and our civil rights were protected even in times of crisis…
We’ll tell them that we were part of the inexplicably blessed miracle that happened to our country those many years ago in 2008 when a young black man was sent by God, fate or luck to save our country. We’ll tell them that it’s good to live in America where anything is possible. Yes we will.
Under Bush, people pointed a finger at Cheney, but BO has no straw man.
Warren would be a disaster. She is very divisive
and way too narrow minded to maintain an efficient
flow of credit.
Hahaha, that was soooo funny! thank you! i needed a laugh. Just wanna add, when you said: “His personal character is also solid gold”, you meant -solid Goldman Sachs, right? thought so.
Again, thank you, humor is just wonderful.
John, right on the money! No pun intended.
Interesting to see you so worship Obama. Very interesting. Sounds like a man who has looked at Obama and seen God. The eyes are the window of the soul. Some see through the glass so darkly, they’re as blind men. Blasphemy produces that condition.
Earle, you are clueless. Yes, there are occasional inaccuracies, like in Britannica and the OED, but everyone is free to add or question and footnote. I have used it numerous times professionally and find it to be amazing. Please give a more substantial basis for your criticism, or shut up.
Simon (and many bloggers before me), thanks so much for all of your efforts. Sadly, as a true American cynic, I can say that there is only a remote chance that EW will be appointed and confirmed. The biggest reason is simple: she doesn’t fit in. She’s just not qualified as a Plutocrat (the only actual party in this country). She believes in the average citizen, their rights, their respect and their sanity. The Plutocratic Party (which includes, at this point, everyone in Congress and the Administration, and, arguably the Supreme Court) stands for the wealthy and power elite. Their web of influence extends to literally every corner of the country and the globe. Liz Warren is antithetical to their goals, aims and power, and putting someone in a powerful position will pull back the curtain on their games. If we compare people based upon pure human decency, she rises quickly to the very top of the list of all public figures of the past century.
Yes, it would be to Obama’s benefit to appoint her, but only until she quickly reveals what a charletan he really is by setting an incredible example of something that he has none of, integrity.
I went to the California Democratic party hoo ha today. I attended the Progressive Caucus, among many. They had Maxine Waters come and give a glowing report of the financial regulation just passed. I and my seat-neighbor were getting a little vomit in our mouths and blanching at the hypocrisy of it. And the worst thing was that the Progressive Caucus was pretending like they thought the finance law was the best thing since sliced bread. It’s like “Gaslight”!!!
If there is no Elizabeth Warren directing the Consumer Protection Agency; then there is NO
Consumer Protection Agency.
Who cares what Geithner thinks. If Obama used his brain instead of his so-called advisors and strategists, we might some real action, and the continuation of ‘moving lips!’
I am an enthusiastic supporter of our 44th president, but I am getting more disgusted daily with the LACK of progress.
Maybe not getting Elizabeth Warren appointed would be a good wake up call for the progressive movement. Many are coming here to protest, but how many are holding their elective representatives feet to the fire? I mean beyond Obama. How many are writing to their representatives, actually showing up at their offices to hold them to account? Elizabeth Warren needs support to get through a hostile Senate.
How of the executives here have gone as a group and held the Chambers of Commerce accountable? The local chambers of Commerce, and even the national ones, have taken steps that need to be countered.
Let’s just admit it, we were asleep at the switch. Elizabeth Warren has been hiding in plain sight, and we did not go to shore up her political support.
Politics is not like business, where one can hire one exec, and have him/her effect change.
As I recall from a Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor, saying the Senate/Congress is like a bus where all the passenger seats have a brake.
Vigilance, protest, holding representatives accountable, is what is going to change the situation. What would happen if a million mums in strollers showed up in DC, during the Financial Regulation debate?
The people who got us in this mess, are not going to leave quietly, are wily, and will pull all stops to maintain the status quo.
I’m in your camp.
Even the most clueless know that Summers and Rubin were instrumental in the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which led to the meltdown.
That means Obama KNOWS exactly what he’s doing.
He’s not clueless, he’s not naive, he’s not patient, he’s not playing 8th dimensional chess, he’s not bi-partisan, he’s not interested in change.
He’s a corporate shill, just like all the presidents before him, going right back to Reagan. Since Reagan was elected there hasn’t been a president who hasn’t actively sought to pass legislation that has grown corporate profits at the expense of the populace.
Reagan was the biggest corporate shill of all, and that’s what Obama admires about him.
Obama was the corporate candidate from the very beginning.
And capitalism, does NOT WORK. You can’t reinflate a bubble of fraud. People who don’t understand economics, and politics think we just need to return to the policies of the 90’s, and everything will be fine.
The 90’s was the dismantling of welfare. The tech boom was based on hedge fund manipulation and massive fraud by the banks and institutions that backed any IPO, giving their rich clientele access to
The prosperity that produced the middle class of the 50’s and 60’s is nearly entirely because of communists groups in America and the labor movement. The red scare was propaganda to ensure that the 1% who own everything can stay in power and wealthy beyond belief.
They and the politicians don’t care about the homeless. They don’t care about the tent cities, the unemployment rate, or if you live or die. You’re a number, a statistic.
You don’t become president in the US if you make a move to threaten the status quo.
Globalization and capitalism is about exploiting labor and resources, to enrich the few, at the expense of everyone else.
Democracy is the illusion that allows the literal raping and polluting of everything in our food chain, and now the Gulf of Mexico, through corporate thievery of resources for profit. Politicians allow this, because they’re the conduits of the largest multinationals. Nothing more.
Bingo.
Your comment implies an an agreed-up measure of what it means to succeed. If Geithner’s assignment was to restore Wall Street then he has pretty much succeed and was a good choice as far as Obama is concerned. As to the rest of us George Carlin had it right; “There is a club and aren’t a f..king member!”
Good cop/bad cop is the best and most accurate analysis of our two party system.
The DNC and the RNC are two sides of the same coin. They’re the shills for corporate America. The few who may stand up in Congress and protest what’s really going on, still vote for HCR, which is a move in the wrong direction, because the actual legislation was based on ideas from the Heritage foundation, and the entire thing was written by lobbyists, and more than 100 amendments from Republicans were left in the bill, yet no Republicans vote for it.
It was a sham, and so is finreg.
Truthfully, I hope your words come true!
‘In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments.’
~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human, 1878
Even if Warren makes it, she won’t be able to stop the endemic corruption and the rule of Wall St. It’s already over, no matter who is appointed.
The Obama administration does not want Warren to have a voice and a higher profile, therefore it’s doubtful they will back her appointment.
She’s already admitted that she has no contact with Obama, and he does not ask her for advice. Same with Volcker. They are there for show, and if either make waves, they will be benched. They’ll simply be ignored and things will continue as before.
No one person in government, even the president can make a difference, when every government agency has been corrupted through lobbying and has shills for each industry working in those government agencies to ensure that business wins, and regulations aren’t enforced.
That’s why the regulations that are passed don’t matter much.
The SEC knows of more 900 hedge funds that have committed naked short selling, and there’s been no prosecutions. What does that tell us?
Goldman were fined 55 million the other day to settle the case against them. That 55 million is the payoff number.
Government isn’t incompetent, like the right wing constantly proclaims, it’s just that there’s no separation between government and corporations.
It’s all one and the same.
Warren is a VERY smart woman and if appointed to the job she can more than hold her own.
Obama is President because Palin became a vice president possibility. White guilt is another reason why he became president, the media created this jerk to show how politically correct we are, a bunch of BS. I blame the republicans for choosing Palin and Democrats for being P*ssies! It’s okay to be American, democrats. The only people discriminated against in the media presently are white people and mostly white men, Its cool to be Black and Latin not white. Kind of sounds racist against white people to me.
I, Laura, Christian right wing Libertarian beg to differ. We see the fascism and corruption of this present government. To say that the left sees corporatism, fascism, and the right does not ~~ presumes too much.
Do you see the “New International Order” of which Sotero speaks that he wants the USA to “lead” making him the “world leader” of this “New International Order”??
Perhaps there are those among us (a large sector) of the right who see more than you see regarding the global fascist state that is rising. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=169997
Obama is President because Palin became a vice president possibility. White guilt is another reason why he became president, the media created this jerk to show how politically correct we are, a bunch of BS. I blame the republicans for choosing Palin and Democrats for being P*ssies! It’s okay to be American, democrats. The only people discriminated against in the media presently are white people and mostly white men, Its cool to be Black and Latin not white. Kind of sounds racist against white people to me.
elizabeth warren if you’re reading this i love you! we need you for the good of the american people. out with geithner in with warren.
The Treasury is one of the most corrupt agencies is the world and are not in place to be fair or do what is right for the country. Their only reason to exist is to get as much money for the Banking industries largest banks regardless of the consequences. Greenspan is the worst Chairman in the history of the country.
Boldprogressives.org has a petition
Boldprogressives.org has a petition which I signed with no hope of it meaning anything. If she is appointed she will be ignored and marginalized until she resigns, Obama will take credit for “trying” and put in someone from Goldman Sachs to replace her. She would be admirable but not too bright to subject herself to this scenario and waste her energy that way.
Here is the URL for a petition asking President Obama to keep Elizabeth Warren. It would be great if you’d post this here and ask people to PLEASE SIGN.
Thanks.
http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/sign/petition_warren/?akid=&rd=1&source=e1-passtxt-orighuffim
It’s long overdue that Obama voters (like myself)
realize that his change meant “chump change”
Black, white, or purple doesn’t matter.
(Why did he keep Gates?)
What is with all these petitions? The power balance has firmly tilted in favor of Big money.
As a candidate, BO was a start up that you guys funded as Angel investors with your good will and other intangibles. The big money has now moved in and the scale of the game is much bigger than anything the progressives can influence. All these petitions are akin to dogs baying at the moon. The progressives had their chance but were foolish enough to not do due diligence. The machine now runs on other fuel (and that’s not you) and there is nothing any of you guys can do about it. You had your window and it is now closed until 2016. Deal with it.
Belle wrote:
“Even if Warren makes it, she won’t be able to stop the endemic corruption and the rule of Wall St. It’s already over, no matter who is appointed.”
Leon Tec, M.D. wrote:
“A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind.”
lots of interest
Guidothekp wrote:
“What is with all these petitions?”
petitions + “elizabeth warren”
“31,500 results” (0.40 seconds) Google – July 18, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/petitions-elizabeth-warren
I think they call it free speech.
Of course, Warren won’t get the nod. Obummer and his gang of sycophants are all fascist criminals and in complete collusion with thieving banksters.
How about Summers and Geithner get tried for treason and executed on TV?
Clotpoll wrote:
“Of course, Warren won’t get the nod. Obummer and his gang of sycophants are all fascist criminals and in complete collusion with thieving banksters.”
Elizabeth Warren vs. Timothy Geithner
July 17, 2010 – blogs.alternet.org – excerpt
“A lot of people have rightfully scolded Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for attempting to block Elizabeth Warren’s nomination to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Here’s what I have to add: What a whiny cry-baby wimp.
Geithner only has to answer to two people, the President of the United States and the Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Only one of those people openly criticizes him in public when he commits unbelievable, disastrous errors.
Guess which one?
So of course Geithner is pushing against Warren. She holds him accountable to the public, and he doesn’t want to be held accountable.
Geithner is acting like a vindictive baby, trying to dish-out some payback at someone who highlighted very real failures that he himself orchestrated (stress tests, foreclosures, AIG . . . nearly everything that was screwed up under TARP).
He deserves the public flogging he’s receiving, and he really ought to be stripped of his post for so transparently playing personal politics with national policy. Incidentally, this embarassing little farce of Geithner’s should give Warren more credibility to head the new bureau. It proves that she is willing to stand up to powerful people and make them uncomfortable, which is exactly what the head of the CFPB will have to do in order to be effective.
The Warren appointment really will be a litmus test for the Obama administration. It’s not a progressive litmus test– she’s profoundly popular on the left, right and center, because she understands working people and is one of the few public figures willing to defend them against Wall Street lobbyists.
But it will be a test of whether Obama can do the right thing in the face of opposition from a single, powerful corporate interest group (bankers).”
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/07/17/elizabeth-warren-vs-timothy-geithner/
Edwin Lee wins the “most accurate description” prize fro 2010″
“a tight knit group of males that is low on integrity, mediocre on talent and high on chutzpah”
@Mick
I would agree, accept I’ve seen no sign he’s even capable of embracing option #2.
In short, I would love to see him show some backbone and fail, just once. Otherwise I am left to believe he’s getting exactly what he wants as opposed to what he’s able to negotiate.
rene quoted Friedrich Nietzsche:
“In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments.”
Friedrich Nietzsche also wrote:
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
“umAmerican”?
It’s as American as apple pie to be the fly in the ointment. If anything defines “American” it’s being contrarian.
If anything is unAmerican it’s requiring people to embrace the status-quo.
I am not against Obama because of what he hasn’t done. My decisions are not based on “instant gratification” – he’s already put in stone as much as I need to see really.
Obama didn’t have to continue indefinite detention, he didn’t have to continue denying habeas corpus, he didn’t have to continue supporting kangaroo courts, he didn’t have to continue extraordinary renditions, he didn’t have to continue the whistle blowing cases, he didn’t have to continue the fight against the wiretapping suits, he didn’t have to continue the same lack of transparency, he didn’t have to continue the same FCC fights against freedom of speech (ie: swearing), he didn’t have to continue the same anti-pornography cases (anti-free speech), he didn’t have to throw away the public option, he didn’t have to make such a watered down mess of financial legislation, he didn’t have to keep on Gates, he didn’t have to choose Summers, he didn’t have to choose Geithner, he didn’t have to continue holding holding innocent people in Bagram and Guantanamo, he didn’t have to increase the number of drone attacks, he didn’t need to start targeting American citizens for assassination, he didn’t have to let BP control the oil response, he didn’t have to give the Republicans what they wanted before they asked, etc, etc, etc.
Cut me a break. It’s not that we haven’t given him enough time – if anything it’s that we have given him too much.
If you can answer 50% of the above with anything but dogmatic platitudes, which are already past history to this administration, then I can only guess that you are just as deluded as the reams of Bush supporters when he was in office.
I see Obama as a slower, less visible, progression to the same end as Palin/Jeb/Paul. We may as well see it coming, rather than in the stealth fashion that currently exists.
If we are going to return to the Gilded age, complete with “The Jungle”-like living conditions, let’s “bring it on” in a ways that can be seen rather than slowly boiled like some frog.
If we’re going to march to the right, let’s do it in a way that doesn’t leave so-called members of the left unaware that they are being torn asunder before they can finally gird themselves to the Hell we’re moving into.
Obama is looking to be another Trojan Horse like Clinton. A more subtle way of moving in the same way as the people you warn us against.
@Mick
He can AT LEAST use that velvet tongue he has, which has remained remarkable un-progressive since his election. Why, when you are the “president of the free world” (which the POTUS is inarguably), is it more difficult to at least speak the right words, than when you are running for election? Surely you are more vulnerable before election than after? And yet his silver tongue for progressive words are all but dead now that he hold the office.
He railed against indefinite detention and was safely elected, but now as president he is too weak to do the same? What illusory world do you live in?
Yes, it would be better to end up the same place as Romney/Jinda/Huckabee but have Obama instead.
I’m not saying there isn’t a quantitative difference in the *SHORT* term, but in the long term, he’s leading us to the same place.
At least with George Bush we had the aid of so called progressives against the very things which they now support since they have been white-washed by Obama.
As we’ve done for the last 12+ years? Pretending if we just become more like them they’ll love us?
No, we did better when the face of the Republicans were directly exposed. Right now we get the same effect just it’s hidden behind the name of a Democrat.
dcb:
Reaganomics:
A popular term used to refer to the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. President (1981–1989), which called for widespread tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending, and the deregulation of domestic markets.
See also:
Voodoo economics
Laffer curve
Tax cuts pay for themselves
Supply side economics
Trickle down
Deregulation
Efficient market hypothesis
The magic of the markets
Deficits don’t matter
And never forget:
“Bubbles” Greenspan
let her in to open some whoop ass, on all!!
Get a grip. Your fantasies about NWO or thinking that the DNC agenda is any different from the RNC agenda – continued corporatism, is not only ignorant and naive, it’s just infantile and paranoid.
You don’t understand the depth of control that Wall St and the multinationals have over all 3 branches of government. She’ll be spitting into the wind if appointed.
It’s the entire system that’s broken, and there’s no fixing it, without the entire population revolting, and ending the farce of corporate servitude.
The problem with everyone commenting on this and the author is, you all think it can be fixed with the “right people”. You’re all wrong.
nice work,Welcome return visit!
http://dayquote.wordpress.com
This is more lunacy on the part of Johnson and progressives.
Why not judge his appointment to head the agency, be it Warren or somebody else, on their performance on the job?
What do you think these assessments are based on, Einstein? Geitner’s performance already reveals where he would like this to tilt, i.,e Wall Street, NOT the public. The more glaring lunacy comes from people like you and your simplistic wide brush attacks that expect blind faith acceptance…..
Belle wrote:
“You don’t understand the depth of control that Wall St and the multinationals have over all 3 branches of government. She’ll be spitting into the wind if appointed.
It’s the entire system that’s broken, and there’s no fixing it, without the entire population revolting, and ending the farce of corporate servitude.
The problem with everyone commenting on this and the author is, you all think it can be fixed with the “right people”. You’re all wrong.”
I agree the situation can’t be fixed. Some unique people are willing to take on challenges despite the odds. They won’t win the war, but will win a few battles along the way, I’ll take that over immediate surrender.
I have been studying and researching global banking for over 10 years. What is it going to take for you Americans to get it, and then do something about it. You have been enslaved by a debt monetary system that goes back to you unconstitutional Federal Reserve Banking, end of story. The two headed one party system in the US is a structure that was put in place in order to conquer and divide a nation and it has done exactly that, almost perfectly, keeping America’s dumbed down eye off the menacing banksters who are most definitely calling the shots. It’s time to wake up America and stand up for yourselves and your constitutional rights.
Wow. get off the crack pipe. Obama is not as smart as Clinton or Kennedy. MAybe W. But barely. Without a teleprompter he not so hot. Also for the record, he’s a liar and lazy.
It’s people having delusions like the comment above that caused the mess we are in.
Obama sold us Hopey B.S. as cover to continue the Bush Wall Street Cabal.
a few random lies Obama told:
He opposed a HC mandate. Oops.
He was for re-importation of drugs from Canada – oops.
He would close Gitmo – oops
He was for a Public Option – ooops.
He was against off shore drilling – ooops.
He would not raise takes on the middle class – but now the HC mandate is a tax – ooops.
There are a slew of other half truths and lies – the character of gold nonsense is hilarious. I want to post this comment on my blog as a sign of the ongoing mental illness obama causes. Can I?
the black man acts more like a white man and the woman is more like a man. do the math.
it is obvious that, since Regan, the U.S. has been drifting twoards a fascist society. And we arrived with the Cheney-Bush adminisration aided tremendously by the Clinton-Gore administrations. As a matter of fact the pro-business Democrats (an oxymoron of course) did more than W to dismantle the democratic institutions of the US via wholesale deregulation of the banking and oil industries among others, so the second depression and the Gulf Oil massacre are understandable in that context of deregulation and corporate takeover of government. Mussolini, who should know, said it best: fascism is the marriage of business and government.
Elizabeth Warren for President and Brooksley Born for vice president in 2012.
Of course Elizabeth Warren should get this job. But giving her the job would be, as a past colleague used to say, “too much like right”. We so much need her integrity and talent and were Obama to step up and do that right thing I’d feel very encouraged that he is learning some important lessons during his Presidency.
“Failing to appoint Elizabeth Warren would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will go down in the history books as a turning point – downwards – for this administration.”
Precisely, Prof. Dr. Johnson.
Very sad but very true.
What they don’t understand is that those citizens that are paying attention, that care about this, TRUST her. She seems to have so little ego. And if pro-corporation representatives/senators/administration staff are against her that’s just another reason to support her.
Lilke I said, more progressive stupidity. Geithner has proven himself more than able to handle all totally false BS simon johnson can throw at him.
Enjoy the Republican house, idiots.
Read her reports. The lady misses wildly all the time. She is not the ace people think.
She still cannot figure out the AIG bailout. Lol.
JCH wrote:
“Read her reports. The lady misses wildly all the time. She is not the ace people think.
She still cannot figure out the AIG bailout. Lol.”
The Real Reason Geithner Is Afraid of Elizabeth Warren
July 18, 2010 11:33 AM – Huff Post – exerpts
“One can assume that Geithner, being very close to the nation’s biggest banks, is concerned that Warren, if chosen, will exercise her new policing and enforcement powers to restrict those abusive practices at our commercial banks that have been harmful to consumers and depositors.
I believe Geithner sees the appointment of Elizabeth Warren as a threat to the very scheme he has utilized to date to hide bank losses, thus keeping the banks solvent and out of bankruptcy court and their existing management teams employed and well-paid.
Warren’s appointment wouldn’t just be a setback, it would devastate Geithner’s entire plan on how to deal with trillions of bad assets the banks still won’t recognize as losers. That is why I think she is going to face enormous resistance, even inside of the administration. The next one to oppose Warren after Geithner will be Larry Summers for this very reason.
Elizabeth Warren won’t just protect consumers, her Oklahoma bred sense of honesty, fairness and decency just might reinvigorate and redirect a government and a banking industry that for too long has seen the average American taxpayer and the typical small consumer as the enemy to be taken advantage of at every turn.”
http://tinyurl.com/2frvj5v
Like I said, Geitner has proven who he works for and who supports him: big old eastern establishment money.
When the house goes republican and then the presidency- the republican idocracy will have to thank Obama for failing to stand up to them and for embracing and cuddling the super rich.
Then of course by the time the blind, faithful and clueless morons like yourself wake up (if ever) it will be too late.
But you know what? it won’t be much different really, coarser language maybe and lamer platitudes..but you can go down the list and the Obama agenda will be essentially indistinguishable fro what he’s doing now. BTW who do you like the Patriot Act?
Stop the presses…tear out the front page and get me re-write! Chris Dodd is carrying Wall Street’s water on Professor Warren! At least according to the Wall Street Journal.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/19/dodd-casts-doubt-on-warren-for-consumer-agency/
And oh, it’s all because she’s “unconfirmable”. Of course it is.
That her appointment would require 1) a Presidential nomination and 2) Senate confirmation means that there are at least 3 opportunities for blockage (The president, Senate Committee, and a Senate floor vote). In the unlikely event that the President grows a backbone and nominates her, she’ll never make it out of the (bought and paid for) Senate.
Like I said, I hope I’m wrong, but the ruling class has become so brazen that even the obvious blockage or exclusion of Dr. Warren from this position by TPTB is inevitable and the People probably won’t even grumble about it since getting abused by megabanks is now expected.
Financial Reform Coalition Endorses Elizabeth Warren To Head New Consumer Agency
07-19-10 12:27 PM – Huff Post – excerpt
“On Monday, a coalition of groups fighting to reform the nation’s financial system formally endorsed Harvard Law professor and bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Americans for Financial Reform, an alliance of more than 250 organizations that has spent the past year advocating for financial reform legislation, said that Warren is the “most experienced, effective and independent person” to serve as the critical first chief of the new agency.
“There was some urgency to move forward” on the endorsement, an AFR spokesman said. The group drafted its statement over the weekend, intending to get it out before Monday.
The move may put increased pressure on the White House to select Warren to head the new entity. Consumer advocates and financial lobbyists agree that the first director will have a tremendous impact on the agency that will likely last beyond the director’s term.
A strong consumer protector will ensure tough consumer protections for years, as the agency’s staff and the director’s successors will take their cue from precedent; a weak chief nearly guarantees an ineffectual agency that will fall short of the promises advocated by the soon-to-be enacted financial reform legislation.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/financial-reform-coalitio_n_651151.html
Elizabeth Warren on Tim Geithner and the CFPB
July 18, 2010
“TARP Overseer and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren talks about the Obama administration’s role in push for a new consumer protection authority.” (1-minute)
Scenario 3:
Someone else is appointed Chair of the Financial Protection Agency.
Elizabeth Warren has to decline because she is appointed Secretary of the Treasury, and cannot fill both positions.
The Obama administration has made enough mistakes when it comes to Wall Street over Main Street. If they blow this one and don’t choose Warren to head the CFPB, they will seal the view held by most Americans that they either don’t have the guts to fight Wall Street or are simply in their pocket. No matter what, this will certainly be a factor in losing control of the House (which they’re headed for anyway), and could cost them the Senate. With that, millions of Americans will suffer even more than they do now, under either scenario.
Having watched Prof. E. Warren for some time, I believe she is not only quite savvy in many ways, on navigating the power structures inside the Beltline, but has personal integrity. The latter is not compatible with the power brokers behind the curtain. As long as she has been kept fairly harmless but useful, Prof. Warren has been welcomed by the insiders.
Sadly, I remain quite skeptical she will be appointed the leadership role for the consumer protection board. After watching the PBS “Need to Know”, I checked the transcript. I feel it holds clues as to why her appointment will likely not be successful. Read the transcript from a Washingtonian perspective with ties to the big boys- not from your own perspective. She is “off message” in two key areas that would make the insiders cringe.
Scenario 4:
“Although third party candidates rarely actually win elections, they can have an effect on them.
If they do well, they are often accused of having a spoiler effect. Sometimes they have won votes in the electoral college, as in the 1832 Presidential election. They can draw attention to issues that may be ignored by the majority parties. If such an issue finds acceptance with the voters, one or more of the major parties may adopt the issue into its own party platform.
Also, a third party may be used by the voter to cast a protest vote as a form of referendum on an important issue.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_(United_States)
cedar wrote:
“Having watched Prof. E. Warren for some time, I believe she is not only quite savvy in many ways…but has personal integrity. The latter is not compatible with the power brokers…
Sadly, I remain quite skeptical she will be appointed the leadership role for the consumer protection board. After watching the PBS “Need to Know”, I checked the transcript. I feel it holds clues as to why her appointment will likely not be successful.”
http://video.pbs.org/video/1545317019/
Funny, I see the glass half-full.
Question:
Can you think of a big bold move that would send a message, that this is an agency (CFPB) that is robust in your words and strong and to be contended with?
Elizabeth Warren:
“ The best that this agency can do, is to say to credit card companies, to mortgage companies, to banks, you can’t build a business model around tricking or trapping customers, it’s not going to work anymore. ”
The comments from CEOs need some more qualification. They don’t need to get all of their key assistants approved by their competitors (who have the power to delay or derail any selection).
CEOs who are successful tend to focus on long-term objectives. Any politician, including Obama, who does so is doomed. Long-term for a congressman is 2 years, 6 years for a senator. In reality, a good portion of every day is spent trying to keep their jobs, not by achieving results, but by raising funds. Money will trump results every time.
When a CEO (Obama) and his Secretary of Defense decide that they DO NOT NEED more of a certain plane or helicopter, I find it strange that Congress can decide that they do–even if it is surplus or obsolete. But when we talk about reduction, we can only talk about non-military items.
Yes, we need Warren and lots of other principled politicians. We also need journalists who learn the details of the issues they are reporting on.
Ask people if derivatives are good or bad. If they’re old or new. You’ll get a large number who think they’re both bad and new. Then when you point out that everything ever traded at the Chicago Board of Trade or Mercantile Exchange as well as listed options are all derivatives, they seem very confused.
That is the option that I like the best. Good-bye Geithner, Summers, Rubin and Bernanke.
But the best way to hold the House and Senate in the upcoming election is for Obama to do something that is for Main Street instead of Wall Street.
Why is it that Republicans have “balls” and will ram Roberts and Alito onto the Supreme Court and yet the Democrats are all about bi-partisanship.
Obama and the Democrats need to get some BALLS and start representing “We, the People”. While I will contiue to vote a straight Democratic ticket, I am fast loosing hope that anything meaningful will change.
One of the direct consequences of Obama’s walking on egg shells pertaining to what Wall Street and the Republicans want, is that I have lost all enthusiasm in terms of working as an unpaid volunteer in the Obama campaign.
Obama needs to appoint Elizabeth Warren, if he wants to really create change in this country and level the playing field between Wall Street and Main Street.
Obama desperately needs to talk to Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel, and heed his advice for how to create jobs in this country; instead of 10 jobs being created in China and India for every 1 job created here.
My question is “Does Obama have the balls to do what is necessary to get this country back on track?”
One of the reasons that I supported Hillary right up until the end is that I knew she knew how to fight and go toe-to-toe with the Republican agenda.
Obama appears to be more concerned with appeasing Republicans than making bold decisive steps towards solving some of this country’s problems.
“Failing to appoint Elizabeth Warren would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will go down in the history books as a turning point – downwards – for this administration.”
It should be the straw that broke the camel’s back, because then the game plan will be revealed, forcing us to see Geithner’s real role as gate keeper barring Elizabeth Warren, and a watch dog guarding against meaningful reforms/regulations.
What is Obama afraid of and who is he trying to please? As President, Obama plays his cards close to his chest. This can alienate him from his supporters by being perceived as indecisive, uncertain, and worst of all weak. We need to see why he is betting so heavily on Wall Street playing nice.
Elizabeth Warren Could Head CFPB Without Senate Confirmation
07-20-10
“The administration, though, could bypass the Senate entirely — without engendering the ill-will that would result from a recess appointment.
According to the bill’s language, the Treasury Secretary has sole authority to build the new agency before it’s ultimately transferred to the Federal Reserve. That includes anointing a person to head the effort on his behalf, and under his authority. The interim head would serve until the President’s nominee is confirmed by the Senate.
That person could be Elizabeth Warren.
And the legislation doesn’t appear to contain a deadline for a Presidential nomination, experts say, which means Warren could start the agency from scratch, put her people in, begin cracking down on predatory and abusive lenders, and initiate a culture that would put consumers’ interests above those of the nation’s most powerful financial institutions.
In short, she could set a tone the agency will follow for the next several years without the administration needing to fight a potentially drawn-out confirmation battle that could stall Obama’s pro-consumer agenda.
“The statute gives the Treasury Secretary the obligation to get it done, but doesn’t tell him how to get it done,” Gail Hillebrand, a senior attorney at Consumers Union and manager of the group’s financial services campaign, said about the Secretary’s role in creating the new agency.
Picking an interim head is one of the authorities Congress granted him in the legislation. Whomever Geithner hires would be serving that role on his behalf, and would ultimately be his responsibility.
So Geithner could, presumably, hire Warren on a contract basis to perform that role, Hillebrand said.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/elizabeth-warren-could-he_n_651759.html
I don’t think the President IS making the appointments. I think it very likely, they’re decided by cronyism.
Well said and too true. They are all low on integrity and talent. But of course, I always thought Greenspan highly overrated too. I’ve seen him in senate hearings and he often looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Didn’t see any “keen” look of intellect there. I know they’ve got degrees from where ever, but what does that really mean, and how possible is it to “buy” your away into a degree at many of these Ivy league schools.
Robert, what a statement “so unAmerican not to back your President regardless.” Hate to use the overused analogy with Nazi Germany, but that’s just what many German pundits would have said to people opposed to Hitler after he was elected. You must back your Chancellor regardless.
What an absolutely immoral statement. Just set your morality by the door would you, and let politicians decide your morality for you?
And yes, Obama’s integrity is in question, as the integrity of the “trash” surrounding him.
Elizabeth Warren
July 24, 2010 – NY Times
“President Obama should nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, and not only because of her credentials.
Ms. Warren — a bankruptcy expert at Harvard Law School, an Oklahoma native whose father was bilked of his savings by a business partner — developed the idea for the bureau in a 2007 article…
The banks don’t oppose Ms. Warren because she doesn’t get it. They oppose her because she does.”
I call bull, Shelley.
Why does everyone assume that, in dire circumstances, the wealthy will hide in castles and the rest of us will be reduced to dogs fighting over scraps?
WTH are we, if not evolved enough to know that no one determines our fate other than ourselves? Why would we have need for security, when we could find it in joining with our neighbors? There is civil strife, crime and gang wars now, so what are you so scared of?
I think this rampant fraud committed by our government has reduced everyone to a certain level of imagined powerlessness, a kind of pre-natal status, looking for a warm womb to inhabit in order to wait it out.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t let others determine my fate. I live for myself and no other man ever could own me. The fact is, we certainly don’t need a government, let alone this behemoth government, at the federal level anymore. They have only sought to destroy the Constitution and have outgrown their usefulness. Our elected officials at that level seem to be practicing nothing more than incestuous cronyism and petty thievery, using arms and laws to steal from us all. F**k ’em.
Who needs any of ’em?
There is only one way to get them out and that is to strike. Don’t vote. Don’t pay new taxes. Treat this government like the illegitimate sham it has become.
That doesn’t make me more comfortable with Ms. Warren. I believe she stands on her own merits, but please don’t tell me the banks “oppose” her. They “opposed” financial reform, too, right?
And look at that lame-arse bill we ended up with.
Methinks those banksters do protest too much.
You’re right, it doesn’t make sense for such a sensible people…
You have to look at where the “power” to LIVE is being drained from the people and that is the “churches”.
“End Times” prophecy crap – if they don’t ALLOW themselves to be abused beyond reason, then they are not cooperating with God’s will and Jesus won’t come back to solve all their problems for them.
Hard to believe, but that’s the TRUTH. Why else would there be no SANE and LOGICAL response to obvious criminality?
pjwrites wrote:
“…please don’t tell me the banks “oppose her.”
“A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man; it is what he wants and must have to be good for anything. Hardship and opposition are the native soil of manhood and self-reliance.”
John Neal