The charade: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke before the House Financial Services Committee—chaired by Spencer Bachus, who'd declared in an interview last December that in "Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks."
Geithner was speaking on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which he chairs. Established in July 2010, it was to come up with strategies that would ensure that the financial crisis wouldn't show up on our TV screens as reruns.
Now the reruns are here. Only the banks are bigger, the problems larger. The "solution" of the financial crisis—shifting trillions of dollars in risks and losses to taxpayers and central banks—is backfiring. What was largely a private-sector drama now engulfs entire countries. And while there are plenty of exciting financial subplots in the U.S., for the moment, the Eurozone is front and center.
"A severe crisis in Europe could cause significant damage by undermining confidence and weakening demand," Geithner said (Reuters [13]).
Confidence! A series of bank "stress tests" were supposed to suffuse us with a cozy sense of confidence in the banking sector—despite all the very obvious issues that were piling up left and right. The last desperate stress test was held in July in Europe. Dexia, which had already been bailed-out in 2008, passed with flying colors. Three months later, it goes kaput (Euro Tidbit: The Lies of 'Stress Tests' [14]). Other banks will follow.
If inspiring confidence isn't based on facts and transparency, it's a con game. And if the facts are awful, trying to pull a bag over our collective heads isn't going to help.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Did I read that right?? Did that guy say that Washington (read: the representatives of "we, the people) are there to SERVE the BANKS!?? WHAT!? THAT is why there is "Occupy Wall Street". These people are SO far out of touch they would need the Hubble telescope to see the people who elected them. Why don't you try to reach your elected rep's RIGHT NOW. You have NO chance of EVER speaking to your Senator, unless you've previously bribed him or are currently offering one. People are standing up against this now and it is scaring the bejezus out of them.
ReplyDeleteYup you read it right. That's why people are so pissed off. The banks, fed, etc., tell DC what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and then pay the banks for being allowed to do it.
ReplyDeleteSounds fair doesn't it?