The fix is in
One of the follies of the Bush administration was the notion that the class of money-shufflers who got us into the credit crunch could somehow be trusted to get us out of it. Which is what makes the Obama administration such a breath of fresh — oh, wait, never mind.
MSNBC reported last night that Obama is already getting advice from Ben Bernanke. That ought to make you feel warm and fuzzy right there.
But wait, there's more! As of this writing it appears Lawrence Summers is the leading candidate for Treasury Secretary. As in, the guy who was Clinton's last Treasury Secretary. So much for the promise of "no retreads" in an Obama administration.
I mean, Larry Summers?! That's really in-your-face, on any number of levels. PC-liberal types are still up in arms over his remarks about the size of women's brains when he was running Harvard, and the general consensus in Cambridge was that he ran Harvard with all the people skills of Attila the Hun.
More to the point is this: Summers was among those present at the creation of the biggest credit bubble of all time — when the Glass-Stegall Act was repealed in 1999. As I've written before, tearing down the wall of separation between commercial banking and investment banking is a good idea in principle. But written between the lines of the replacement legislation was a guarantee of government bailout if big leveraged bets went awry — one reason that the ultimate deregulator, Ron Paul, voted against it.
But hey, it'll make for a nigh-seamless transition at Treasury — Paulson to Summers to national bankruptcy.*
And if it's not Summers, the other candidates whose names have been floated will substitute just fine. Tim Geithner? The New York Fed chief was the architect of the JPMorgan-Bear Stearns deal, and has quietly kept his hand in every bailout and associated scheme since then. New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine? Ex-Goldman Sachs. Nuff said.
Presidents might change. Taxes go down, taxes go up. But the criminal finance class always makes sure to provide for itself first.
*Speaking of national bankruptcy, what sort of omen is it that the book version of I.O.U.S.A. was Amazon's top seller Tuesday night as Obama snagged his victory?
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Interested to see there Dave that for you, human biodiversity doesn’t exist. Of course Summers didn’t say that women’s brains are smaller or even that they are less intelligent than men. Rather, he simply said that the science (rather than your multi-culti feel-good belief) currently indicating clearly differing interests between the sexes and in particular the math-oriented nature of males as a group, deserved further study. With comments like yours it’s no wonder that unfettered scientific inquiry is subjugated to political correctness.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 11:30 am
But that’s not to say that I disagree with the overall theme of your post. In fact, I do agree that these folks would be poor choices and that Obama is showing extremely poor judgment.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Larry Summers. Oh God.
Larry “You a**hole!” Summers was my hubby’s roomate at MIT in Summer’s freshman year.
Larry has a positive genius for making perfectly true but emotionally offensive scientific statements (see above) in the most grating and controversial manner possible. He has the diplomatic skills of a blind rhinocerous. And this is after we, his classmates at MIT, SOCIALIZED him as well as we could (and the dorm social system at MIT is well-equipped to deal with that sort of personality.) In his senior year, it was actually possible to cccasionally have a civil conversation with him. This was not true when he arrived.
Open letter to Barack Obama: If you hire Larry Summers, keep him chained in an office and slide pizzas under the door occasionally. Brilliant ideas will sometimes come out from under the door, as will crackpot ideas. Have someone practical and diplomatic vet the ideas before discussing. Do not, under any circumstances, let Larry speak in public.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
buwahahahaha I can’t believe that you all are worried about minutia of the capitalistic system when their is a major paradigm shift going on. You guys are fiddling on the titanic, maybe rearranging the deck chairs. Capitalism is finished in the USA. Redistributive justice and socialism are in vogue now. Of course I’m through with this now. Time to get in line and get my check.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
Where is that line for the checks?
Hey just going with the “new majority” on this.
“gowen with the flow” I may just hang that on my front door along side the current signage which is the definition of “no soliciting”.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
buwah ah ah ah - the sound a sheep makes.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
About the line for checks:
In Indianapolis, Obama’s campaign workers were carrying on because when they showed up for their checks for canvassing–there were no checks! At least not right away. Not a happy crowd.
Bread and circuses here we come
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
C’mon, it’ll be fun. It will be cozy. we can get the whole family into a tent, eat what we kill - it should be a nice bonding experience.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
Double bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! I’ve already started “getting my checks” (Social Insecurity, that is). You don’t think I’m gon’na wait for you Baby Boomers to suck the ‘big gov’t boob’ dry, do ya? Nope. I’m get’in my ‘entitlement’ and sticking into gold silver and oil just like the Mogambo Guru recommends (and maybe some beans bullets and band-aids, too - just in case, ya know?)
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
Come on you guts, obviously the majority of people in this country are just fine with the cabinet choices of the president and president elect. It’s not as if RON PAUL hasn’t made his candidacy and beliefs readily accessible. Maybe, just maybe, everyone else is right, maybe we’re not going over a cliff. We are not financial lemmings! Right? Remember, these are well worn financial paths being proposed, certainly they must lead somewhere.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
Alonso, historically these paths have led to hyper-inflation and bankruptcy. A majority of the people were in favor of going to war in Iraq also and look how that turned out. Mr. Obama ran on a platform of change, but these people are more of the same, but change is coming in a big hurry, just not the change we, or Mr.Obama want. I pray for his success, the U.S. could use some of that Old Black Magic about now.
Comment on November 6, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
Democrat CFR Candidates:
Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John Edwards
Chris Dodd
Bill Richardson
Republican CFR Candidates:
Mitt Romney
Rudy Giuliani
John McCain
Fred Thompson
The only “change” will come when enough people trade their FN Notes for gold and silver and bankrupt the NY/London banks. Come on December futures failure on COMEX!
Comment on November 7, 2008 @ 2:55 am
[...] dealt with Larry Summers yesterday. Then there's one of Bush 43's SEC chairmen, William Donaldson. He [...]
Pingback on November 7, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Little remarked upon is the fact that Obama’s first hire, Rahm Emmanual, is part of the criminal banking class himself.
He parlayed his job as Clinton bag-man into an “investment banking” job that earned him a reputed $18 million in 3 years. This with a degree in communications from Sarah Lawrence and not one shred of background in banking.
Those Clintonistas really knew how to feather their nests.
I for one am VERY happy that the Democrats are in the drivers seat as the bus goes over the cliff!
Comment on November 7, 2008 @ 11:49 am
I have just completed the finishing touches on my bunker (I kid you not) well hidden up in “the hills,” well stocked to survive long enough to wait out the “great starvation” of millions of people. Look folks, it doesn’t matter one bit what Obama does. We are freaking doomed. When the financial system finally and completely collapses, the division of labor will cease to exist. The division of labor is what makes, for example, a gallon of milk show up on the shelf at the grocery store. Think of how many links in the chain there are for that gallon of milk to get there for purchase. We will be lucky to keep the power grid going if only for a couple hours each day. People in the cities will see complete social breakdown (Mad Max here we come) but a country boy can survive.
Comment on November 7, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
I think Obama will be completely able to deliver on all his promises ! And since his only promise was “Change” this will be easy, because from the dawn of time until today there has never been one day that was exactly like the day before, and there has never been one year that was exactly like the year before, etc. So, by this logic Obama will be able to deliver on all his promises. The “Change” may completely SUCK for everybody but that wasn’t specified.
Comment on November 7, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
[...] regulating derivatives (one of the reasons we’re in the mess we’re in). He also lobbied to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 via the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act [...]
Pingback on November 13, 2008 @ 2:22 am
[...] the rest of his economic team in Chicago at Noon EST today. Looks as if Geithner's mentor Larry Summers will head up the National Economic Council (a position that won't subject him to potentially [...]
Pingback on November 24, 2008 @ 9:50 am