jollyroger's picture

    Schumer: "Leave the bankies alooone...."

    Who will stand up for the vampire squid?  Who will speak for the scumsuckers who prey upon the life of the people?  Who could possibly defend the corrupt, thieving, rapacious parasites who brought the economy of the nation to its knees?

    Fighting to free the investment banks from the (pitifully small) constraints that is Dodd-Frank, a hero emerges from among the hundred senators....It's Banksterman, and his sidekick Kristen G.

    "You punish the banks, you punish us all..."

    Abetted by the New York Observer (the hipster's NY Times...) Schumer and Gillebrand show that they are, truly, the senators from  Wall Street.

    As the surviving masters of the universe, gorged on the remains of the shattered financial system, pumped now even too bigger to fail, rally their minions to "win the future", their heralds have the bald faced effrontery to tell the peasantry that unless we enable the further financialization of our already hollowed economy, the flow of crumbs from the patrician table will tail off.

    This, then, is what we are up against.

    When the organs of the plutocracy find themselves so unconstrained by even the slightest bounds of discourse, freely waving the bloody shirt of New York City brought to its knees by "overregulation of the banks", is it any wonder that elections yield us such chimerical relief from our oppressors.

    Let us grant them this:  They ain't subtle, they ain't sorry, and they ain't about to surrender.

    They must be crushed, and a stake driven through their dark beating hearts, or we are doomed.

    Class war, y'all.

    Comments

    Well, shiver me timbers, Pirate.  Do you mean (gasp) that they are Democrats?  Can it be?  Nay, nay; a thousand times NAY!


    Stab me and sink me, Star, but this is the world which crumbles about us.  And Schumer, (quiet as it is kept) is our bestest and brightest hope as point man against McConnell on the coming debt ceiling gotterdamerung.  As Smee used to say to me when the "tick-tock" signaled the proximity of the croc, "Cap'n we are well and truly fucked..."


    And those two are tied for "10th most liberal" senator.

    So by my count progressives just need to organize to elect 50 democrats more liberal than Schumer/Gillibrand, and then, MAYBE, we can get some progressive legislation passed.

    EASY PEASY BABY!


    We gotta clone Bernie Sanders, and then do body snatches on all 99 other senators.  Nothing less will suffice.  I will personally insert the pods onto the Senate floor--they are all bound to fall asleep at least once a day while in session...


    Can ya Pod this one first?

    "Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) continued to stress Sunday that disaster relief funds for tornado-ravaged Missouri would have to be offset in the federal budget with cuts elsewhere. 

     The House majority leader added on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that there was a certainly a federal role in helping to rebuild Joplin, Mo., and that Congress would move after getting a request from President Obama. 

    But, he said, the government needs to act in this case like a family who faces an unforeseen expense and has to cut elsewhere.

     “Because families don’t have unlimited money,” Cantor said. “And, really, neither does the federal government.”

    Could Obama ask him from the Oval Office (very politely, of course) to go fuck himself??


    Cantor is afflicted with terminal failure of imagination.  If you gave him a hundred dollar bill, a high def copier and a stack of blank currency stock, he still (apparently) could not figure out how to print money.  What a putz!


    It's fun to dream about a show trial of the 10  wealthiest bankers.

    Won't change anything.of course.Their replacements will do exactly the same.

    Nor will enlarging the target change anything. Up it to the thousand wealthiest bankers and the CEO's of Fortune's  1000s. Forget about a trial. Pardon every victim of Rockefeller's drug laws and that'll provide plenty of space.

    Won't change anything of course.Their replacements will do exactly the same. Even it they are us.

    The only difference between  those 2000 top dogs and us is that ,right now , they're winning.. In their place we'd do the same..

    Those top 2000 are motivated first by greed. And next ,by greed. And after that, greed.

    And us. Same..

    Without exception? No. Maybe there's 20% of that cohort would be willing to sacrifice something if that was the price of improving the lives of the other 99.,999% of us. And among us , probably about the same. 

    But mostly everyone's objective is to maximize their self interest. End of Story.

    Pull up the ladder mate. I'm aboard 

     


     everyone's objective is to maximize their self interest

     

    I could live with that--at least when you are piling up the shekels, you are demonstrating nuimeracy.  What kills me is how people in this country consistently vote in a fashion which proves that they don't know how to count..


    they don't know how to count

    Nor do they know how to use the tools available

    I need your help Jolly, or anyone else can chime in

    If our opponents are made up of the so called moral majority, then let’s use that information.

    If WE the people, would insist that everyone and every Corporation pays a 10%  tithing, not to the church; but to SOCIALSECURITY ADMIINISTRATION; to the cause of caring for the needy..

    Social Security, Medicare, maybe even college tuitions being outright supported by EVERYONE paying the 10%, to do the work that GOD would do. In affect we would be loaning the money to do his work .

    To the religious right; what excuse could they give for not loaning to God? To the unreligious; what excuse could they give to not pay forward a measly 10%.

    We change the dynamic of the discussion;

    No longer can the right say :" the left milks the rich"

    The left could say we want EVERYONE to succeed, because the more each individual and corporation succeeds, the more MONEY IS PUT INTO THE SOCIAL TREASURY, Simply stated, the people would want 10% of a million rather than 10% of a dollar to be put into the Social treasury.

    For we on the left are not envious; but we are encouraging prosperity. "Please make lots and lots of money". As long as you pay your 10% social tithe.  

    We want everyone to become a millionaire ....DUH  

    My question to you is this; would 10% of all wages and earnings serve the Social aspect of our government?  Anyone?

    (The 10% is separate from the taxes taken to support the military or all other aspects of government)

    The 10% Tithe’ sole purpose, is to assure the widow, the fatherless children, our elderly and our most vulnerable are cared for.  If the 10% was sufficient maybe it could be expanded  to include more aspects of the Social needs.

    College to deserving students, so they could make lots and lots of money, so they can contibute to the Social Security treasury    

    !0% is such a miserly amount, leaving the government and the people 90% to do what they wish.

    For pennies on the dollar we show we truly care for one another

    Social programs protected from the whims of Senators, bent on grieving the people, threatening chaos with debt ceiling blackmail.

    Remove from the clutches of the crooked bankers and their senator servants, the Peoples money.

    The Social Security Accounts,  is a separate account set up for the sole purpose of serving the peoples social needs  

    Senators keep your hands off of the people’s money; get your own revenue to pay for your wars and whatever else you want to squander your revenues on.

    Our Social Protection Net will remain our (the peoples) social net. Free from corrupt politicians and bankers.

    Senator you go serve the bankers, we’ve got our own treasury to serve our needs.

    Will that idea empower us?


    would 10% of all wages and earnings serve the Social aspect of our government?

    The short answer, not as framed.  Earnings (earned income) excludes rents, capital gains, interest income, etc.  That exclusion aside, and with no cap (as the present FICA tax imposes) maybe.

    Currently  FICA is closer to 15% counting employer contributions, and medicare at 2% or so, are both seemingly close to but still under the amount necessary to fund the present rather stingy benefit structure.

    That said, if 10% were levied on total income of whatever variety (and I think this is what you were driving at) I suspect the resulting fund would be larger than the current amounts.  Simply removing the cap of FICA would render social security phat.  Adding in unearned income would probably do the trick.


    Thankyou Jolly

    The 10% levied on total income of whatever variety would sure be sweet wouldnt it?

    We wouldnt need the bankers, the people could become self sufficient?.

    Maybe phat enough to challenge them on the home mortgage side of the Social needs?

    No need to go the banker for student loans. Becuse it would come under the Umbrella of the Social Security Act. We would encourage the students to become sucessfull so that they could provide a greater share towards the 10% social treasury, plus the interest paid back on the student loan. 

    Students paying back the Social treasury, and not the government or the bankers.

    Rather than having to pay a bank 5 - 8 % on a home mortgage;  we the people could strenghten the Social Treasury Account even more. 

    it would be the Peoples mutual fund. Not backed by US treasuries but by hard earned cash "of the people, by the people, FOR THE PEOPLE.

    All becuase we collected a 10% tithing from everything and everyone? 

    No more need to go to the crooks in DC or their  banker friends, on bended knee with a  tin cups in hand, begging for them to support Social Security or Medicare.

    Screw em big time.  

    IT'S OUR (10%) MONEY AND WE WANT IT  ......NOW ......TO BE PLACED IN THE PEOPLES SOCIAL TREASURY

    Whose got a problem with that?


     we show we truly care for one another

    Well, that's the rub, is it not?  We can't even get so enlightened a player as our own Flavius to sign up with this program....


    If they were convicted and went to prison, damn straight their replacements wouldn't 'do it'.  And I beg your pardon; there are plenty of people who don't live to maximize their self-interest.  Man, I am glad not to live in your world, flavius.


    I'd wish things were different.



    The change that would actually fix things is to raise marginal rates.See Deficit ,what deficit. Or Who's entitled to a 35% tax rate. Sending 5 bankers to jail will leave a million would- be crooked bankers  greedy human beings ready to fill those positions and their pockets.It doesn't fix anything. It just punishes a couple of random individuals. Tax exhorbitant incomes exhorbitantly and you make a systematic change.

    Maybe it's not true that everybody has his price.But as the potential reward goes up so does the number of people who succumb to temptation. 

    Joe Nocera today says that in 2007 the average compensation of the CEO's of the banks later deemed to  big to fail was.. $26Million.For 26 million you'll roll the dice on an iffier  deal  that you'd  risk if you were taking home $2.6 million.

    Two things are true: the government needs more  revenue and the rich make much more after tax than they used to. Oh , a third thing , and we have more frrequent financial fiascos.

     


    Can't even fathom why you read Nocera; he has become all about not prosecuting bank fraud:

    Yves:

    Aargh, it is frustrating to see how quickly establishment-serving shallow arguments become conventional wisdom. We get a big dose of this line of thinking from the New York Times’ Joe Nocera in an article titled, “Biggest Fish Face Little Risk of Being Caught.”

    Now you can’t disagree with the conclusion: no major banking industry figure is going to be brought to justice. But the explanation he offers is incomplete and misleading, and serves to misdirect the public from more fundamental and more troubling causes.

    Even Gretchen Morgensen is getting on with some of the 'too hard' meme.  It's the law to prosecute crime!


    Can't even fathom why you read Nocera; he has become all about not prosecuting bank fraud:

    Easy . Because after I read him I know more than before I started. I like that And I learn more reading people with whom I disagree.. Today  I leaned that in 2007 the average comp of the CEO's of the Too Big to Fail banks was $26 Million. 

    As to prosecution ,all crimes should be prosecuted but since that  will have little effect on reducing them , practically those expenditures should be limited in favor of spending money  on things that would.

    Like auditing. Or drinking a beer every afternoon at the bar next to the bank's HQ..Prosecuting is backwards looking. I  prefer  preventing  crimes that have not yet occured.

     


    Mmmm...but you do agree with him it seems.  Not looking backward is another thing you have in common with our President.  But why make laws if you won't prosecute lawbreakers?  And we already pay armies of employees in the DoJ, so...   Oh, yeah; they are busy looking backwards to prosecute whistle-blowers.  I forgot. 

    I can't imagine how you think prosecutions, convictions and sentences aren't disincentives to most crime.  To my mind, the lack of prosecutions is incredible incentive/deterrent.


    Certainly valid. I think my view is valid too but I think it's time to move on.


     raise marginal rates

    I like Ike...I never thought I'd be  nostalgic for a Republican .


    The point is to break up the 6 biggest megabanks so that:

    a) when they do what they eventually tend to do, they won't take down everyone and everything else with them.

    b) they don't drive even more of the much smaller community-based banks, the ones who fund the small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs, out of business because they are put at such a competitive disadvantage in borrowing money relative to these megabanks.

    c) they will not have quite such absurd levels of political influence and power--this means the odds of getting Congressional action to reign them in and, as important, avoiding regulatory agency capture--go up.

    During the Gilded Age, I'm sure there were many who despaired of ever being able to break up the Rockefeller and Morgan and other mega-empires.  But that was done.  Unfortunately this kind of thing needs to be done on a cyclical basis in our system, as the temporarily reigned-in entities or individuals eventually will, if they can, find ways to reconcentrate. 

    33 votes in the millionaire Senate club last year to break up the 6 megabanks, with White House opposition, isn't anything to sneeze at.  Obviously there are folks whose overall record is less "liberal" than Schumer who are willing to do the right thing on this, so saying we need to elect 50 Senators more liberal than Shumer does not describe the task. 

    My fear is that it will take one more meltdown to get us to finally see what we need to do--and there will be an enormous amount of avoidable damage that will occur because we haven't figured it out.  Still. 

    If I thought we had to find a majority of saints in each chamber of Congress and in the regulatory agencies, and among big bankers, I'd climb aboard with you, too.     


    "Obviously there are folks whose overall record is less "liberal" than Schumer who are willing to do the right thing on this, so saying we need to elect 50 Senators more liberal than Shumer does not describe the task."

    Granted, it is not an exact measure of the task. But the fact is that the plutocrats own the Democratic party right now. Progressives are very much the junior partners in the coalition with Wall Street, they get listened to only when ... they agree with the bankers. The dems can pass some decent policy on social issues - issues where the rich and the working class share values - but they can't pass any policies that raise taxes on the rich or hurt corporate interests (hence HCR based on regressive taxes and corporate subsidy). They can't pass policy that has well-organized grassroots support and 75% approvals. Saying progressives just need to organize better and elect better reps is misguided, imho. It isn't going to happen without a revolution in how the Dem party is structured and operates and in its dominant political culture. And there is apparently little understanding of how broken the national party is. 

    So, sure, 50 senators left of Schumer does not describe the task. the task is much greater than that.

    Greater, and in a different sense, much easier. Forget about Washington, and focus on State-level action, setting up public financial institutions for small business and infrastructure and regulated mortgage-markets, expanding banking for the poor, prosecuting mortgage related financial fraud, exposing abuses and clamping down on them, implement counter-cyclical fiscal policy. Just like most of Asia learned to do after the '98 crisis, insulate the states from the fallout of Wall Street casino finance. In short, it's impossible to collar the rabid predator that is Wall Street at this point. It is however possible to ... lock them out of the house.


     focus on State-level action, setting up public financial institutions for small business and infrastructure and regulated mortgage-markets,

    One word: Preemption. (ok, several words of explication--when the federal government farts, the state governments must stand up and salute)  The bad regulation drives out the good.


    "But mostly everyone's objective is to maximize their self interest."

    Flavius, you do realize that this is the definition of psychopathy - seeking only to maximize one's self-interest (i.e. lacking empathy, and the ability to feel guilt, shame or remorse). And even psychopaths are aware that others don't work that way.

    In other words, you are a very rare kind of human being - a psychopath who believes everyone else is a psychopath as well.


    Thank you, Obey; I fell through the Looking Glass with that one.


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