Today, some of us, myself included, have tolerated the disturbing policy response so far in the hopes that this was a necessary step for achieving a long-term solution. But as a recent WSJ article “Loopholes Lurk in Bank Bill” highlights the red flags all over proposed legislation, there does not seem to be any substantial source of opposition to banking interests in Washington. While certain individuals are fighting tirelessly, this is the exception rather than the rule.
In a recent Bloomberg opinion column “Cowboy Banks Get Big Bucks as Indians Get Little“ from Ann Woolner
Over here you have the bazillions of U.S. bucks doled out to Wall Street’s cowboys for reckless conduct that wrecked the world’s economy.Over there you have a $3.4 billion federal settlement with people from whom the U.S. had been essentially stealing for more than 100 years.
To seek what was owed them, American Indians spent 13 years in court where judge after judge decried the government’s gross mismanagement of their funds and “mendacity” in litigation.
And yet it took that long for the Justice Department to step up to the plate and agree to pay more than a pittance.
If the Indians had been AIG, the $3.4 billion settlement announced this week would have been many times larger. The real AIG — insurance giant American International Group Inc. — sopped up $180 billion in government aid after helping to create the economic havoc felt around the world.
The Indians sought no bailout, no handout when they filed suit in 1996 to claim royalties due them for oil, gas, timber, mining and grazing rights to lands allotted them under an 1887 agreement with the federal government.
I would just like to take a moment to look back to our seventh President of the US, Andrew Jackson. While he may have been a son of a gun, we knew what we were getting. He was a fierce opponent of the bankers and fought to take them down. He stood up for those he swore to serve (so just the whites) and although he did a terrible job once he defeated the Second Bank of the US, at least he never backed down and got the job done.
While Andrew Jackson was a Native-American slaughtering racist, EVEN HE REFUSED to bow down before the banks. Nowadays, our political leaders continue to treat American Indians like dirt, AND NOW they don’t even have the courage to stand up to powerful interests. JUST FANTASTIC!
I would argue Andrew Jackson was a product of his time to a certain degree, the biggotry, prejudice etc, but if our current leaders are also a product of their era, what adjectives come to mind?
I probably shouldn’t go there!
Here’s an interesting Andrew Jackson quote:
I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the Bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin!
You are a den of vipers and thieves. I have determined to rout you out and, by the Eternal, I will rout you out.
Beyond Economics 