Financial Industry Executives Not Feeling the President's Love

My comments on a NY Times article, "Irked, Wall St. Hedges Its Bet on Democrats":

"Republicans are rushing to capitalize on what they call Wall Street’s 'buyer’s remorse' with the Democrats. And industry executives and lobbyists are warning Democrats that if Mr. Obama keeps attacking Wall Street 'fat cats,' they may fight back by withholding their cash."

Of course Republicans are capitalizing on industry executives remorse. That's what they do best: run the economy into the ground -- this time by irresponsibly borrowing money to offset the cost of deficit inducing tax cuts, wars, and Medicare inflation (Part D) -- then blame Democrats for the debt. The banking crisis, too, was induced by Republican recklessness -- it was they who lobbied hard for the rollback of Glass-Steagall, and one of their own who brought us unregulated derivatives via a dead of the night, two days before Christmas amendment to an appropriations bill that had nothing to with derivative regulation (right upstanding, that was, Sen. Gramm.).

Now, after financial industry executives, in collusion with a corrupt Republican party, bring the country to it's knees, they have the unmitigated gall to complain they are not receiving due deference from the President? I think withholding their contributions to the President and funneling them to Republicans might be the best thing they could do to reelect this President. Make sure those contributions are plucked from taxpayer bailout money, too. Thanks, again, oh captains of industry. Wow.

Trade War vs. Culture War

A comment on Senator Fritz Hollings article in the Huffington Post, "Can we sustain?":

Bravo, Senator Hollings. I wish the President would impose that 10% tariff as Nixon did.

But with a feckless and cowardly Democratic Congress failing every time to get his back, I think there's little chance the President will succeed with any intelligent measures to combat the relentless offshoring of our prosperity and economic future. Too many greed-motivated bankers, and their Republican toadies, stand to benefit from it. Ever since President Reagan ran up record deficits and began the sell off of manufacturing jobs, we've been on this path toward impoverishment of the middle class, and concentration of wealth.

And still Republicans manage to align voters in their favor with division and distraction, while picking the pockets of wage earners and handing the ill-gotten gains over to the capitalized rich (as tax cuts). Middle class and poor Republican voters are being done to, but good, and Democrats still can't figure out how to tell that story. Trade wars just can't compete with culture wars in the minds of an intellectually lazy and ill-informed electorate.