We must give Obama credit for brazenly stating that the Federal Government cannot manage the banking system and must, instead, be managed by the banks. Here are his own words from a speech delivered today:
we believe that preemptive government takeovers are likely to end up costing taxpayers even more in the end, and because it is more likely to undermine than to create confidence. Governments should practice the same principle as doctors: first do no harm. So rest assured – we will do whatever is necessary to get credit flowing again, but we will do so in ways that minimize risks to taxpayers and to the broader economy. To that end, in addition to the program to provide capital to the banks, we have launched a plan that will pair government resources with private investment in order to clear away the old loans and securities – the so-called toxic assets – that are also preventing our banks from lending money.
Geithner and Summers told Obama that the fraudsters and grifters running the banks inspire “confidence” in the markets, and that nationalizing these institutions and firing their managers would create “risks to taxpayers.” Got that? Keeping the managers who wrecked our financial system in power is low-risk!
The Hippocratic oath reference (First do no harm) applies directly to the CEOs of the banks, because Obama is insisting on protecting their jobs and bonuses. It certainly does not apply to ordinary American citizens who are being foreclosed, fined, feed, and otherwise squeezed by bankers desperate to avoid collapse of their insolvent institutions.
This is the unadulterated bull$hit that passes for economic policy in the Obama administration, a government so completely dominated by Wall Street cronies that it can’t even INVESTIGATE the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression. Obama’s economic team has persuaded him that his administration can’t run the top five US banks better than the clowns who rendered them insolvent. This is a deliberate decision to reinforce failure, and it stinks of legalized corruption through a network of influence.
Capitulation complete; surrender accomplished. The banks are running America, and Obama is now their top PR man.