"Never before have so few with so much promised to take away so much from so many and then laugh their asses off as the so many with so little vote for the so few with so much." A James Pence Quote
"American Politics, a sport for the rich and enslavement for the rest of us." A James Pence Quote
Hillbilly recently did a video series on "Who do you believe", Bernie Sanders or Mitch McConnell. In it Sen. Sanders spelled out the huge problems with fraud, waste, and downright criminal activitiy in the healthcare industry that has helped push prices so high. And of course in it Mitch McConnell continually claims we have the "best healthcare system in the world" because himself and his rich buddies get to pick the American taxpayer and consumer clean.
Well, Bernie Sanders is at it again, and this time he is looking at the banking industry, who despite crashing our economy last year are now back to once again posting record profits. How could that be possible?? Because the very people who are slamming a stimulus for working Americans threw away billions to bail out the banking industry last year. Despite the fact that the American taxpayer, us now own these companies they are laughing in our faces all the way to the bank. Quite literally.
An Op-Ed today by Sen. Sanders not only shows the outrage and frustration we should all feel, but calls the bankers on their "Heads we win, tails everybody else loses" mentality. Read the whole Op-Ed here:
We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans continue to lose their jobs, homes, life savings and their ability to send their kids to college. Yet now that their losing streak may be ending, the gambling addicts on Wall Street, who precipitated the largest taxpayer bailout in history, are celebrating.
Goldman Sachs, which received a major bailout from American taxpayers, just made the largest quarterly profit in its 140-year history and is on track to pay out huge bonuses to top executives and other employees. This is the same company that gave CEO Lloyd Blankfein more than $68 million in total compensation for his work - the largest ever for a Wall Street executive - just before Wall Street collapsed.
This is simply not acceptable. The executives at Goldman, American International Group and other large financial institutions should not be receiving bonuses. They should be fired. These firms need new leadership, more concerned about investing in the productive economy to the benefit of all Americans than about maximizing short-term profits.
We must make it crystal clear to Wall Street that the era of excessive speculation is over. We must end the cycle of record-breaking profits and record-breaking bonuses when times (for them) are good and record-breaking corporate welfare checks when the bubble bursts. The "heads, bankers win; tails, everyone else loses" system must end.
After all, Goldman and other firms on Wall Street are still indebted to the American taxpayer. Trillions of taxpayer dollars have been loaned to them with the goal of increasing lending to businesses and American consumers. Instead, bank lending is in free-fall, and Wall Street firms are busy spending their money speculating on oil prices and taking on other risky bets that end up hurting, not helping, the American people.
Think of all of the productive short- and long-term investments that could be made in our country right now if Wall Street used the money it has received from the federal government wisely. Instead of casino-style speculation, Wall Street could invest in high-speed trains; fuel-efficient cars; wind turbines and other alternative energy sources; affordable housing; affordable prescription drugs that save people's lives; and other things that America desperately needs. Think of all of the small businesses that could be creating decent-paying jobs with just a fraction of the money big banks have received from the federal government.
Instead, Wall Street would like to make money speculating that oil prices will go higher, or that the subprime mortgage market will continue to get worse, or on the weather or on whatever else their computer models tell them will make them a quick buck. The message from Washington must be clear: The current investment model for Wall Street is unacceptable. Financial reform in Washington by the president and Congress must demand a fundamental change, so these investments help all of our people.
Now, Goldman has the chutzpah to think it can get away with paying record-breaking bonuses. Why? Because it made a boatload of money on unproductive investments and paid back $10 billion it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which came with restrictions on executive compensation and bonuses.
But wait just a second. How do we know whether Goldman and others also received billions more from the Federal Reserve, with no strings attached, right after they paid back their TARP funds? We don't. As a matter of fact, we don't know the names of virtually any of the big banks that got more than $2.2 trillion in taxpayer assistance from the Fed, because Chairman Ben Bernanke won't tell us. He's more interested in protecting bankers than taxpayers. That is wrong. The Federal Reserve has got to understand that this money does not belong to it; the money belongs to the American people.
Most important, we need to create a new Wall Street that exists not to reward CEOs and investors for the bets they make on exotic financial instruments nobody understands. Rather, we need a Wall Street that provides financial services to small businesses and manufacturers to create decent-paying jobs and grow the economy by productive means.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
This begs the question. With all the outrage over a stimulus for all Americans and small businesses, where are the Republicans and their "Tea Parties" over the bankers fleecing the American treasury, taxpayer, and their consumers?? It was a Republican bailout of bankers that they really don't seem to mind much. Why?? Because as always with Republicans they could care less about wasteful spending and fraud as long as all the money is horded to the greediest and least patriotic among us. Give just a little money to hard-working Americans though, instant "tea parties"!!
And what about these Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who constantly tout their "concern" for small business?? Where is all the outrage that hundreds of billions of dollars were given to the bankers who crashed our economy to revive it by lending to working Americans and small business but instead are hording the money and are back to business as usual doling out huge bonuses to executives that should instead be fired for their roles in crashing the economy??
Remember Americans, WE OWN THESE COMPANIES!! When left to their own devices by the Bush Administration and the former Republican Congress these folks not only crashed their own companies into a ditch, but used the same policies of greed and idiocy they now are deploying with OUR money to crash the whole American economy off a cliff.
Without the actions of the greed-meisters who thusfar are the only ones to benefit from our crashed economy nobody would be having to rail against President Obama for trying to clean up the mess created by these folks and their Republicans enablers. Where is thier outrage that these folks were given hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to revive our economy and instead do what they do best, stick it in their own pockets and stick it to hard-working Americans everwhere??
We should all be frustrated about our economy. However, we should all vent our frustrations on the folks who really crashed our economy, not President Obama and the Democrats who are desperately trying to clean up a huge mess. Without the greed, idiocy and scorn for everyday Americans shown by the Republicans and their allies in the banking industry we would not have had a problem to begin with.
That is the truth Republicans and the voters that enabled them will give any amount of money to insure you forget.
See Bernie Sanders dressing down the healthcare industry here:
