Elizabeth Warren is flying solo

[redandguilty]

Running hearings on her own in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zD7zM9K0X4c#!

Mostly over my head, I don't know the details, but it sounds like it sound be covered more than it is. Here are a couple quotes:

"So you have made a decision to protect the banks, but not a decision to tell the families who were illegally foreclosed against?"

"So, I just want to make sure I get this straight. Families get pennies on the dollar in this settlement for having been victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks' activities, you let the banks, and you now know of individual cases where the banks violated the law and you're not going to tell the homeowners, or at least it's not clear yet whether or not you're going to do that?"

Just in case it isn't clear, she's not grilling bankers, she grilling our bank regulators. And it looks like she's alone and the biggest news outlets mostly don't want to touch it.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Running hearings on her own in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zD7zM9K0X4c#!

Mostly over my head, I don't know the details, but it sounds like it sound be covered more than it is. Here are a couple quotes:

"So you have made a decision to protect the banks, but not a decision to tell the families who were illegally foreclosed against?"

"So, I just want to make sure I get this straight. Families get pennies on the dollar in this settlement for having been victims of illegal activities or mistakes in the banks' activities, you let the banks, and you now know of individual cases where the banks violated the law and you're not going to tell the homeowners, or at least it's not clear yet whether or not you're going to do that?"

Just in case it isn't clear, she's not grilling bankers, she grilling our bank regulators. And it looks like she's alone and the biggest news outlets mostly don't want to touch it.

My Congressman, Brad Sherman Democrat from the San Fernando Valley in the City of Los Angeles, said one day on the radio of that insidious concoction of Bush and Pelosi known as the TARP, after voting against it twice "I only wish I had gotten a third chance to vote against it."

I was sold, anyway.

 

[Michchamp]

Neil Barofsky's recent book "Bailout" supposedly makes it pretty clear what a charade the whole thing has been. by "thing" i mean the crash, the blame for the crash, the bailout, and the oversight of the finance industry, specifically the mortgage industry, both pre-and post bailout.

I bought it, but haven't started reading it yet.

the "regulators" job is to basically do nothing, enforce nothing, etc., but occasionally target some small fry or focus on sideshow issues simply to give congress the fig-leaf they need to say to voters "we're doing something" while not actually "doing something."

and if you are good enough at this charade, you will be rewarded with a high-paying job in one of the banks' compliance departments, or if you have a JD, at one of their law firms, like Covington, or Davis Polk.

 

[Michchamp]

...

Just in case it isn't clear, she's not grilling bankers, she grilling our bank regulators. And it looks like she's alone and the biggest news outlets mostly don't want to touch it.

it's amazing she was elected, no? there is some hope...

only in a state like massachusetts I think, where you have enough intelligent AND wealthy people to finance a campaign like hers and ensure that the smear jobs that every reform candidate would be hit with by industry lobbyists won't stick. Vermont is one other.

Wisconsin was also another progressive place, until the Koch Bros., and others dumped enough money in it to skew the political results.

wouldn't happen just across the border from MA in NY... as that's ground zero for the finance industry. Maybe in Connecticut if it wasn't for Lieberman's clout.

 

[redandguilty]

Neil Barofsky's recent book "Bailout" supposedly makes it pretty clear what a charade the whole thing has been. by "thing" i mean the crash, the blame for the crash, the bailout, and the oversight of the finance industry, specifically the mortgage industry, both pre-and post bailout.

I bought it, but haven't started reading it yet.

the "regulators" job is to basically do nothing, enforce nothing, etc., but occasionally target some small fry or focus on sideshow issues simply to give congress the fig-leaf they need to say to voters "we're doing something" while not actually "doing something."

and if you are good enough at this charade, you will be rewarded with a high-paying job in one of the banks' compliance departments, or if you have a JD, at one of their law firms, like Covington, or Davis Polk.

That book should make a good "how to" guide at OSU's business school...

CRAP! I forgot my own reference! It's a book, I think MC's read it, author was on the daily show...probably Matt Taibbi except I thought it was written by a former business guy...stupid memory

 

[Michchamp]

the book you're thinking of is "Liar's Poker" by Michael Lewis. he worked at the former Salomon Brothers in the 80's, and wrote the book based on his experiences. he thought it would be a cautionary tale, inspiring society in general and regulators in particular, to take a long look at whether the finance industry was a wise use of capital and whether some of the things they were doing did more harm than good.

yet... it merely excited people (he used "ohio state" as a symbol of the average american college kid) and made them want to go chase bonuses on Wall Street.

 

[Michchamp]

Lewis later wrote a couple books on the '07 - '08 crash; that's why he went on the Daily Show. I read one of those (The Big Short).

all fascinating stuff.

I know I used the word "revealing" in another post already but society's response to his books is also revealing... the "sharks" read the books and think "WOW, I want to go cheat the system and make bank too!" a few intellectuals and their ilk read them and shake their heads, wishing they didn't have to be part of the human race (and could live peacefully and safely away from the feeding frenzies). The vast majority don't read them, couldn't make sense of what was going on anyways, and regardless, don't care, and don't think it's worth the effort... feeder fish for the sharks

 

[redandguilty]

It would be nice if the dems would try to paint themselves as champions of free markets. Instead of letting regulation get attacked as socialism, pitch the necessity of property rights and regulations to create free market capitalism.

 

[Michchamp]

It would be nice if the dems would try to paint themselves as champions of free markets. Instead of letting regulation get attacked as socialism, pitch the necessity of property rights and regulations to create free market capitalism.

they can try that... and I've seen some try. "they" being the handful of Democrats that aren't completely for sale, and various other commentators and officials... but ABC, NBC, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, The Tribune, The NYT, etc. will simply not cover it. or if they do cover it, will slant it in such a way that it won't matter, because the average American isn't going to hear it, and will continue to buy into the idea that these regulations are destroying competition and market integrity rather than the truth, that they are preserving it.

that's how they covered the first hearing she held.

it's not a matter of "painting" anything though... it's the truth!