On Oct 12, 10:12 am, Daniel Seigler <[email protected]> wrote:
> Date: Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:02:46 -0700
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: Fw: [CCCC-USA] VIDEO: "There has been a financial coup d'etat." --
> Bill Moyers interviews Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Prof. Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan
> School
> To: [email protected]
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Supreme Law Firm <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Sun, October 11, 2009 12:09:40 PM
> Subject: [CCCC-USA] VIDEO: "There has been a financial coup d'etat." -- Bill
> Moyers interviews Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Prof. Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan School
>
> From: Paul Andrew Mitchell <supremelawfirm@ gmail.com>
> Subject: VIDEO: "There has been a financial coup d'etat." -- Bill Moyers
> interviews Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Prof. Simon Johnson, MIT Sloan School
> Date: Sunday, October 11, 2009, 12:00 PM
>
> http://www.pbs. org/moyers/ journal/10092009 /watch.html
>
> October 9, 2009
>
> BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the JOURNAL.
>
> I sat in a theater packed with passionate moviegoers, every one of them
> seemingly aghast at the Wall Street skullduggery exposed by Michael Moore in
> his latest film. It's called 'Capitalism: A Love Story.' Here's an excerpt:
>
> MICHAEL MOORE: We're here to get the money back for the American People. Do
> you think it's too harsh to call what has happened here a coup d'état? A
> financial coup d'état?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: That's, no. Because I think that's what's happened. Um, a
> financial coup d'état?
>
> MICHAEL MOORE: Yeah.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: I could agree with that. I could agree with that. Because the
> people here really aren't in charge. Wall Street is in charge.
>
> BILL MOYERS: That's the progressive Representative from Ohio, Marcy Kaptur,
> she's with me now. She has a Masters from the University of Michigan, did
> graduate study at M.I.T. and still lives in the same house in the Toledo
> working class neighborhood where she grew up.
>
> She's in her 14th term in Congress, the longest-serving Democratic woman in
> the history of the House, and she's an outspoken financial watchdog on three
> important Committees: Appropriations, Budget and Oversight and Government
> Reform.
>
> Also with me is a familiar face to viewers of this broadcast. Simon Johnson
> is the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund. He now
> teaches Global Economics and Management at M.I.T.'s Sloan School of
> Management. He's one of the founders of the website Baselinescenario. com. I
> check it out daily for Simon's take on the economic and financial crisis.
>
> It's been a year since the great collapse and both my guests are well
> equipped to assess what's happened since then. Welcome to you both.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Thank you.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Let's look at this story that I just read from the Associated
> Press this week about how Treasury Secretary Geithner is on the phone several
> times a day with a select group of very powerful Wall Street bankers,
> especially Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs. He will talk to them when
> Members of Congress have to leave a message on the answering machine. And
> these are the bankers who helped bring on this calamity and who are now
> benefiting from it. What does that say to you?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: That says to me that Wall Street and Washington is a circuit.
> And because Mr.Geithner headed the New York Fed that that historic
> relationship, unfortunately, continues. And it gives them special access and
> special power to influence policy.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well, I think it really tells you how the system works. The
> system is based on access and is based on what on Wall Street shaping
> Washington's view of what's important.
>
> It's the people who are very close to Mr. Geithner before when he was the
> head of the New York Fed. Before he became Treasury Secretary. These people
> have unparalleled access. And in a crisis, when everything is up for grabs,
> you don't know what's going on, the people who will take your phone calls,
> right, in government and people who are going to be standing in the oval
> office, making the key decisions. That's the heart of the system. That's the
> heart of how you get your agenda through, by changing their worldview.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: And they also move people. In other words, Mr. Geithner came
> from the New York Fed, he came from Wall Street, and he becomes Secretary of
> the Treasury. His predecessor, Mr. Paulson, came from Goldman Sachs, and he
> becomes Secretary of Treasury. You can go back decades, and you will see that
> there's this revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. And I
> recently asked Chairman Bernanke of the Federal Reserve, 'Let me ask you a
> question. Would you be willing to consider a reform where the Cleveland Fed
> would have equal power to the New York Fed, in terms of how the Fed is run?'
> And his answer was, 'No.'
>
> BILL MOYERS: And why did you ask that question?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Because I think we need to democratize the Fed. I think that my
> region of the country, which is suffering so heavily from these decisions
> that were made by Wall Street and Washington, we need to have voice. And our
> bankers, who didn't do the bad things, our community bankers, who are having
> to pay higher fees shouldn't be treated this way. Why should the people who
> did it right be penalized for those that did it wrong?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Remember Wall Street convinced us that trading derivatives
> without any regulation, that all these kind of crazy housing loans, which are
> very dangerous for consumers. That all of this was sensible. All of this was
> a good way to sustain growth. That was wrong. That wasn't it. That wasn't
> that's not the end of the story. In the crisis, when things got bad, they
> also convinced the key people in Washington that they, the bankers, the big
> bankers, the Wall Street bankers, who are really responsible for all of these
> problems, they should be saved. Not just their banks, but they individually
> and should be saved. Their jobs, their pensions, all their perks. It's an
> extraordinary moment.
>
> BILL MOYERS: You asked on your blog, just this week, a question I want to put
> to you now, and to both of you. You asked, 'Does this crisis reflect
> something about the disproportionate influence of a few incompetent
> investment bankers or a deeper breakdown of capitalism?' ' What's your answer
> to your own question?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well, definitely, this disproportionate influence of some
> fairly incompetent bankers, that's for sure. That's what we're seeing today.
> That's what we've seen over the past few months. I think on the issue on the
> issue of capitalism, we have to take this very seriously. To me, at least,
> the financial part of our capitalism is very seriously broken.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: They persuaded us to allow them to take incredible risks. And
> then they pushed all the downside, all those losses onto us, the taxpayer, at
> the same time as really hammering hard all the people who were duped,
> essentially, into taking out loans. People lost their houses. It's an
> absolute tragedy. This combination cannot go on. And yet, the opportunity for
> real reform has already passed. And there is not going to be not only is
> there not going to be change, but I'll go further. I'll say it's going to be
> worse, what comes out of this, in terms of the financial system, its power,
> and what it can get away with.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Why?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: That's the.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Why is it going to how is it going to be worse?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well, there's four we used to have a dozen or so substantial
> big banks, now we're down to four. Now we're down to four big banks that have
> a lot more market power and a lot more political power. They make the
> campaign contributions. They shape agendas in ways that are that are really
> quite scary. If you look, for example, at derivatives. And the debate on
> whether or not derivatives should be regulated in a sensible manner. And at
> this point, actually, the Obama Administration has is leaning in a better
> direction. But the big financial players are absolutely against any kind of
> sensible regulation. And I think they're going to win.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Let me give you a reality from ground zero in Toledo, Ohio. Our
> foreclosures have gone up 94 percent. A few months ago, I met with our
> realtors. And I said, 'What should I know?' They said, 'Well, first of all,
> you should know the worst companies that are doing this to us.'
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: I said, 'Well, give me the top one.' They said, 'J.P. Morgan
> Chase.' I went back to Washington that night. And one of my colleagues said,
> 'You want to come to dinner?' I said, 'Well, what is it?' He said, 'Well,
> it's a meeting with Jamie Dimon, the head of J.P. Morgan Chase.' I said,
> 'Wow, yes. I really do.' So, I go to this meeting in a fancy hotel, fancy
> dinner, and everyone is complimenting him. I mean, it was just like a love
> fest.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: They finally got to me, and my point to ask a question. I said,
> 'Well, I don't want to speak out of turn here, Mr. Dimon.' I said, 'But your
> company is the largest forecloser in my district. And our Realtors just said
> to me this morning that your people don't return phone calls.' I said, 'We
> can't do work outs.' And he looked at me, he said, 'Do you know that I talk
> to your Governor all the time?' He said, 'Our company employs 10,000 people
> in Ohio.'
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: And I'm thinking, 'What is that? A threat?' And he said, 'I
> speak to the Mayor of Columbus.' I said, 'Why don't you come further north?'
> I said, 'Toledo, Cleveland, where the foreclosures are just skyrocketing. '
> He said, 'Well, we'll have someone call you.' And he gave me a card. And they
> never did. For two weeks, we tried to reach them. And finally, I was on a
> national news show. And I told this story. They called within ten minutes.
> And they said, 'Oh, we'll work with you. We'll try to do some workouts in
> your area.'
>
> We planned the first one after working with them for weeks and weeks and
> weeks. Their people never showed up. And it was a Friday. Our people had
> taken off work. They'd driven from all these locations to come. We kept
> calling J.P. Morgan Chase saying, 'Where's your person? Where's your person?'
> And they finally sent somebody down from Detroit by 3:00 in the afternoon.
> But out people had been waiting all morning and a lot of people that's how
> they treat our people.
>
> BILL MOYERS: You did a remarkable thing on the floor of the House recently.
> And I want to show my audience a clip of a speech in which you urge people to
> break the law.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: So why should any American citizen be kicked out of their homes
> in this cold weather? In Ohio it is going to be 10 or 20 below zero. Don't
> leave your home. Because you know what? When those companies say they have
> your mortgage, unless you have a lawyer that can put his or her finger on
> that mortgage, you don't have that mortgage, and you are going to find they
> can't find the paper up there on Wall Street. So I say to the American
> people, you be squatters in your own homes. Don't you leave. In Ohio and
> Michigan and Indiana and Illinois and all these other places our people are
> being treated like chattel, and this Congress is stymied.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Wow. You are urging them to resist the law when the Sheriff
> shows up to throw them out of their home.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: I'm saying that they deserve justice, too. And that the scales
> of justice in front of the Supreme Court are supposed to be balanced, and
> they're not. And that possession is 90 percent of the law. And that you have
> legal rights, as a home owner. You have a right to legal representation. You
> have a right before the judge to have the mortgage note produced by whomever
> in the system has it. Judge Boyko of Cleveland threw out six cases, because
> when the foreclosures came up, the financial institutions couldn't produce
> the note. Our people deserve their day in court.
>
> BILL MOYERS: What's your explanation as an economist. And a student of this
> financial system as to why the banks are taking so long to help the
> homeowners when Congress has allocated funds for that purpose?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: I'm afraid that it's pretty obvious and it's very tragic. That
> they have no interest in helping the homeowners. They make money with what
> they're doing. Bill, they'll expected a lot of these mortgages they made to
> default, okay? It was in their models. A high default rate. Now, they didn't
> expect house prices to come down so much. That's where they got their losses.
> But they absolutely made these loans expecting they would have to foreclose
> on people. And figuring they would make money on that.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: These are very smart, very profit-oriented people. I can
> assure you, if there was money in it for them. They would be negotiating you
> know, very various kinds of re-schedulings of these loans. They don't want to
> do it. They it's not in their interest. It's not where the money is. Follow
> the money. The money is where Jamie Dimon says it is. Jamie Dimon says, 'You
> ain't seen nothing yet,' in terms of his lobby in Washington. He's on the
> record as saying, he's this is his big initiative right now.
>
> BILL MOYERS: To?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: To spend more time in Washington, more time cultivating all
> those relationships on Capital Hill and in the executive branch. And you know
> what else Jamie Dimon said to his shareholders? To his shareholders meeting
> this year, he said, with regard to 2008, the year of what we regard as the
> greatest financial crisis, an absolute human tragedy. He said, Jamie Dimon
> said to his shareholders, 'This was perhaps our best year ever.'
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Think about what these banks have done. They have taken very
> imprudent behavior, irresponsible. They have really gambled, all right? And
> in many cases, been involved in fraudulent activity. And then when they lost,
> they shifted their losses to the taxpayer. So, if you look at an
> instrumentality like the F.H.A., the Federal Housing Administration. They
> used to insure one of every 50 mortgages in the country. Now it's one out of
> four.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Because what they're doing is they're taking their mistakes and
> they're dumping them on the taxpayer. So, you and I, and the long term debt
> of our country and our children and grandchildren. It's all at risk because
> of their behavior. We aren't reigning them in. The laws of Congress passed
> last year in terms of housing, were hollow. Were hollow.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Foreclosures in my area have gone up 94 percent. And we know
> the basic rules of economics. Housing leads us to recovery. Housing was the
> precipitating factor in this economic downturn. Unless you dealing with the
> housing sector, you aren't going to have growth in this economy
>
> BILL MOYERS: You're both saying the financial world, the banks in particular,
> are putting their interests above anybody else's interest. And they've got
> the power in the executive branch, and the Congress to back up their demands,
> right?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: This is capitalism, Bill. That's what they're supposed to do.
> They represent their shareholders, they're appointed by the board of
> directors to make money for their shareholders. And the way they think that
> they can best make money is to shape the regulatory rules around housing
> around derivatives, around all everything we used to have that kept the
> financial sector under control. Has all been, you know, washed away, one way
> or another, by their efforts, right? They make money in the boom, that way.
> And when and when bad things happen, they shove all the downside onto the
> taxpayer. That's what they're doing their job.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: It's socialism for the big banks. Because they've basically
> taken their mistakes and they've put it on the taxpayer. That's the
> government. That's socialism. That isn't capitalism.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well people some people call that lemon socialism. So, when it
> turns out to be a lemon, it's you it's yours, the taxpayer. When it turns out
> to be good, it's mine, I'm Wall Street.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Why have we not had the reform that we all knew was being was
> needed and being demanded a year ago?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: I think the opportunity the short term opportunity was missed.
> There was an opportunity that the Obama Administration had. President Obama
> campaigned on a message of change. I voted for him. I supported him. And I
> believed in this message. And I thought that the time for change, for the
> financial sector, was absolutely upon us. This was abundantly apparent by the
> inauguration in January of this year.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: And Rahm Emanuel, the President's Chief of Staff has a saying.
> He's widely known for saying, 'Never let a good crisis go to waste'. Well,
> the crisis is over, Bill. The crisis in the financial sector, not for people
> who own homes, but the crisis for the big banks is substantially over. And it
> was completely wasted. The Administration refused to break the power of the
> big banks, when they had the opportunity, earlier this year. And the
> regulatory reforms they are now pursuing will turn out to be, in my opinion,
> and I do follow this day to day, you know. These reforms will turn out to be
> essentially meaningless.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: When Lincoln ran into trouble, during the Civil War, he got new
> generals. He brought in Grant. I hope that President Obama will bring in some
> new generals on the financial front.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Should Geithner be fired? And Summers be fired?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: I don't think that any individuals who had their hands on
> creating this mess should be in charge of cleaning it up. I honestly don't
> think they're capable of it.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Let me show you an excerpt from the speech President Obama made
> on Wall Street last month, September. Here is the challenge he laid down to
> the bankers.
>
> PRESIDENT OBAMA: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and
> unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated
> only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall
> Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect
> that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.
>
> BILL MOYERS: A reality check. Not one CEO of a Wall Street bank was there to
> hear the President. What do you make of that?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Arrogance. Because they have no fear for the government
> anymore. They have no respect for the President, which I find absolutely
> extraordinary and shocking. All right? And I think they have no not an ounce
> of gratitude to the American people, who saved them, their jobs, and the way
> they run the world.
>
> BILL MOYERS: In the scheme of things, it is the Congress, and the government
> that's supposed to stand up to the powerful, organized interests, for the
> people in Toledo, who can't come to Washington. Who are working or trying to
> keep their homes or trying to pay their health bills. What's happened to our
> government?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Congress has really shut down. I'm disappointed in both
> chambers, because wouldn't you think, with the largest financial crisis in
> American history, in the largest transfer of wealth from the American people
> to the biggest banks in this country, that every committee of Congress would
> be involved in hearings, that this would be on the news, that people would be
> engaged in this. What we're seeing is-- tangential hearings on very arcane
> aspects of financial reform. For example, now we're going to have a consumer
> protection agency to help the poor consumer, who doesn't understand all of
> this, rather than hearings on the fundamental new architecture of reforming
> the American financial system, so that we have prudent lending, capital
> accumulation at the local level again; that we encourage savings and limit
> debt by the American people. Our country needs this. Those aren't the
> hearings that are happening.
>
> If you want a marker at the Federal level of how serious we are to get
> justice out of this financial crisis, look at the F.B.I. Look at the number
> of people who are really prosecuting and investigation mortgage fraud and
> securities fraud. It is so small
>
> I've been one of the Members of Congress trying to increase by ten times the
> agents to get at the justice issues for the American people. For companies
> that have been hurt. For shareholders that have been hurt. Our government
> isn't doing it. That it's very easy to look at the budget of the F.B.I. in
> mortgage fraud and securities fraud and say, 'How serious is the government?'
> And until those numbers increase, we will not begin to get justice.
>
> BILL MOYERS: If we can't get reform out of this calamity, when can we get it
> then, given the realities you have both described?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: That's the worry, Bill, right? And I'm very serious. I'm very
> serious about this. Which is, you know, does it take- we have elements of the
> Great Depression now, in terms of the impact on people, okay? I mean, people
> losing their jobs, their homes, their health insurance.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Even though Wall Street says, 'Well, we're past the crisis now.
> Profits at the banks are up. And Wall Street- and the stock market is
> stirring.'
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: We're out of the financial part of the crisis, we're not out
> of the human part of the crisis.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: And we're not out of the housing crisis. The President ought to
> take these empty units and require his Administration to broker rental
> agreements with families, so they're not kicked out. Property values are
> dropping, all over the country, sometimes by as much as 25 percent. You can
> do a 30 year mortgage, even a 40 year mortgage, where people have a job or
> even unemployment benefits, if they're going to get them for another year.
> Well, my goodness, you can keep them in their home. Empty units do no one any
> good.
>
> Let me tell you what happened in- where I live in Toledo, Ohio. The house
> next to me was foreclosed. And so, I called, the other day, a little plaque
> appeared on the door of this house. And it said, '$500 down, $300 a month
> rent.' I said, 'What is that, a land contract deal? What's going on there?'
> So I called the number. I get a repossession dealer in South Carolina. I
> said, 'Hello sir, what's your name?' 'Johnny,' or something. I said, 'And
> what's your address?' He gave me a P.O. Box number. I said, 'Now listen,' I
> said, 'Your property is bringing down the value of our property because
> you're on our heels.' 'Lady, I get these things from the bank.' And he said,
> 'You know, we try to unload 'em. What are you going to offer me?' This is
> what he's saying to me over the telephone. I don't think a single one of my
> neighbors knows that that home is now in possession of a group in South
> Carolina that could care less about it.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Just to reinforce this point. Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are
> now government agencies. Okay? They not only hold a lot of mortgages that are
> in default or close to default. They're also responsible for enormous amount
> of the new loans- that are being originated anywhere in the country,
> actually. They work for the President. The kinds of proposals that
> Congresswoman Kaptur's put in forth are entirely reasonable. And can be
> implemented by the executive branch, hopefully with Congress on board,
> certainly at the urging of certain members of Congress, obviously. But they
> can do it.
>
> BILL MOYERS: So Simon, go ahead- you were saying- what is it that scares you?
> You're worried?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Another Great Depression. Right? If you don't fix the
> financial system, Bill. If you allow them to have the same attitude. If you-
> if you actually allow them to increase their economic power, their ability to
> take risk, and their belief that they can shove the losses onto the
> government. And that's why they didn't show up to President Obama's speech on
> Wall Street.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Why don't they respect him?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Because they think that the next time they won't even have to
> ask. They'll just be given the bailout that they want.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Right. That's been their history. Their bed is feathered. When
> they messed up during the 1980s, they put their bill through the savings and
> loans crisis on the American people. $140 billion.
>
> BILL MOYERS: And we're still paying that off, by the way. I think the last
> payment will be made in 2013.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Very good. Most people don't even know that.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Well, I covered that.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: But that, you know, it opened the flood gates. They go, 'Oh, we
> can get away with $140 billion?' This time how many trillions have they
> gotten away with? Plus all the deregulatory actions that were taken during
> the 1990s. I remember when they came to the Congress, when Newt Gingrich
> became Speaker of the House. And they came down to the Banking, Finance, and
> Urban Affairs Committee, and they took the name off the door. And they
> changed it to Financial Services. And people began to see that they had money
> in the bank, and they charged them a fee to cash their own check on their own
> money. And then fees went up for everything. And the ordinary consumer found,
> 'Hey, it's not so smart to have a savings account, because it costs me more
> money if I have under $10,000 in the bank, they charge me all this money on
> my own money.' They got exactly what they wanted. And so, then all the abuses
> and the irresponsible and imprudent behavior of the 1990s that led to this,
> nobody did anything. They just kept opening more floodgates to them. And then
> with the removal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, which I-
>
> BILL MOYERS: That was the rule that kept the investment banks from being
> owned by banks, right?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: It's about separating banking and commerce.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Right.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: They said as a country, you know, banks have extraordinary
> power. They have the power to create money. And decide how much that is
> worth. They have extraordinary power. And we used to have capital ratios. We
> need to get back to them. Ten to one. For every dollar in your bank, you can
> lend ten. You know what J.P. Morgan did? A hundred to one. And then with
> derivatives, who knows how much? Glass-Steagall separated banking from
> commerce, so that we didn't have these institutions getting too big, getting
> into too many things. And we just gave them total abandon. And they took it.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well, the final end of the last vestige of Glass-Steagall came
> in just now in August. Unnoted, but I think very significant. Goldman Sachs,
> you remember, was an investment bank, a securities company. Not allowed to be
> a commercial bank; didn't have access to the Federal Reserve and this ability
> to tap into the money supply of the country. Until September of last year,
> when the crisis broke, they were allowed a very short notice to convert to
> being a bank holding company. This was what saved Goldman Sachs in my
> opinion. Also Morgan Stanley. Which meant they could stay in the securities
> business. And they could also have access to the Federal Reserve. In August,
> just now, they converted to what's called a financial holding company. That
> may seem like a technical detail to you, but this means they can borrow from
> the Fed, at essentially zero interest rate now.
>
> They can invest in, I mean, as far as we can see, from the outside, looking
> at their portfolio, anything they want, including, you're going to love this
> one, they just bought some stock, big chunk of stock in a Chinese automotive
> company. Okay? So, that's your money, that's your Federal Reserve, financing
> a highly speculative investment. And if it goes well, they get the upside.
> And if it goes badly, that's another one for us.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Well, and this is what we were talking about earlier, the
> system. I mean, President Clinton's Secretary of Treasury, Robert Rubin helps
> eliminate Glass-Steagall. And then leaves the government and goes to work
> for? Citicorp?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well Rubin's a fascinating character. He ran Goldman Sachs, he
> went into the Clinton White House, then he became Secretary of the Treasury,
> and it was on his watch that, first of all, Glass-Steagall began to really
> seriously crumble, and then it was completely swept away- replaced,
> abolished, really. And then, of course, Rubin goes on after he leaves
> Treasury, to be the senior guru type figure at Citigroup. And Citigroup is
> absolutely epicenter of everything that's gone wrong with our financial
> system.
>
> BILL MOYERS: And wasn't it Robert Rubin the mentor, the guru to both Tim
> Geithner and Larry Summers?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Absolutely. Both Geithner and Summers advanced to senior
> positions in the Treasury under Rubin was instrumental in bringing Larry
> Summers to be President of Harvard, after the Clinton Administration. And
> according to published new report, he was absolutely key person in making
> sure that Tim Geithner first went to a senior job at the IMF, and then became
> President of the New York Fed. And there are unconfirmed reports that Robert
> Rubin was an essential advisor to then candidate Obama in fall of last year,
> with regard to who he should bring on board as the leadership team on the
> economic side.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: And you know, looking at it from the heartland, when I look at
> Wall Street and all their connections into Washington, and I've been at it a
> while now, it's very disheartening to me, because I know they don't care
> about us out there. We're flyover country for them. And they're just out to
> make money.
>
> And I have seen people that I worked with in the Carter White House, who were
> associated what the bond industry of Wall Street, use their access and create
> for themselves a money path that today has led them to head organizations
> like Black Rock, and get private contracts with the Federal Reserve. The over
> $2 trillion, we don't know how much that the Federal Reserve has extended at
> this point.
>
> BILL MOYERS: And Black Rock is?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Black Rock is an institution that has gotten the major contract
> of the Federal Reserve to do the mortgage workouts. And my question is, the
> very people involved in Black Rock, who've gotten these confidential
> contracts with the Federal Reserve, they were involved on Wall Street in
> creating the instruments in the first place. So how do we know that they are
> not covering up their own crime?
>
> BILL MOYERS: So, Simon, what happens now? If we're going to avert a
> depression and the next calamity, what needs to be done?
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Well, I think you have to keep at it, Bill. I mean, that's the
> lesson from previous generations of Americans, who have really confronted
> entrenched power like this. You have to keep at it. And you mustn't be
> satisfied. When the Administration says, 'Okay, we fixed it. Don't worry. We
> did some technical tweaking on capital requirements, for example, in the
> banks.' You have to say, 'No, that's not true. Let's look at what's
> happening, let's follow it through.'
>
> The muckrakers of today are absolutely essential, I think, to really pushing
> these banks. And revealing what they're doing. And by the way, Bill, it's
> going to I think it's going to be a long haul. I think that the economy will
> start to recover. We'll get some jobs back. It's going to be very painful for
> a lot of people. But other people's attention is going to drift. It's a
> three, five, seven, maybe twelve year cycle. But when it comes back, it will
> come back with a vengeance. And it will be even, I think, even more
> devastating, in all likelihood, than what we just saw.
>
> BILL MOYERS: How do we get Congress back? How do we get Congress to do what
> it's supposed to do? Oversight. Real reform. Challenge the powers that be.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: We have to take the money out. We have to get rid of the
> constant fundraising that happens inside the Congress. Before political
> parties used to raise money; now individual members are raising money through
> the DCCC and the RCCC. It is absolutely corrupt. It's good people.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Those are the fundraising groups both parties-
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Parties.
>
> BILL MOYERS: In the Congress.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: And then people wonder, 'Well, why doesn't Congress get along?'
> Because they are made into arch enemies by the type of fundraising system
> that is embedded in the very guts of the institution. So, you've got to clean
> that out. But meanwhile, we need to get hired over at the justice department,
> 1,000 agents, in mortgage fraud and in securities fraud. Then, I pray, that
> the leadership of both chambers will do the kind of robust hearings that the
> nation deserves to rout out those who did wrong and to change the fundamental
> financial architecture of this country. And then the President needs to get
> his top housing advisors in the room with him. And they need to meet all
> weekend. And they need to get their arms around this housing market, in order
> to stem the rising foreclosures. We haven't stopped the bleeding out there.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Does President Obama get it?
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: I don't think President Obama has the right people around him.
> The poor man inherited a total mess, globally and domestically. I think some
> of the people that he trusted haven't delivered. I urge him to get new
> generals. It's time.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Louis the Fourteenth of France, a very powerful monarch, was
> famous for having many bad things, you know, happen under his rule. And
> people would always say, 'If only Louis the Fourteenth knew. I'm sure he
> doesn't know. If we could just tell him, he'd sort it out.' You know. I'm
> skeptical.
>
> BILL MOYERS: Simon Johnson, Congresswoman Kaptur, thank you both very much
> for this interesting discussion.
>
> MARCY KAPTUR: Thank you.
>
> SIMON JOHNSON: Thank you.
>
> __._,_.___
> Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic
> Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Calendar
> What is The Answer To The Greatest
> Question?http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097871461X?ie=UTF8&seller=A1AVPSERX4...
>
> Click here to find out about Answer To The Greatest
> Question:http://reasonmustprevail.org/
> orhttp://1smartest.net/
>
> Visit the ultimate resource for defending liberty
>
> CLICK HERE:http://targetfreedom.typepad.com:80/
>
> 1. Links to liberty defending organizations
> 2. Links to liberty defending web pages
> 3. Links to A MASSIVE assortment of liberty defending videos
> 4. A stream lined system for contacting legislators with suggested letters
> 5. Links to liberty defending egroups
> 6. Links to magazines, literature and other materials
>
> Are you looking for a book about defending liberty?
> Many rare and out of print books are still available.
> Look here:http://www.amazon.com/shops/jperna12
>
> Then look here:http://astore.amazon.com/targetfreedom-20
>
> Then look here:http://www.shopjbs.org/magento/
>
> MARKETPLACE
>
> Mom Power: Discover the community of moms doing more for their families, for
> the world and for each other
>
> Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
> Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to
> Traditional
> Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
>
> Recent Activity
> Visit Your Group
>
> Yahoo! News
> Get it all here
>
> Breaking news to
>
> entertainment news
>
> Drive Traffic
> Sponsored Search
>
> can help increase
>
> your site traffic.
>
> Yahoo! Groups
> Mom Power
>
> Find wholesome recipes
>
> and more. Go Moms Go!
>
> .
>
> __,_._,___
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM
> protection.http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
