Inspire Political Discourse

Break up the big banks?

Economist, Paul Krugman:

Clearly, there was a massive increase in financial concentration, with a few true behemoths emerging. It’s easy to argue that this creates moral hazard, because the giant firms know that they’re too big to fail – which is also an easy slogan to remember. The idea that size is the problem has gained a lot of credibility from Paul Volcker, who personally embodies the truth of too big to fail (if you’ve ever met him); more seriously, Volcker has argued strongly that the repeal of Glass-Steagall, allowing financial firms to grow big in part by merging conventional banking with investment activities, set the stage for the crisis.

My view is that I’d love to see those financial giants broken up, if only for political reasons: it’s bad to have banks so big they can often write laws. But I’m not sold on the centrality of too big to fail to the crisis, for reasons best explained in terms of the second doctrine.

Economist, Simon Johnson:

There is no social value to having banks above $100 billion in total assets and we all now understand the danger of allowing banks to become 10 times that size – let alone entering the $2-$3 trillion range; we will gradually and responsibly force our biggest banks to become smaller.  This worked for Standard Oil – no one can claim it hurt the oil industry.  And who would really want to go back to having AT&T run a monopoly in any part of telecommunications?

IPD Political News Summary: Monday, April 13, 2009

Political News Summary: Friday, April 10 – Sunday, April 12, 2009

| The hostage crisis near the Somali coast was resolved on Sunday, when Navy Seals engaged in a brief firefight with the pirates, killing 3  of them, and wounding one. The hostage, Captain Richard Phillips, has been rescued, and is not injured. Thanks to President Obama who managed the crisis, and to the Navy Seals who accomplished it. It is so nice to have an adult once again in charge.  AP article:

[Unlike Bush] “Obama didn't go before the cameras Sunday to trumpet the success, instead releasing a written statement that saluted the bravery of the military and Phillips but claimed no credit for himself.”

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| The “teabagging” insanity continues, generating massive sales in related merchandise, and demagoguery: Tea Party Insanity: "Burn The Books!" (VIDEO)

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| Mayor Bloomberg will seek re-election to a third term this fall by running as a Republican.

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| First she was for it, then she was against it. Last Tuesday, Texas lawmaker, State Rep. Betty Brown (R), set herself up for an enormous amount of criticism when she said that Asian-Americans should change their names because they’re too hard to pronounce:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” source

She was called upon to apologize or to resign, and up until a couple of days ago, she resisted either course of action, . Her spokesman suggested that Democrats “want this to just be about race.”. Ahem.
Brown finally issued an apology, saying that “the remark came during a conversation on the difficulty of translating names and that she was referring to transliteration issues when she asked a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans whether Asian-Americans could adopt names that "we could deal with more readily here."”

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| Certain news organizations have intentionally mischaracterized President Obama’s stance on supplemental spending bills having to do with the Iraq War, claiming that his war funding request is the same type of supplemental war spending that he [Obama] opposed during the Bush administration. In point of fact, in 2007, when Obama opposed those spending bills, he made the statement then that he opposed them because they contained NO timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. source
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| John McCain’s former economic adviser, and ex-CBO director, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, flipped re his stance on the Bush tax cuts. Throughout the presidential campaign, not only was Eakin very vocally in favor of McCain’s plan to retain the Bush tax cuts, he wanted to double these cuts for the very wealthy. He has now said that he believes the tax cuts should be allowed to expire in 2010 for fear of a fiscal meltdown, and rising deficits. Said Holtz-Eakin:

"If you ask: 'Who pays the taxes?', it's the first step toward not having the answer be: 'Our kids.”

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| MEDIA MATTERS log, April 13 - April 19, 2009

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Will the Obama Administration Call for Nationalization of Bailed-Out Banks?

:: Over the past few days, there has been a lot of noise bandied about re nationalization of the banks. One entity has been noticeably silent, however. From TPM:

Late Update: Writing about an hour ago, Krugman provides some key context on what's actually happening here and what it means. These banks are already insolvent. They've been able to stay afloat because the markets have believed that the federal government has implicitly guaranteed their obligations. "What's happening now is a growing sense that the federal government, in return for rescuing these institutions, will demand the same thing a private-sector white knight would have demanded -- namely, ownership."

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Political News Summary: Monday, January 26, 2009

:: Geithner confirmed as Treasury Secretary. From HUFFPOST:

WASHINGTON — The Senate has confirmed New York Fed chief Timothy Geithner to be President Barack Obama's secretary of the treasury.
The 60-34 vote puts Geithner at the helm of Obama's plan to rescue the economy from the worst financial crisis in three generations.
Obama and others supporting Geithner's nomination said the nation couldn't afford to wait for Obama to search for another nominee to run the Treasury Department.

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:: The US to engage in diplomacy with Iran. From HUFFPOST:

United Nations — President Barack Obama's administration will engage in "direct diplomacy" with Iran, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. But U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice warned that Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.

AP photo.
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Take it to the People

Never mind the damn Republican obstructers, and the Blue Dog Democrats. Screw 'em. They wish to play politics when this country is in deeply serious trouble, tell 'em to take their balls and go home, because they aren't working for the people who not only voted them in to office, but pay their freaking salaries!.Take it to the people, Obama!

That really is all you need to do.

UPDATE - Jan. 26 - One of the "eggers-on" of the obstructionists, Bill Kristol, seemingly lost his position as a columnist at the NYT. For further info, read Jason Linkins on the HuffPost, and to view Kristol's last, pathetic lying column, click here. So long, Billy, we will not miss ya. In my collage below, Kristol is Old Neocon No.3.

UPDATE - Jan. 26 - Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman weighs in. Bolding is mine. From the Int. Herald Tribune (NYT global):

As the debate over President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan gets under way, one thing is certain: Many of the plan's opponents aren't arguing in good faith. Conservatives really, really don't want to see a second New Deal, and they certainly don't want to see government activism vindicated. So they are reaching for any stick they can find with which to beat proposals for increased government spending.

 

Daily Political News Round-Up - Friday, November 21, 2008

►According to the NYT, Hillary Clinton has made a decision to accept the position of secretary of state.

“Hillary Rodham Clinton has decided to give up her Senate seat and accept the position of secretary of state, making her the public face around the world for the administration of the man who beat her for the Democratic presidential nomination, two confidants said Friday.”Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigning in Florida in October (Photo: Damon Winter/The New
York Times)

►Expected to be nominated for commerce secretary on Monday, is former U.N. Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

“New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has emerged as a "serious contender" to head the Commerce Department under President-elect Barack Obama, according to a Democratic official close to the proceedings.
Richardson, who was elected governor of the Land of Enchantment in 2002 and reelected with 69 percent of the vote in 2006, has made no secret of his interest in returning to Washington to take a place in the Obama Administration.” The Washington Post