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Watching its flagging poll ratings, the Obama Administration is going on the offensive.
Wall Street continues to live in a dream world disconnected from reality, and now even the Administration appears to realize that. The Goldman gloating can't have been received any better in the Oval Office than it was on Main Street. They know that the "Too Big To Fail" argument no longer plays favourably with the increasingly unemployed voting masses.
So the play book includes:
Not to be outdone..."Too Big To Fail" fights back...
[Coming on the heels of Goldman's gloating, can you imagine anything that could make the Adminstration squirm more than this? "...the most credible voice of a discredited industry... speaks volumes, doesn't it]
And how did the Administration respond? Well here's the Big Guy, with his usual restrained and diplomatic response...;)
Wall Street continues to live in a dream world disconnected from reality, and now even the Administration appears to realize that. The Goldman gloating can't have been received any better in the Oval Office than it was on Main Street. They know that the "Too Big To Fail" argument no longer plays favourably with the increasingly unemployed voting masses.
So the play book includes:
- Blame the bailed out banks for not "doing enough" to help J6P stay in a home he couldn't afford in the first place;
- Play up the effort to overhaul financial regulation as an "Us vs. Them" affair...with "Us" defending the interests of the little guy;
- Avoid any comment or support for the pre-selected "sacrificial lambs" whose heads will roll if the crisis deepens going into the mid-term campaign [Bernanke seems to head that list];
- Continue the fiction that StimPAC One just needs "more time" and the beneficial results will soon become evident to one and all;
- Hedge your bets by downplaying future economic growth expectations;
- Set the stage for more government "management" of the economy and coming soon to a neighbourhood near you...StimPAC Two...:p
Summers Urges Banks to Lend More, Says Recovery Pace ‘in Doubt’
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers chastised some banks that received government aid for not doing enough to reduce foreclosures, while declaring that next year’s economic growth pace is “in doubt.”
“Prudent financial institutions will recognize that the profits they’re enjoying are in part a reflection of the commitment government and the broader society have made to the financial system that has enabled them to enjoy those profits,” Summers said in an interview with Bloomberg News yesterday in Washington...
...“The pace of growth next year, I think, is very much in doubt and difficult to predict,” Summers said. That “will depend crucially on our effectiveness in implementing the programs that have been legislated” and what Congress may do on health care, financial regulation and energy, he said...
July 21 (Bloomberg) -- White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers chastised some banks that received government aid for not doing enough to reduce foreclosures, while declaring that next year’s economic growth pace is “in doubt.”
“Prudent financial institutions will recognize that the profits they’re enjoying are in part a reflection of the commitment government and the broader society have made to the financial system that has enabled them to enjoy those profits,” Summers said in an interview with Bloomberg News yesterday in Washington...
...“The pace of growth next year, I think, is very much in doubt and difficult to predict,” Summers said. That “will depend crucially on our effectiveness in implementing the programs that have been legislated” and what Congress may do on health care, financial regulation and energy, he said...
[Coming on the heels of Goldman's gloating, can you imagine anything that could make the Adminstration squirm more than this? "...the most credible voice of a discredited industry... speaks volumes, doesn't it]
In Washington, One Bank’s Chief Still Holds Sway
July 20, 2009, 5:13 am
With the larger financial industry in disgrace, Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, has emerged as President Obama’s favorite banker, and in turn, the envy of his Wall Street rivals, The New York Times’s Jackie Calmes and Louise Story write.
Mr. Dimon, who will hold a meeting of his board in Washington for the first time on Monday, has labeled government relations his company’s “seventh line of business.”
The business of better influencing Washington, begun in late 2007, was jump-started just as the financial crisis hit and the capital displaced New York as the nation’s money center. Then Mr. Obama’s election brought to power Chicago Democrats well-known to Mr. Dimon from his years running a bank there.
One of them is the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who had accepted an invitation to speak to the board Monday pending a review by the White House counsel. Mr. Emanuel on Sunday decided to decline to address the board, in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest...
...Mr. Dimon and his company enjoy a prominence in the city’s K Street lobbying world that parallels their recent rise on Wall Street; JPMorgan went into the crisis stronger than most rivals and reported robust quarterly gains last week that confirmed its place at the top of the heap.
With the crisis, Mr. Dimon, a longtime Democratic donor, has become even more politically engaged, in the process becoming perhaps the most credible voice of a discredited industry...
...In recent months, he has met with officials including Mr. Geithner; the White House economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers; and lawmakers of both parties. He phones or e-mails Mr. Emanuel at whim. Each week, his staff gives him the names of a half-dozen public officials to call...
...Mr. Dimon and Mr. Geithner know each other well from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Mr. Geithner was president and, as such, a JPMorgan regulator. Mr. Dimon sits on the New York Fed’s board...
July 20, 2009, 5:13 am
With the larger financial industry in disgrace, Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, has emerged as President Obama’s favorite banker, and in turn, the envy of his Wall Street rivals, The New York Times’s Jackie Calmes and Louise Story write.
Mr. Dimon, who will hold a meeting of his board in Washington for the first time on Monday, has labeled government relations his company’s “seventh line of business.”
The business of better influencing Washington, begun in late 2007, was jump-started just as the financial crisis hit and the capital displaced New York as the nation’s money center. Then Mr. Obama’s election brought to power Chicago Democrats well-known to Mr. Dimon from his years running a bank there.
One of them is the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who had accepted an invitation to speak to the board Monday pending a review by the White House counsel. Mr. Emanuel on Sunday decided to decline to address the board, in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest...
...Mr. Dimon and his company enjoy a prominence in the city’s K Street lobbying world that parallels their recent rise on Wall Street; JPMorgan went into the crisis stronger than most rivals and reported robust quarterly gains last week that confirmed its place at the top of the heap.
With the crisis, Mr. Dimon, a longtime Democratic donor, has become even more politically engaged, in the process becoming perhaps the most credible voice of a discredited industry...
...In recent months, he has met with officials including Mr. Geithner; the White House economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers; and lawmakers of both parties. He phones or e-mails Mr. Emanuel at whim. Each week, his staff gives him the names of a half-dozen public officials to call...
...Mr. Dimon and Mr. Geithner know each other well from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Mr. Geithner was president and, as such, a JPMorgan regulator. Mr. Dimon sits on the New York Fed’s board...
Obama sees regulatory reform battle in Congress
Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:07am EDT
...When the banking industry opposes financial regulation after the turmoil it just went through, that demonstrates "selective memory," Obama said.
"This is going to be a major battle on the hill because a lot of these banks have a lot of influence," he said.
Tue Jul 21, 2009 8:07am EDT
...When the banking industry opposes financial regulation after the turmoil it just went through, that demonstrates "selective memory," Obama said.
"This is going to be a major battle on the hill because a lot of these banks have a lot of influence," he said.
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