The Change Begins.

[jtabeb]

Re: The Change Begins.

It looks like the President is giving up on Geithner/Summers. Reports of Elizabeth Warren and Volcker getting more say. Again, the State of the Union could signal that Obama FINALLY gets it. But I've been here before.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...IDDLTopStories

Not so Much Change, more the illusion of change.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot...-net-cake.html
Goldman Expects to Keep Cake, Eat Same, Stick Public with Tab


Dick Bove says that Obama's proposal will be good for Goldman Sachs because it will take away the prop trading from banks that have deposits, but will not affect Goldman Sachs who will once again eliminate more competition.

So buy the stock. Hard to imagine anything short of Armageddon that would cause the word 'sell' to emanate from his bloviateness when he is talking his book.

And Goldman Sachs says that it is 'unrealistic' to take away their place at the Fed's teats as a subsidy sucking bank holding company.

"Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said it’s “unrealistic” to imagine the firm won’t be a federally supervised bank, even as new regulatory proposals cast doubt on that status."

Perhaps they will lobby for a special category of bank. Some banks are more equal than others? The public might be dumb enough to buy it, but doubtful Lloyd's peers on the Street would not raise a fuss.

More likely that the corrupt Congress takes this idea of Volcker's, and leads it up a blind alley, and strangles it with delays, transitions, and deceptions, and grandiose discussion of new regulatory architectures, rather than simple but elegant focus on primary mission, and the elimination of conflicts of interest.

The threats of 'lack of competitiveness,' 'stifling the recovery,' and 'portfolio diversity' are already resounding from the canyons of Wall Street and their pond skimming sibyls on financial television.

[WildspitzE]

Re: The Change Begins.

It looks like the President is giving up on Geithner/Summers. Reports of Elizabeth Warren and Volcker getting more say. Again, the State of the Union could signal that Obama FINALLY gets it. But I've been here before.

I thought inflation would be the the excuse to listen to him...
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showpos...0&postcount=24

[GRG55]

Re: The Change Begins.

MS 29.18 -1.45 -4.73%
MORGAN STANLEY
GS 160.25 -7.54 -4.49%
GOLDMAN SACHS

Market certainly believes Obama is serious..

On any given day the "markets" can believe anything...

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Change Begins.

What we needed was a Harding.

??? Shake, you are normally so lucid. From a summary of Gladwell's book "Blink":

Gladwell first illustrates this argument using the story of former President Warren Harding, whom many historians have claimed rose through the political ranks to finally assume the office of the presidency based largely on the power of his classically attractive "tall, dark, and handsome" physical appearance. With no discernable political skills, other than an impressive speaking voice, Harding shrunk from the responsibilities of his office, and is now often identified as one of the worst presidents in history. Voters allowed their deep-seated prejudices about the connotations of physical attractiveness make their decision

Why would we ever need another Harding?:confused:

[jk]

Re: The Change Begins.

??? Shake, you are normally so lucid. From a summary of Gladwell's book "Blink":



Why would we ever need another Harding?:confused:

i think w was harding. read up on teapot dome.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Change Begins.

i think w was harding. read up on teapot dome.

Thank you, I had missed the point Master Shake was making.

[cindykimlisa]

Re: The Change Begins.

i think w was harding. read up on teapot dome.

Bush was a Custer!

Cindy

[BuckarooBanzai]

Re: The Change Begins.

It is not a "love fest" thing. Obama is a very representational man. It is a little like saying "I love America". He made his mistakes. Perhaps catastrophic ones. Sound like America?

Obama is a "representational man"?? What the hell does that mean?

What he "represents" is Marxism, statism, reverse racism, radicalism, corrupt inner-city politics, and the triumph of public leechcraft over private initiative.

I couldn't understand people who supported Obama before he was elected, I figured they were simply suffering from temporary madness and delusions; but a year later, anyone who still is stupid enough to support him is a hopeless f*cking moron who is dragging down the rest of us.

[WildspitzE]

Re: The Change Begins.

not to nitpick, but what does reverse racism mean?

it's directional?

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Change Begins.

not to nitpick, but what does reverse racism mean?

it's directional?

LOL! The phenomenon may not be directional, but the term is certainly lyrical. Easy to remember if you struggle to retain subtle concepts.

[WildspitzE]

Re: The Change Begins.

LOL.

I do need to work on subtle.

or maybe not.

[DToM67]

Re: The Change Begins.

What we needed was a Harding.

I'd say Andrew Jackson. Old Hickory had stones!

[Ghent12]

Re: The Change Begins.

not to nitpick, but what does reverse racism mean?

it's directional?

Those that believe in such a thing as reverse racism cite racial quotas and affirmative action as forms of it.

[GRG55]

Re: The Change Begins.

It looks like the President is giving up on Geithner/Summers. Reports of Elizabeth Warren and Volcker getting more say. Again, the State of the Union could signal that Obama FINALLY gets it. But I've been here before.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...IDDLTopStories

Things are rapidly sliding downslope for the Prez. He was elected because of discontent [to put it mildly] towards the incumbent Bushies, and now the same public macro-sentiment is being turned on him and his Administration. For example the villain Cheney has been replaced by the villain Geithner. It's always the case that the incumbents suffer during such times.

A couple of recent commentaries from both sides of the political spectrum [I've read quite a few more along the same lines in the past few days]:

From Paul Krugman:

Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of leadership...

...Maybe House Democrats can pull this out, even with a gaping hole in White House leadership. Barney Frank seems to have thought better of his initial defeatism. But I have to say, I’m pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in.

From Marshall Auerback:

The post-mortems following the Massachusetts Senate by-election are coming in fast and furiously, but by far the most instructive remarks come from the President himself. He clearly doesn’t get it.

A majority of Obama voters who switched to Brown said that “Democratic policies were doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.” A full 95 percent said the economy was important or very important when it came to deciding their vote. Surprise, surprise, policies do matter...

...Having persuaded himself that his powers of oratory can solve any problem (even minus the teleprompter?), the President patronizingly suggests that his “change” policies were not the problem, but that he failed in the presentation of them. It’s more likely that people were profoundly upset that with the “stuff” that the President and Congress were getting done, and his failure adequately to address the immediate crises that he faced in his first year in office.

When Obama continued the Bush/Paulson moves on the bank bailouts, that was the beginning of the end of his “change” Presidency. Health care was simply the confirmation as large proportion of his base was prepared to cut him slack waiting to see what he would do with the issue. In the end, we got a terrible bill, and no amount of salesmanship or nice speeches will change the substance. It does not even deliver on the promise that got most people prepared to hold their collective noses and vote for it, that of eliminating the practice of rescinding policies on the basis of “pre-existing condition”. Read the bill...

...The President expended so much political capital and goodwill placating the likes of Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein. Now that they’ve got their government checks, they can do whatever they like and continue to poison the polity. The health insurance and pharmaceutical industries have followed the playbook, and used the political process the same way...

...there remains a profound sense of anger, mixed with helplessness amongst most people. The only means by which these people can manifest this anger (without resorting to riots and burning buildings) is via the ballot box. They will likely continue to take it out on people perceived to be the “ins”, the main feeders at the trough, versus the “outs”, who have got nothing, but the promise of a lot more economic misery.

Massachusetts was the first significant political manifestation of this trend, and if his immediate comments are anything to go by, I doubt Obama will interpret the election result correctly, since his faux populism and reliance on “speaking directly to the American people” merely shows how contrived his Administration has become...

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: The Change Begins.

For example the villain Cheney has been replaced by the villain Geithner.

As a once proud member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, I must protest . Cheney is a far grander villain than Tiny Tim Geithner ever dreamt of being :eek:.