Under President Backbone, they've been among the chief excuse-makers for those criminals - step forward, Larry Summers, the man who was so hated as President of Harvard that the faculty voted him out; a man who stifled the warnings of regulators who saw the 2008 debacle coming, and threatened or punished any who pointed out that the King might be wearing anything less than an Iron Man suit; and then still had the brass balls to put his name forward to head the Federal Reserve - until public opinion booed him into withdrawing.
Larry Summers, economic genius
Recently I had the dubious delight of reading a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by a Stanford Economics Prof called John B. Taylor. This mind-boggling paean to unfettered "private enterprise", aka greed, exploitation and corruption, went under the headline "THE WEAK RECOVERY EXPLAINS RISING INEQUALITY, NOT VICE VERSA".
Apart from the complete lack of logic - you mean we would have had less economic inequality if something (perhaps "The Magic of the Market"?) had created a stronger recovery? - it also is historically ridiculous. The increasing economic inequality which has resulted in ALL the economic gains of the last few years going to a tiny fraction of the people, began in 1980 with the election of the Gipper and his stooges - if not before. We've been through several of the Capitalists' beloved booms-and-busts since then.
Anyway, we now have a chance to take a kick at one of the criminals responsible; Brian Kettenring, Executive Director of Leadership Center for the Common Good, sends this message - read, sign and enjoy!
"In an interview published on Monday Sept. 23 in the Wall Street Journal, AIG CEO Robert Benmosche claimed that the criticism aimed at AIG for awarding its employees bonuses after it and other Wall Street firms crashed the economy and were rewarded with bailouts was "intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses, and all that–sort of like what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think it was just as bad and just as wrong."
Aside from its shocking insensitivity, this statement reveals the insularity, arrogance, and breathtaking entitlement that pervades Wall Street institutions. These attitudes, when combined with their economic and political power, led to the Wall Street bankers’ criminal behavior that destroyed our economy and stole our homes.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) put Benmosche’s words in stark context on Tuesday Sept 24 saying,
“[A]s the son of sharecroppers wh o actually experienced lynchings in their communities—I find it unbelievably appalling that Mr. Benmosche equates the violent repression of the African American people with congressional efforts to prevent the waste of taxpayer dollars. If these statements are true, I believe he has demonstrated a fundamental inability to lead this modern global company in a responsible manner—a company that exists today only because it was rescued by the American taxpayers—and that he should resign his position as CEO immediately.”
We could not agree more. We call on AIG CEO Robert Benmosche to apologize clearly and unequivocally, especially to African Americans and members of communities that have been targets of racial violence, and to resign his position as CEO of a firm that only exists today thanks to an $85 billion bailout.
(For more information on the extent of lynchings in American history, the Charles Chestnutt Digital Archive at Berea College is a good source of statistics. http://faculty.berea.edu/browners/chesnutt/classroom/lynchingstat.html)
That's why I signed a petition to Robert Benmosche, CEO of AIG, which says:
"Mr. Benmosche, we demand you apologize and resign as CEO of AIG for saying criticism of Wall Street's multi-million dollar bonuses was “just as bad and just as wrong” as racially-motivated lynching."
Will you sign the petition too? Click here to add your name:
Thanks!"
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