On Oct 30 2012 2:34 PM, Dave the Clueless wrote:
> ...Obama, and yes, he did this, officially enshrined rights for the elite
Finally, a dose of (brutal) reality from someone on the left. Here's one
of the crucial highlights (emphasis in last passage mine):
"Many will claim that Obama was stymied by a Republican Congress. But the
primary policy framework Obama put in place – the bailouts, took place
during the transition and the immediate months after the election, when
Obama had enormous leverage over the Bush administration and then a
dominant Democratic Party in Congress. In fact, during the transition
itself, Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson offered a deal to Barney
Frank, to force banks to write down mortgages and stem foreclosures if
Barney would speed up the release of TARP money. Paulson demanded, as a
condition of the deal, that Obama sign off on it. Barney said fine, but to
his surprise, the incoming president vetoed the deal. Yup, you heard that
right — the Bush administration was willing to write down mortgages in
response to Democratic pressure, but it was Obama who said no, we want a
foreclosure crisis. And with Neil Barofsky’s book 'Bailout,' we see why.
Tim Geithner said, in private meetings, that the foreclosure mitigation
programs were not meant to mitigate foreclosures, but to spread out pain
for the banks, the famous 'foam the runway' comment. This central lie is
key to the entire Obama economic strategy. IT IS NOT THAT OBAMA WAS
STYMIED BY CONGRESS, OR WAS UP AGAINST A SYSTEM, OR FACED A MASSIVE
CRISIS, WHICH LED TO THE SHAPE OF THE ECONOMY WE SEE TODAY. RATHER, OBAMA
HAD A HANDSHAKE DEAL TO HELP THE MIDDLE CLASS OFFERED TO HIM BY PAULSON,
AND OBAMA SAID NO. HE WAS NOT CONSTRAINED BY ANYTHING BUT HIS OWN POLICY
INSTINCTS. AND THE REFLATION OF CORPORATE PROFITS AND FINANCIAL ASSETS AND
DEATH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS WERE THE PREDICTABLE RESULTS."