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Obama announces financial reform effort
Published: 23 April, 2010, 01:46
Edited: 25 April, 2010, 21:48
President Barack Obama speaks about reforming Wall Street and the financial reform bill in the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York, April 22, 2010 (AFP Photo / Saul Loeb)
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In a speech in New York, US President Barack Obama declared that his next battle will be against the US financial system, but analyst Gerald Celente says the method is flawed.
US President Barack Obama has announced plans to push for financial reform in the midst of continuing allegations that Wall Street and Washington are working together against consumers. These plans face an uphill battle in the divided US Congress, and they have also been greeted with skepticism by analysts and financial watchers.
Although audience members at the president’s speech in New York applauded his lines, analysts say there wasn’t much substance in the presentation. Some have compared it to Obama’s speech announcing healthcare reform, which introduced broad principles and left the specifics up to the legislative bodies.
“This is another episode in the presidential reality show to make people believe they are doing something,” said Celente.
Celente also criticized the focus of the reform effort on derivatives.
“The derivatives aren’t the major source of the problem, that’s become the whole hype, the major source of the problem is Federal Reserve policy. The whole thing is corrupt from the top down," Celente added.
Bankers’ bonuses remain the source of anger for many critics of the system. Financial journalist David Degraw says the way rewards were handled in Wall Street is outrageous and makes no sense.
”If you look at the bonuses that were handed down on Wall Street and you look at this $33 billion in new tax refunds they just received, that works out to 180 billion taxed hours that they took,” he told RT. “If we took that money, put it back into the tax system, we could pay the average median annual wage to six million Americans.”
”What would be a better use of our tax dollars? Give 180 billion more to Wall Street and billionaires, or put six million Americans back to work?” Degraw added.
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2 comments
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MEJanssen, Better late than never /what/ ? Don't you think it's premature to evaluate before the bill is ratified by both houses? There are hints that this is a decoy, perhaps a move to shunt Goldman and replace their rule with the rule of a competing financial conglomerate. After all Goldman wasn't the only conglomerate to contribute to Obama's campaign, and the other participants can rightly (haha, only serious) feel unfairly treated... I agree, though, to the extent that it's not going to stop self-propelling immaterialisation of the existential fabric of American civil society.
Probably more mediocrity from a government largely corrupted by special interests, crippled by factionalization, requiring 60% senatorial support to pass anything, and whose balance of power is determined by a block of swing voters who predominantly form the gullible ignorant coach potatoes portion of the electorate. Long live the republic... Even with all the other problems, without the filibuster I think 2008 would've spawned a great or at least decent government, but alas, twas not to be.