Pete DeFazio: We Need a New Economic Team That Cares More About Main Street Than Wall Street
By Heather Thursday Nov 19, 2009 12:00pm
From The Ed Schultz Show, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) says President Obama is not being served well by his economic advisors and that there is a growing consensus from the Congressional Progressive Caucus that the president needs to dump Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. DeFazio added that "We may have to sacrifice just two more jobs to get millions back for Americans."
Schultz: What kind of progress can be made to make sure that TARP goes where it's really going to stimulate the economy--small business and infrastructure?
DeFazio: Well, that's our money. It was borrowed in the name of the American people. It was borrowed to bail out Wall Street which has worked famously for Goldman Sachs and others. You know, we think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street, we reclaim the unspent funds, we reclaim some of the funds that are being paid back, which will not be paid back in full, and we use it to put people back to work. Rebuilding America's infrastructure is a tried and true way to put people back to work.
Unfortunately, the President has an adviser from Wall Street, Larry Summers, and a Treasury Secretary from Wall Street, Timmy Geithner, who don't like that idea. They want to keep the TARP money either to continue to bail out Wall Street if there are future problems or maybe to...
Schultz: So Geithner does not want to give the money to small business--the TARP money?
DeFazio: No. They're saying they've got to keep the money. There may be more needs on Wall Street or maybe they should use it to pay down the deficit. That's absurd. We borrowed the money. How do you pay down the deficit...
Shultz: Should he stay in his job Congressman?
DeFazio: No.
Schultz: You think he should be gone as Treasury Secretary?
DeFazio: I do especially if you look back at the AIG scandal and Goldman and others who got their bets paid off in full--instead of saying " Well you bet, you lost"--they got paid back in full with taxpayer money through AIG. We channeled the money through them. Geithner would not answer my question when I said, 'Were those naked credit default swaps by Goldman or were they a counter-party?' He would not answer that question." I think they were naked credit default swaps, they were bets. They should not have gotten their money back.
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to help the wealthy get wealthier and us working folks need to stay focused on more important things like socialists and terrorists!
When have the elite academics or pols cared more about main street? Never in my 50 years and I don't expect things to change.
Digg this, Redit, Youtube share, Facebook. Wherever you can, spread this around.
Geithner and Summers must go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Muu0tNsw8
them..Rahm and Obama.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) says President Obama is not being served well by his economic advisors
There's a fucking news flash.
he knew what he was getting. and i can only surmise that he made the calculation that giving wall st a slow handjob will do more for his political career than fighting for progressives policies ever could.
many, including me, warned about his economic team before he took office. and, no, it is not a satisfying feeling.
flashback to my time as an evangelical.
Specifically, my thoughts were, "Amen, right on, preach it brother!!"
Because really, the last thing we need are Geithner and Summers. And I'm questioning Obama's judgement very much on this one.
It was a big mistake to let any of these people geitner,paulsen be involved at all in this. We do need a new team and if we don't get it there maybe the civil war that worries the ones at the top so much!
that Obama had no 'real choice' in selecting the economic team. Have the notion that the "Powers that Be" - or the shadow government that JFK alluded to in a speech long ago - are the ones who are pulling the strings in the background.
When the PtB decided that Obama had a bright political future, especially after his 2004 convention speech, these kinds of long-term political/economic operatives kind of "glommed on' to him, and have stuck around, as the representatives of the big money oligarchs.
(A little like when Cheney glommed himself onto Georgie, Jr. to ensure he followed the plan.)
We live in the Matrix and nothing is as it seems....
Though there is no such thing as a bi-partisan Repuke, I think they'd love to abet getting rid of these dynamic duds.
here in Oregon. There are pockets of unbridled freakshow wingnuts out here, But between Pete and Ron Wyden We're stayin pretty cool blue.
Keep fightin the good fight, Rep. DeFazio....
since he first appeared on the political scene here in Oregon. He is the voice of reason, sanity and intelligence. And he works his butt off doing right by the people who put him there. Too bad more representatives & senators aren't that principled......if they were, it would be a whole 'nother country! You go, Pete!!
Obama has given us excuses as to why all of that money with NO STRINGS , no over sight , just merry friggin xmas boys , here ya go ! But the excuses do not hold water , mainly that they had to move so fast to save the ass holes that there wasn't time to make rules . Ahhuh , right ! Sorry Barack , horse shit ! It never did pass the smell test , Obama and his team making Geithner treasury sec and bringing on the same ass holes right from Wall Street who created the mess to advise and make policy . It stank then and still stinks now . For many the red flags went up immediately and we were right , it's the same old shit . I like Barack but he caved in to Wall Street and he has failed us in this respect.
clearly the plutocrats knew the republican couldn't win the presidency in 2008, so clearly they made sure we got the most easily manipulated president possible that would easily succumb to putting the fox in charge of the people's money chicken coop.
against WallStreet. Mr. Savings & Loans himself, right?
Republican Congressman Kevin Brady from Texas' 8th District agrees.
(YouTube): Geithner Asked to Resign
Geithner just blames the Republicans for the mess!
Ah yes, it has been said that sunshine is a great disinfectant, so here it is. Yesterday Republicans shamelessly thwarted efforts by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd to help Middle America by freezing credit card interest rates on existing balances. At a time when people in this country are literally going hungry and without work, Republicans had the chutzpah to throw Middle America under the bus and instead line the pockets of credit card companies. Oy gevalt . . .
I understand the great plight suffered by credit card companies. The gravy train with biscuit wheels that they’ve been riding for years will soon be coming to an end. However, if they are looking for sympathy from Middle America, they can find it in the dictionary, somewhere between “sh#t” and “syphilis.”
As you may recall, especially if you’re an insomniac and have needed something on the nightstand to help you sleep, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act enacted in May, prevents arbitrary interest rate, fee and finance charge increases on a consumer’s existing balance.
In response, credit card companies have been hiking credit card interest rates to 30% in a last ditch effort to take advantage of consumers before all of the CARD Act’s provisions take effect.
To stem the hiking of fees on Middle America, Dodd’s bill would have sped up some of the provisions in the CARD Act, which don’t take effect until February or August of 2010. But yesterday Senator Thad Cochran (R., Miss.) objected to the measure, and it only takes one senator to block a unanimous consent request in the Senate.
This missive has nothing to do with the fact that consumers have a responsibility to spend within their means and to pay what they owe, and everything to do with the fact that the credit card industry has a responsibility to deal with consumers honestly. There is nothing honest about what credit card companies are doing to consumers with these rate increases and fees, which are simply usury and legalized extortion.
Middle America is already frustrated with the political Left and Right for not providing relief on pocketbook issues, and this gets the peasants one step closer to grabbing their pitchforks. If you’re keeping score, let the record reflect that in keeping with its tradition of whoring for big business, Republicans have once again chosen big business over Middle America.
A. Muser
http://americanmuser.wordpress.com
rates by 50% last winter. I have nearly perfect credit and have never been late on a payment. When I called for an explanation for the rate hike, they said it was because of the bad economy and there was nothing they could do about it!
When Obama hired Rahm, pushed out Dean, and put DLC Wall Street toadies Geithner and Sommers in charge; I knew we were screwed!
I voted for Obama because I didn't want DLC republican-lite Hillary. Plus, the thought of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton was really creeping me out. So Barack it was. And what does he do? Instead of hiring the progressives who brought the democrats back from their DLC 12 year wilderness, Obama sells his soul to the same scumbags 48 hours after getting elected.
These corporate democrats are like cock roaches. You just can't get rid of them.
this guy has got it right. unfortunately, the democratic party is controlled by these Clinton democrat people who are pro wall street.
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