Pesky lawyer still on banksters’ case

Posted on August 25, 2011 by oddmanout215

When it comes to describing the complacency of the Wall Street banksters, their unabashed disregard for the millions of people they defrauded, and the ease with which they continue to push the right buttons in Washington in order to avoid restitution and prosecution… well, nobody does it better than Matt Taibbi:

A power play is underway in the foreclosure arena, according to the New York Times. On the one side is Eric Schneiderman, the New York Attorney General, who is conducting his own investigation into the era of securitizations – the practice of chopping up assets like mortgages and converting them into saleable securities – that led up to the financial crisis of 2007-2008. On the other side is the Obama administration, the banks, and all the other state attorneys general. This second camp has cooked up a deal that would allow the banks to walk away with just a seriously discounted fine from a generation of fraud that led to millions of people losing their homes.

The idea behind this federally-guided “settlement” is to concentrate and centralize all the legal exposure accrued by this generation of grotesque banker corruption in one place, put one single price tag on it that everyone can live with, and then stuff the details into a titanium canister before shooting it into deep space…

Taibbi was reacting to an NYT piece in which Gretchen Morgenson reported on efforts by Obama’s minions to make sure the fix is in. The last lines in Taibbi’s story coincidentally address a point I raised in the footnote of an Aug. 22 post:

… My theory is that the Obama administration is trying to secure its 2012 campaign war chest with this settlement deal. If Barry can make this foreclosure thing go away for the banks, you can bet he’ll win the contributions battle against the Republicans next summer. Which is good for him, I guess. But it seems to me that it might be time to wonder if is this the most disappointing president we’ve ever had.

Posted in economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, mainstream media, New York Times, Obama, Politics, The New Depression, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘Drug corners’ story makes a sobering point

Posted on August 25, 2011 by oddmanout215

I know a talk radio host who has a passion for esoteric list-making — best NFL defensive linemen who are also convicted felons, best rockabilly guitarists who married their first cousins — that sort of thing. He invites listeners to call in and guess the top 10 names on his various lists. Callers who guess right sometimes win prizes.

I thought of the radio host yesterday while reading the Philadelphia Weekly’s cover story, “Top 10 drug corners,” which lists the city’s hottest spots for illegal drug sales.

Print stories involving lists are often planned in conjunction with campaigns to sign up advertisers. The tackiest and best known local example of this phenomenon is the annual Philadelphia Magazine “best of” issue.

Indeed, most list-oriented stories focus on specific categories of consumer goods — food, clothes, music, electronica, etc. If I were in charge of assigning such stories, I’d do an annual “Top 10 bands you will have completely forgotten a year from now.” Variations on that story are always popular.

A story that lists a city’s top 10 drug corners is different in that it isn’t a device for selling ads. It may whet the reader’s appetite for substances more exciting than foie gras and garage-band CDs, but it won’t be useful to ad salespeople unless they’re trying to sell display space to gun shop owners.

But I kid PW… “Top 10 drug corners” is an important story because its underlying point is that it’s impossible to do any reporting — and, more importantly, policing — that will significantly discourage the sale and use of illegal drugs, especially where “neighborhood-sustaining jobs” have disappeared forever.

As Steve Volk, the writer of the PW piece, put it:

Solving the drug problem by purely economic means would require a level of public and private investment on a scale that is simply not tenable in this day and age. Barring some massive New Deal-style public works initiative that revives the manufacturing base of the United States, the prospect of employing our way out of this problem seems remote at best. So finally, this leaves us with our last and perhaps most intriguing, promising and politically hazardous possibility.

We could legalize drugs.

You might disagree with this idea, but I defy you to come up with a better solution to the illegal-drugs problem.

Posted in Great Recession, humor, livable cities, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dems, too, are helping to kill labor unions

Posted on August 24, 2011 by oddmanout215

Thanks to Atrios and Avedon for calling attention to an on-target overview of the contemporary conservative agenda:

… Private-sector employers’ fierce attacks on unions since the 1970s contributed significantly to the sharp decline in the number of unionized workers, and many state governments are seeking to delegitimize and weaken public-sector unions. Meanwhile, the social safety net has frayed: Unemployment benefits are meager in many states and are not being extended to match the length of the downturn; Republicans are taking aim at Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and Obamacare. The real value of the minimum wage is lower than it was in the 1970s.

These changes have happened piecemeal. But viewed collectively, it’s difficult not to see a determined campaign to dismantle a broad societal bargain that served much of the nation well for decades. To a historian, the agenda of today’s conservatives looks like a bizarre effort to return to the Gilded Age, an era with little regulation of business, no social insurance and no legal protections for workers. This agenda, moreover, calls for the destruction or weakening of institutions without acknowledging (or perhaps understanding) why they came into being …

A historian writing in a high-profile mainstream newspaper “gets it.” Why doesn’t Barack Obama? Bottom line: When it comes to back-stabbing, the culprit is as likely to be a Democratic politician as a Republican.

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, Obama, Politics, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Philly schools chief gets $905K to drop out

Posted on August 23, 2011 by oddmanout215

Here’s how not to begin an editorial about the departure of an arrogant and divisive “public servant” who hung on until the school district and anonymous donors gave her $905,000 to go away:

It’s a shame that it had to end this way – with Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman being unceremoniously shown the door – but to a large extent the educator’s demise was self-inflicted. For someone who had led two other large, urban school districts, Ackerman showed none of the political and public-relations savvy that’s necessary to survive in such a venomous environment. Knowing today’s big-city superintendents rarely last five years, she nonetheless refused to tone down what was widely perceived as an imperious demeanor so that the public would pay more attention to her praiseworthy attempts to better educate Philadelphia’s children…

The idea that Ackerman was “unceremoniously shown the door” doesn’t jibe with the reality of her huge consolation prize. Workers all over the country, including many thousands of schoolteachers, are routinely “shown the door.” Only the Ackermans among us walk away with obscenely large amounts of money for agreeing to not work anymore.

In noting Ackerman’s lack of “political and public-relations savvy” in her performance as superintendent, the editorial writer failed to raise an obvious question: Why was her contract extended this year when it was obvious she didn’t have the “savvy” to handle the job or the good sense to leave public relations to her well-paid PR staff?

Also, why did the writer resort to weasel words — “what was widely perceived as an imperious manner” — in describing a woman notorious for the disrespect she showed teachers who didn’t bow down to her? And what was “praiseworthy” about her job performance?

Implicit in the writer’s dreary language was the Inquirer‘s bizarre refusal to acknowledge public outrage regarding Ackerman’s tacky, drawn-out exit. She was in charge of a cash-strapped school district, did a bad job (please, don’t tell me about the farce of improved test scores) for which she was extremely well-paid, and then refused to hit the road until she was awarded another truckload of loot.

One more question for the Inky: Why are your editorial writers bland and timid at exactly the times they should be boldly inquisitive and sensitive to public opinion?

I’ll take my answers off the air, thanks.

Footnote: Gov. Tom Corbett and his contempt for the public school system, as well as the apparent incompetence of the state-created School Reform Commission, deserve much of the blame for the chaos in Philly’s schools. Ackerman was awful, but Harrisburg is the enemy of Philly and always will be.

Posted in City Hall, livable cities, Philadelphia, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Did the Earth move for you, too, baby?

Posted on August 23, 2011 by oddmanout215

At Front and Lombard, a woman with a British accent approached me and said “Did you feel the earth shake?” or “Did you feel an earthquake?” There was passion in her voice. I wondered if she’d mistaken me for someone else, or if it was love at first sight.

A block away at Front and South, Downey’s restaurant had just emptied out and customers were milling on the sidewalk, jabbering at each other and into cellphones. It was the same all over Queen Village — people spilling outdoors and talking on their phones. Those I asked said yes, a tremor had shaken the buildings they were in and chased them outdoors.

There was more. Entire highrises in Center City had emptied out. Homes in Port Richmond were rattled. There were no injuries or power outages. The 5.9-magnitude quake struck near Washington, D.C., and was felt not only in Philly but all the way up to Cape Cod.

I’d been on the street and hadn’t felt even the hint of a tremor. This seemed like further frightening proof that I live completely inside my head. How can one not notice an earthquake? I asked a few people on bicycles if they’d felt the earth shake. To my relief, both said they’d been pedaling and hadn’t felt a thing.

But others seemed excited, even gratified, by this near-event. An old gent on Passyunk Avenue said to his friends, “If Iceland goes underwater, that’s it for me. Just hand me my fishing pole and I’m outta here.”

People are waiting for something to happen. Not a disaster, necessarily, but something.

Meanwhile, how about those Phillies?

Posted in livable cities, Philadelphia, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Gold’s up again. Is Blankfein going down?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by oddmanout215

The bald little man in the oversize suit who lives in a $26 million apartment next to Central Park may yet have that smirk wiped off his face. He hasn’t been charges in any civil or criminal case — up to now, Barack Obama’s Department of Justice has turned a blind eye to Wall Street improprieties — but it’s never a good sign when a master of the universe thinks it’s prudent to hire a heavy-duty defense attorney.

From Reuters:

Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein has hired high-profile Washington defense attorney Reid Weingarten, according to a government source, as the Justice Department continues to investigate the bank. Blankfein, 56, is in his sixth year at the helm of the largest U.S. investment bank, which has spent two years fending off accusations of conflicts of interest and fraud. The move to retain Weingarten comes as investigations of Goldman and its role in the 2007-2009 financial crisis continue. The news spooked already jittery investors. Goldman shares fell sharply in the final minutes of regular trading after Reuters reporting the hiring …

The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) in April released a scathing report that criticized Goldman for “exploiting” clients by unloading subprime loan exposure onto unsuspecting clients in 2006 and 2007, and concluded that its top executives misled Congress during testimony in 2010.

Goldman Sachs stock “tumbled”. Not surprisingly gold soared, this time above $1,900 an ounce, at roughly the same time.

Idle speculation: Many Wall Street executives who contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008 are throwing money at Mitt Romney this year, supposedly because Obama backed the not-so-impressive Dodd-Frank Act. What if Obama were to hit back by authorizing serious investigation of Wall Street firms that caused the financial collapse?

Posted in economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, Politics, The New Depression, Uncategorized, unemployment, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

NY Fed’s bottom line: Banksters above the law

Posted on August 22, 2011 by oddmanout215

Most people who buck the system are easily pressured to change course, but a few are more likely to get their back up and hold steady, at least until the pressure becomes unbearable. Gretchen Morgenson wrote today of one such stubborn fellow:

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices, according to people briefed on discussions about the deal.

In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement, said the people briefed on the talks.

Mr. Schneiderman and top prosecutors in some other states have objected to the proposed settlement with major banks, saying it would restrict their ability to investigate and prosecute wrongdoing in a variety of areas, including the bundling of loans in mortgage securities.

Donovan says he contacted Schneiderman out of a desire “to speed up help for troubled homeowners” victimized by so-called robo-signing, forged documents and other foreclosure tricks used by big banks. But Schneiderman and attorneys general in other states don’t like the idea of a pay-off to homeowners that would bar possible future litigation against banksters:

“The attorney general remains concerned by any attempt at a global settlement that would shut down ongoing investigations of wrongdoing related to the mortgage crisis,” said Danny Kanner, the spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman. His office has opened several inquiries into mortgage practices during the credit boom.

The U.S. Department of Justice is on board with Donovan — Let’s settle now and help the poor homeowners, and not look closely at the banks that helped ruin the economy. And you can be sure Barack Obama is on board — or, rather, hiding below deck in the hope that voters won’t notice how big a part he has played in letting banks off the hook for what are, at the very least, highly dubious business practices.

Footnote: Is this chutzpah or mere stupidity? Kathryn S. Wylde, a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said she told Schneiderman

“… it is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street — love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible.”

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, Obama, Politics, The New Depression, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Support our couch-potato patriots

Posted on August 21, 2011 by oddmanout215

Jackass proclaimed hero. Mission accomplished.

What’s with The New York Times? Week after week this summer, its editors have been running thoughtful essays on the Sunday Review section’s front page. Maybe they’ve decided to move away from predictable analysis pieces by staffers to guest writers who are used to thinking independently.

This week’s essay is about an annoying symptom of America’s decline — i.e., the tendency of far too many people to “infantilize” themselves through mindless worship of the military and belief in American exceptionalism. Think of George W. Bush strutting in his flight suit under the “Mission Accomplished” banner:

It’s a lot easier to idealize the people who are fighting than it is to send your kid to join them… The cult of the uniform also bespeaks a wounded empire’s need to reassert its masculinity in the wake of 9/11. “Dead or alive,” “bring it on,” “either you’re with us or you’re against us”: the tenor of official rhetoric in the ensuing years embodied a kind of desperate machismo…

“America needs heroes,” it is sometimes said, a phrase that’s often uttered in a wistful tone, almost cooingly, as if we were talking about a lonely child. But do we really “need heroes”? We need leaders, who marshal us to the muddle. We need role models, who show us how to deal with it. But what we really need are citizens, who refuse to infantilize themselves with talk of heroes and put their shoulders to the public wheel instead. The political scientist Jonathan Weiler sees the cult of the uniform as a kind of citizenship-by-proxy. Soldiers and cops and firefighters, he argues, embody a notion of public service to which the rest of us are now no more than spectators.

Posted in humor, Iraq war, mainstream media, New York Times, Obama, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Obama bans war criminals. Very funny.

Posted on August 20, 2011 by oddmanout215

It’s good to see something by Nat Hentoff, who wrote for Village Voice when it was worth reading and is still fighting the good fight against people in powerful positions who break the law. The subject matter of Hentoff’s recent article should surprise no one:

By executive order on Aug. 4, President Barack Obama refused entry to the United States of war criminals and human-rights violators (jurist.org, Aug. 4). He ignored, as he often does, the deeply documented factual evidence of war crimes committed by the Bush-Cheney administration along with grim proof that the Obama administration also violates our anti-torture laws and the U.N. Convention Against Torture we signed. Take, for example, right now under Obama, “The CIA Secret Sites in Somalia” (the nation.com, July 12).

In what will be an historic 108-page report, “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees,” Human Rights Watch is further accelerating the rising insistence here on accountability from George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet for having not only authorized these war crimes, but also failing “to act to stop mistreatment, or punish those responsible after they became aware of serious abuses” (www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0711webwcover.pdf).

Not only has President Obama rejected an independent criminal investigation of these highest-profile officials, but also, adds Human Rights Watch, of Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, David Addington (counsel to Cheney) and, among others, John Yoo, author of the unsparingly cruel, aptly dubbed “torture memos” from the Ashcroft Justice Department that gave “legal cover” to allow torture.

Hentoff’s piece reminds us of the difference between “disappointing” and “disastrous.” Some people look at Barack Obama’s record — his collapse on the debt ceiling issue, betrayal of organized labor, expansion of the war in Afghanistan, extension of the Bush tax cuts, refusal to push for jobs programs, failure to push for prosecution of Wall Street crooks and possible war criminals, and so on — and say his presidency has been disappointing.

Others look at Obama’s record thus far and say it is disastrous. I don’t think historians will have a hard time making the right call on this one.

Posted in Congress, enviromentalism, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, Politics, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Some ‘Rain’ to keep us sane in Philly

Posted on August 20, 2011 by oddmanout215

At last the rain god intervened to clean the stinking streets — am I paraphrasing Travis Bickle? — after the hottest July on record in Philly. And now there’s a chance this will be the city’s wettest August on record.

Some people don’t like the rain, as the Beatles noted on the flip side of “Paperback Writer”:

If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead.

Not me. I’ll take the rain over the heat and feel fortunate not to be in Texas, where a record drought continues despite climate-change denier Rick Perry’s much-publicized rain dance in April. I’m sure Perry is devoting much deep thought to this matter.

The Philly heat wave broke with a flourish last Sunday, when a morning drizzle turned into a downpour that rarely let up until evening. I took a break from writing and went for a run in the afternoon after I dug through the rubble in my basement and found an old bill cap to keep the rain off my glasses.

Running to the Delaware River and back from the Italian Market is my version of going to church on Sunday. It’s much better for body and soul, especially when the temperature dips below 90 degrees and you feel cool rain streaming down your back instead of sweat.

After my run I ducked into a coffee shop (not vegan) and dripped water all over the floor as I ordered. The counter guy looked at me funny, as most people do these days, and said, “Where did you get that cap?”

I took it off and looked at the lettering on the front: Super Bowl XXIII. I realized the cap must be from the ton of stuff left by my son Barney when he moved out of my house years ago. Where Barney got the cap is anybody’s guess, although I’m sure it wasn’t at Super Bowl XXIII, he was three years old at the time.

“At the Super Bowl, of course,” I said. “What’s the matter, it doesn’t look so good?”

As if it mattered. If I worried about looking good, I wouldn’t run in the rain.

Posted in arts, humor, livable cities, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments