Does Barack Obama want to dismantle Wall Street?

Telegraph Blogs (U.K.) ^ | September 15, 2009 | Stephanie Gutmann

[Schnucki]

Monday was a libertarian’s worst nightmare. I sat and watched a president who has already nationalised banks, car companies, the student loan system, and mortgages announce that he’s moving on to attempt to push through “the most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression”.

President Obama went to Wall Street to give a speech about “financial reform” and he was not in a kind mood. He started with soothing, conciliatory language (his usual speech-making pattern) then launched into a scathing attack on, well, essentially free enterprise. What he called “the near-collapse of our financial system one year ago” had nothing to do with too much regulation.

Disappeared down the memory hole was the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which many think caused the sub prime mortgage crisis by forcing banks to make risky home loans in low-income neighborhoods. No, to hear Obama tell it, our problems were caused by a mob of swaggering Gordon Gekkos — by “decisions made by the mightiest of financial firms”, by “unchecked excess”, “where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses.” I kept waiting for him to resurrect the FDR-coined term “malefactors of great wealth.”

If rapacious capitalists are the problem, he offered his standard remedy: bigger government and more regulation in the form of “new rules to protect consumers and a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to enforce those rules. ”

This is needed for the usual paternalistic reasons, because there were “millions of Americans who signed contracts they didn’t fully understand offered by lenders who didn’t always tell the truth.” (Frighteningly, the very people he says are now “working to pass regulatory reform through Congress” are Congressmen Chris Dodd and Barney “the public option is the route to single payer” Frank, the two guys

[MtnMan101]

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

does Cuba have a Wall Street?

[unkus]

does Cuba have a Wall Street?
_______________________

No, but it has a dictator in a palace.

[Lorianne]

bump

[Reagan Man]

>>>>>Toward the end of his speech, Obama moved on to his plans for the rest of the world:

~snip~

To the rest of the world I would say: There’s still time to cancel those hotel reservations in Pittsburgh. Don’t let this guy anywhere near your economy. Run. Like. Hell.

LOL

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

i would love to know who writes these speeches he gives-— at some point or another that person is going to slip up bad big time and unravel the whole yarn ball of lies that are being perpetrated on the american public.....something’s got to give..... lol

[Tzimisce]

Knee Jerk Reaction #1 - Most self described “libertarians” I know voted for Obama (and would do so again.)

I don’t get it either, so don’t ask.

Knee Jerk Reaction #2 - Wall Street backed Obama. They gave him money and held fundraisers for him. And the people who work there come from big blue neighborhoods. And if the election was tomorrow, they’d vote for him again.

So Wall Street can f**k off...

[Rick_Michael]

CRA and the irrational wave of public sentiment (aka greed by many) did play a role in all of this. Government-backed banks have no place in owning such weak securities and these rating agencies were basically piling on the BS.

Seems like Obama wants a new adminstration. You already have regulators available and you think new ones are the solution?

I don’t think it’s all that complicated but apparently I’m not a liberal democrat.

[TruJess]

This Libertarian didn’t vote for him.

[oyez]

And the dictator has all the money. So there is no business and there are no investments.

Cuba could be an agricultural gold mine but instead, settles for the shaft.

[coconutt2000]

i would love to know who writes these speeches he gives-— at some point or another that person is going to slip up bad big time and unravel the whole yarn ball of lies that are being perpetrated on the american public.....something’s got to give.....

They slip up all the time. The inaccuracies, outright lies, and illogical statements contained in most of his speeches are incredible. But too many people don't care for the substance of the speeches. They've already decided to love the speech, and they pick out a few lines that they like, and discard the rest.

And naturally pointing out the mistakes in the speech is like declaring yourself as a racist. Obama right now is the figurehead of a zealous religious sect. Criticism of him will get you automatically labeled as a nutcase, and no matter how true or factual your criticisms, you will be ignored.

Thus you come here to FR, whereby your sanity is saved through reinforcement through facts, dialog, and more facts.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

I ‘ve been here at FR for just a short time, i’m certainly not an old-timer but in April 2009 i disconnected the tv and shut down cable news. FR along with many other online sources provides me more truth ,sometimes, than I want to know yet;still truth.

[Paige]

This is who heads up the speech writing team....and who wrote most of Obama's speeches during his campaign....a little history has been added -

Jonathan Favreau (born June 2, 1981, in Winchester, Massachusetts)[1] is President Barack Obama's Director of Speechwriting.[2] Favreau attended the College of the Holy Cross, graduating as valedictorian. In college, he accumulated a variety of scholastic honors, and took part in and directed numerous community and civic programs. After graduation, he went to work for the John Kerry Presidential campaign in 2004, working to collect talk radio news for the campaign, and eventually was promoted to the role of Deputy Speechwriter. While working for the Kerry campaign, he first met Barack Obama. In 2005, Robert Gibbs recommended Favreau to Obama as an excellent speechwriter. Favreau was hired as Obama's speechwriter shortly after Obama's election to the United States Senate. Obama and Favreau grew close, and Obama has referred to him as his "mind reader". He went on the campaign trail with Obama during his successful Presidential election campaign. In 2009, he was named as a White House staff member, as Director of Speechwriting, becoming the second youngest person ever to take that post.

[exhaustguy]

I feel old. I graduated from High School in 1981.

We sure have a bunch of young pups in and around this administration that will be with us for a long time (Obama and Timmy G. being the two most obvious examples).

[Paige]

Will be with us for a long time? NOPE

2010 the push is on ...

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

oh yeah, now i remember that little twit from NEWSWEAK...& bammers refers to him as “his mind reader”.

Move backward & find the ref to Val Jarrett & bammers:
“the other side of his brain” >TIME Magazine i believe it was

no wonder this country is in a shite hole :)

[SVTCobra03]

You feel old? I graduated high school in 1965.

[driftless2]

Obama taking over Wall Street? Talk about letting the fox into the henhouse.

[exhaustguy]

Carter is still around. These guys will stay around - in power or out of power. They will be recycled, reused, and who knows what for the next 30 years.