2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDismissing Bernie’s Supporters as “a Mob” and the Great Recession as No Big Deal
2/23/2016
William K. Black
February 23, 2016 Bloomington, MN
In an unintentionally hilarious piece evincing exceptional moral blindness, Mr. Womack, a journalist, writes to Bernie.
Senator, you are forming a mob of angry, misinformed people and then turning it on the likely Democratic nominee. That, Senator, is a dangerous and destructive game. Does your campaign honestly wonder why it has become synonymous with nasty online invective?
Gosh, I would have thought that nasty online invective might call tens of millions of Americans a mob of angry, misinformed people who were dangerous because they were backing a candidate for the nomination who is not the likely Democratic nominee. The idea that in an electoral nomination contest one is not allowed to criticize the current leader in delegates is, to be gentle, novel. It is certainly not the approach that either then Senator Sanders or then Senator Clinton took when they trailed each other at various points eight years ago.
The journalists libel of progressive voters is similar to President Obamas infamous slander of the American people when he was talking to the Nations most powerful banksters. My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks. That was a slander because the American people wanted justice, not a mob lynching. Womack uses the same mob meme to slander people who make up the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
The journalist thinks Wall Street, the Fed, and the systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs) are working great because there are stress tests. The implication is that this means the SDIs will not fail. Here is a partial list of SDIs that passed stress tests often weeks before they collapsed.
Fannie
Freddie
Lehman
Bear Stearns
AIG
The three giant Icelandic banks
The biggest and worst Irish banks
WaMu
IndyMac
As the journalist says, he has no expertise in economics, banking, regulation, or white-collar crime. He also is plainly deliberately selective and deceptive. For example, he makes a big deal of the fact that Bernies plan begins by identifying the SDIs, because we are already in the process of creating such a list. Bernies plan calls for getting rid of the SDIs because the way you make that list (which is currently euphemistically called systemically important) is because when (not if) the next one fails the experts believe it is likely it will cause a global financial crisis. Womack simply ignores that substantive point and tries to make it sound bizarre that Bernies plan calls for the completion of identifying the SDIs.
in full: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2016/02/dismissing-bernies-supporters-mob-great-recession-no-big-deal.html
TheLogicalSong
(44 posts)What a beautiful day that will be.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)pitch fork. only clowns and 1% believe this kind of shit. May he have to pay yuuuuge taxes for the rest of his miserable life and may he live forever. I want to slap his mother.
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)they really should just sit this out.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)mmonk
(52,589 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)OnyxCollie
(9,958 posts)BernieforPres2016
(3,017 posts)He was involved in prosecuting many of them in the aftermath of the S&L scandals of the 1980's and has often noted how no banksters were prosecuted following the vastly greater 2008 financial meltdown.
Hillary's idea that regulators can just keep an eye on these monstrous investment banks and shut them down or break them up when they start getting into trouble is ludicrous, as Black points out. I doubt a lot of people are aware of this, but the common stock of Deutsche Bank, the 11th largest bank in the world in assets (Chinese state owned banks are the top 4), is currently trading below its 2008-09 lows. With the collapse in oil prices, which creates problems with oil related credit including the debt of countries that are heavily dependent on oil revenues, and an extremely flat yield curve, the position of the too big to fail banks is deteriorating again. Take a look at the performance of their stock prices over the last year or two.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)It's just win at any cost. Not the kind of people we want setting the course for the nation.
jillan
(39,451 posts)No matter what the outcome of this primary season, Bernie has already won. He has exposed the wall street crooks & the public is now aware, and that will not go away even after a new President is sworn in.
mountain grammy
(26,624 posts)or a teabagger! If you can't attack the candidate, attack his supporters.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Punx
(446 posts)As to Womack, "Go jump in a Lake!".
I guess I'm just imagining and misinformed that the manufacturing my wife supported moved to China due to "Most Favored Nation Status", and the consequences to us, 100's of k of lost income. Where are all those jobs that "Free Trade" is supposed to create?
Or our friends, who through bank fraud lost their house. Our friends had a case, but their lawyers said the bank would bleed them dry in delays before they could get their "Day in Court".
And don't get me started on TPP or TTIP.
btw. I have a great deal of education and experience in economics, finance and accounting. I've worked in banking, manufacturing, retail and other spots over the years. So misinformed? Not so much I think.
So if I seem a little irritated with those making the rules, DEAL WITH IT!
WillyT
(72,631 posts)VulgarPoet
(2,872 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)within their borders, while our lot was an ocean away.
And the guillotine thing.
Chicago1980
(1,968 posts)I'd say fanatics.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)I'd say real people...not starry-eyed by celebrity.
Billsmile
(404 posts)Was that he meant to say, "It is certainly not the approach that either then Senator Obama or then Senator Clinton took when they trailed each other at various points eight years ago."
Billsmile
(404 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Milliesmom
(493 posts)Apparently the man has not seen Trump crowds, with the Hitler salute and KKK hoods , screaming, beating protesters ,better watch this one from afar.
erlewyne
(1,115 posts)Very good Post Jefferson23. I sure like the
DUers that have responded to your Post.
Thanks everyone!!!
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)merkins
(399 posts)Damn Right!
Duppers
(28,125 posts)Fairgo
(1,571 posts)Ignorance is incredibly freeing but in the end it leaves you isolated, alone, and debased.
Listen to Bernie, we can help you excise this moral tumour. You'll thank me for the clarity of thought.