Obama Hits Wall Street

[illinoisprogressive]

Obama is going to roll out different points in his policy over the next few days.
From what I've read so far, and I am not talking as a supporter, it is extreemly impressive. Why things like this don't get more coverage and discussion rather than the news spending most of it's day gorging on OJ, something no one cares about except for themselves.
I urge you to take the time to read this.
I am amazed how the average voter doesn't bother to take the time to just read and listen to what this man is saying. It is important what Obama has to say.




Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) went to the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square this morning to call for greater openness and transparency on Wall Street – an approach that echoed his choice of Detroit for a speech in May taking on auto companies.

Pointing to the bundles of subprime mortgages that received rosy ratings and later experienced a high rate of defaults, the Democratic presidential candidate called for “an immediate investigation of the relationship and business practices of rating agencies and their clients.”

“The failure of government to exercise adequate oversight over the rating agencies will cost investors and public pension funds billions of dollars – losses we have not yet fully recognized,” he said in prepared remarks. “If the public comes to view this like the accounting analyses of Enron, the markets will be ravished by a crisis in confidence. … We must take steps to avoid that at all costs.”

snip-

Obama’s text said he’ll be laying out a three-part economic agenda in coming weeks:

—On Tuesday morning in Washington, he’ll talk about tax fairness, and release what he calls “a plan to modernize and simplify our tax code so that it provides greater opportunity and more relief to more Americans.”

“For far too long, our tax code has been so riddled with special-interest loopholes and giveaways that it’s shifted the tax burden to small businesses and middle-class Americans,” he said.

—Next will come steps that he says will “ensure America’s competitive edge in the 21st century.”

“This starts with providing every American with a world-class education from cradle to adulthood,” he said. “China is already graduating four times as many engineers as we do and that our share of twenty-four-year-olds with college degrees now falls somewhere between Bulgaria and Costa Rica.”

—Finally, he will offer what he calls a plan “to modernize and strengthen America’s safety net for working Americans.”

“Like all of you, I believe in free trade,” he said. “But we have to acknowledge that for millions of Americans, its burdens outweigh its benefits. … I believe we all have a stake in embracing policies that will provide them with a sense of security. That means health insurance and a pension that they can always count on. That means skills and training that can actually help people find a job. And that means wages that actually make work pay.”


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5855.html

[sandnsea]

1. those who "lobby their way to loopholes"

This is good! I agree, his speeches need reading. People complain he doesn't have meat, but that's because they never bother to listen to what he has to say.

"..The quick kill is prized without regard to long-term consequences for the financial system and the economy. And while this may benefit the few who push the envelope as far as it will go, it's doesn't benefit America and it doesn't benefit the market. Just because it makes money doesn't mean it's good for business.

It's bad for business when boards allow their executives to set the price of their stock options to guarantee that they'll get rich regardless of how they perform. It's bad for the bottom line when CEOs receive massive severance packages after letting down shareholders, firing workers and dumping their pensions; or when they throw lavish birthday parties with company funds.

It's bad for competition when you have an Administration that's willing to approve merger after merger with barely any scrutiny. Such an approach stifles innovation, it robs consumers of choice, it means higher prices, and we have to guard against it.

And it's bad for the market when there are over $1 trillion worth of loopholes in the corporate tax code, or when some companies get to set up a mailbox in a foreign country to avoid paying any taxes at all. This means a greater share of taxes for Americans and small businesses that are trying to compete but can't afford to lobby their way to more loopholes.

It also means that investment goes to the companies that are best connected instead of the ones that are most productive. Economics 101 tells us special interest politics distorts the free market. After all, why would an oil company invest in research for alternative fuels that could save our environment when they can get billions of dollars in subsidies to keep drilling for oil and gas?

These anti-market, anti-business practices are wasteful, unproductive, and antithetical to the very spirit of capitalism. They benefit the undeserving few at the expense of hardworking Americans and entrepreneurs who play by the rules..."

[Colobo]

2. No pandering- Just telling it like it is.