Bill Moyers sits down with William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Black offers his analysis of what went wrong and his critique of the bailout. He spares no one — not even the Obama administration. But his main targets are the Wall Street barons, heirs of an earlier generation whose scandalous rip-offs of wealth back in the 1930s earned them comparison to Al Capone and the mob, and the nickname “banksters.”
This is video clip is 28 minutes worth watching.
In order for us to learn from our generation's modern day version of the “savings and loan debacle” (same behaviours different decade) we need to expose and fully admit what happened this time around. We need to remove and replace the participants with those who can lead us forward by ethical example. The degree to which these issues are vetted and corrected will prove one of the first major tests of integrity for the Obama government.
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As a faithful viewer of Bill Moyers Journal, I caught the Black interview this morning; it's definitely a must-see. Like Black and Moyers, I'm dismayed (but not surprised given their Wall Street connections) by the Geithner/Summers agenda which, as Black pointed out, is indistinguishable from the Paulson agenda. The lack of transparency and accountability gives me little confidence in the future as an investor. Last week's return to “mark-to-fantasy” accounting may juice the markets over the short term but it does not bode well for the long-term health of the financial system in general and the zombie U.S. banks in particular. Like Arianna Huffington in the article linked below, I think the Obama administration could help restore some of its lost credibility by firing or demoting Geithner:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/geithner-unable-to-escape_b_178006.html