Elizabeth Warren: “The big banks always get what they want”
Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, is certainly looks to be fighting the good fight. At the conclusion of the Buttonwood Gathering in New York on Fixing Finance, she met with Tech Ticker’s Aaron Task and gave him quite an ear full.
Listen to what she has to say about the way the lay of the land.
On the Obama Administration’s victory lap:
- “It is not the case people go to bed wondering if there will be an economy in the morning," she quips, but "we still have lot of serious problems."
On the banks:
- “They have all the money. they have all the lobbyists.”
- “I don’t understand how they can’t see that the world has changed in a fundamental way – it’s not business as usual. All I can say right now is they seem to be winning this argument.”
On housing:
- "We see things getting worse in the housing market."
- "We have to get foreclosures under control."
On this moment in history:
- “This is a moment when all around the country people are saying we’ve had it about up to here with these large financial institutions that want to write the rule then take our money. I find it astonishing that they have the nerve to show up and say, ‘I’m a big financial institution. I took your money. And now I’m going to lobby against anything that might offer some protection to ordinary families in this marketplace.”
More below in the three part interview. Links below.
Source
Wall St. Is Winning: Elizabeth Warren "Speechless" About Record Bonuses – Tech Ticker
Warren: Housing Market Getting Worse – Tech Ticker
"Astonishing" That Big Banks Are Taking Taxpayer Money, Writing the Rules, Warren Says – Tech Ticker
Everyone’s big sister, Elizabeth Warren, is doing for outraged “progressives” precisely what Obama did for an outraged electorate at this time last year: Creating the illusion that they actually have a voice in an important place that will act on their behalf. Despite all of Ms. Warren’s League Of Women Voters earnestness, the PBS interviews and the oowing and aahing of her starstruck fans, Ms. Warren has all the basso profundo of a 21st century castrato, her role as a watchdog about as effectual as the Baltimore Orioles bullpen. It can hardly be news at this juncture that the financial interests “have all the money, all the lobbyists”, or that “we have to get foreclosures under control”. If well intentioned people are going to persist in the fantasy that the system truly is remediable, they’re going to insist on being shown the beef. And I just don’t think you’re ever going to be able to do that, Elizabeth.
Sorry for the delayed reply. I know you posted similar thoughts at naked capitalism. Very jaded! Yes, the defenders of the status quo do have the upper hand. But, we can’t sit idly by and let things take their course. At a minimum, we need to call the government to account and vote to display our displeasure with specific politicians that are captured. Others are increasingly talking about public forms of protest to voice displeasure. I think that is definitely the way forward – and Elizabeth Warren is doing her part.
“At a minimum, we need to call the government to account and vote to display our displeasure with specific politicians that are captured.”
And, honestly, what would this be likely to achieve, what it has for going on decades now? What you see as “jaded”, Ed, I see as mature. At one point or other, self-respect involves jettisoning faith in parliamentary devices that are simply proprietary objects. It isn’t clear enough that we’ve had our democracy stolen from us, that we are subjects, no longer citizens? You’re in need of further proof? Anyone voting in an election in the United States today simply serves to reinforce the illusion that elections here have real meaning. For those that recognize this reality, even the most vestigial sense of personal honesty requires non-participation. For those that don’t, there’s the continuing self-abasement, of course.
It’s hard to argue with your point. But I am going to keep tilting at these windmills. Let’s see what happens.