President Bailout

Pres. "Bailout Barry" Obama has reportedly insisted that Sen. Dodd stop negotiating with Senate Republicans on the "financial reform" bill. You see, he thinks it's good politics to have Harry Reid hold a cloture vote a day and label Republicans as tools of the Wall St. fatcats. This is a highly cynical strategy considering that the list of major donors to his election campaign looks like a rogues gallery of the architects of the great recession.

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac: $126,349

Goldman Sachs: $994,795

Citigroup: $701,290

JP Morgan Chase: $695,132

Morgan Stanley: $514,881

Even though Goldman Sachs has been charged by the SEC with civil fraud, President Obama has yet to return a penny of their donations. These companies made out like bandits thanks to the American taxpayer through TARP. All we have received in return is a nearly worthless AIG and stakes, along with the UAW in GM and Chrysler.

There is a reason that Goldman and the other big banks support Dodd/Franks, it's because it decreases competition while promising nearly unlimited access to the federal treasury if their future bets go sour like those on the sub-prime mortgage market. The House bill caps taxpayer exposure at $4 trillion, the Senate bill doesn't have a cap, which means unlimited exposure. How is this supposed to prevent the big banks from engaging in risky behavior? This bill is TARP on steroids, HGH and what else you got? Instead it will mean that banks like USAA that serves our military and their family members' will need to curtail the services they provide.

Senate Republicans should hold the line until they get major concessions that will actually benefit average Americans and not the politically connected big banks on Wall St.

Mr. President, Return Goldman's Dirty Dough

The Senate is about to bring the execs of Goldman Sachs in for a dressing down for reportedly making $3.7 billion by shorting the mortgage market. Today's hearing will see the usual bloviating from Senators and incriminating e-mails like:

"According to Sparks, that business is totally dead, and the poor little subprime borrowers will not last so long!!!" Tourre wrote in a March 7, 2007, email to his girlfriend.

and

"Just made it to the country of your favorite clients!!! I'm managed (sic) to sell a few abacus bonds to widow and orphans that I ran into at the airport, apparently these Belgians adore synthetic abs cdo2," Tourre wrote in June 2007

The one missing ingredient from the typical Capitol Hill theatre is a call to return campaign donations from the pariah company/individual du jour. With Enron politicians couldn't get rid of the donations fast enough. Same with Abramoff. With the SEC indicted Goldman, not so much. Considering that Goldman was at the center of the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market that led to the great recession you have to wonder about the double standard.

President Obama received $994,795 from employees of Goldman in 2007 and 2008 at the same time the company was betting that the mortgage market would collapse, taking the American economy with it. He hasn't returned a penny of this blood money. Since his campaign committee, Obama for America simply morphed into Organizing for America, the president has a vehicle to return the cash. If O for A can't cover that amount, the money should come from the coffers of the DNC, since Mr. Obama is the titular head of the Democratic party.

I think $994,795 would make a nice start for a scholarship fund for the children of the miners who died in West Virginia, whose funeral he not only attended, but addressed.