The looting of America

By Michael J.W. Stickings

If you haven't yet, make sure to read this:

Glenn Greenwald: "Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government." Key passage:

Just think about how this works. People like [Robert] Rubin, [Larry] Summers and [Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) head Gary] Gensler shuffle back and forth from the public to the private sector and back again, repeatedly switching places with their GOP counterparts in this endless public/private sector looting. When in government, they ensure that the laws and regulations are written to redound directly to the benefit of a handful of Wall St. firms, literally abolishing all safeguards and allowing them to pillage and steal. Then, when out of government, they return to those very firms and collect millions upon millions of dollars, profits made possible by the laws and regulations they implemented when in government. Then, when their party returns to power, they return back to government, where they continue to use their influence to ensure that the oligarchical circle that rewards them so massively is protected and advanced. This corruption is so tawdry and transparent -- and it has fueled and continues to fuel a fraud so enormous and destructive as to be unprecedented in both size and audacity -- that it is mystifying that it is not provoking more mass public rage.

I remain a staunch supporter of the president, and I realize that getting things done often means making deals that put expediency ahead of principle (and that fixing Wall Street and the banks means doing just that), but there is a lot going on here that is, simply, disgusting.

It isn't change we can believe in if the same old crooks are committing the same old crimes -- and being allowed to get away with it.