In short, we knew that (once again), that the agenda of certain corporate-friendly politicians and bureaucrats was not to truly bolster our nation's economy but to funnel cash to the same big-time execs who had run our nation's financial institutions (and economy) into the ground.
And we continue to see evidence that helping the big fish while ignoring the little fish does not create long-term economic health. The New York Times tells us:
"A year after Washington rescued the banks considered too big to fail, the ones deemed too small to save are approaching a grim milestone: the 100th bank failure of 2009.
"In what has become a ritual, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has swooped down on a handful of troubled lenders almost every Friday, seizing 98 since January alone and putting their assets into the hands of another bank.
"While the parade of failures still represents a mere fraction of America’s small banks, it underscores a growing divide between them and large institutions like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bancorp, which are slowly growing stronger as the economy improves." (New York Times)
Incidentally, I have to wonder what that NY Times writer means when suggesting that our nation's economy is improving.
Yes, some of the big banks may be doing better, but they enjoyed billions in tax dollars in bailout funds. Many of the executives and managers are still doing beautifully, as they keep finding rationalizations for funneling shareholder dollars into their own personal bank accounts.
On the flip side, from March through August, Americans were losing their houses at a rate of more than 300,000 per month. (Bloomberg) Meanwhile, some of the same big banks that took tax-dollar-funded bailouts were looking for any excuse they could find to raise the interest rates on ordinary folks' credit cards.
Meanwhile, by the end of August, there were only 2.4 million jobs open in our nation. That seems to mean, necessarily, that more than 12 million people simply will not get jobs -- no matter how hard they try.
If ordinary folks don't have jobs, they don't have much money to spend on things like cars, computers, restaurant meals, new clothes.... The less money ordinary folks spend on such things, the less money businesses have to continue employing people.
The more jobs that disappear, the less money is spent at businesses, meaning the less money businesses have to continue employing people. And so on....
I often wonder if some of the media folks who trumpet about our improving economy are over-stating the case -- and if so, why? Is it lack of understanding?
Is it an attempt to inspire false confidence, so that people will start behaving as though the economy is better than it really is? If so, is that supposed to actually make the economy better? Will confidence (even false) create jobs? Save people's houses? Force banks and credit-card companies to behave ethically?Below are a few comments from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman:
"Stocks are up. Ben Bernanke says that the recession is over. And I sense a growing willingness among movers and shakers to declare “Mission Accomplished” when it comes to fighting the slump. It’s time, I keep hearing, to shift our focus from economic stimulus to the budget deficit.
"No, it isn’t. And the complacency now setting in over the state of the economy is both foolish and dangerous.
"Yes, the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration have pulled us “back from the brink” — the title of a new paper by Christina Romer, who leads the Council of Economic Advisers. She argues convincingly that expansionary policy saved us from a possible replay of the Great Depression.
"But while not having another depression is a good thing, all indications are that unless the government does much more than is currently planned to help the economy recover, the job market — a market in which there are currently six times as many people seeking work as there are jobs on offer — will remain terrible for years to come...."
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Grayson Wants Bernanke to Fess Up About Secret Loans
* Debtor Revolt: Bank of America Goes Too Far
* Public Option Needed Because Private Insurers are Robbing Us
* Justice Department Cracks Down on Medicare Fraud
* Gay Rights: Is Obama Merely Talking Again?
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