You can see how the opportunities for outrage are going to be endless. ZOMG! Citibank is installing a SUB-ZERO fridge in their new executive suites! How fucking DARE they? What arrogance!
I shouldn’t even bother writing about this stuff, but faux populism is nothing but demagoguery (have you noticed how the Republicans are all jumping on board now?) and will result in the same horrible mistakes in policymaking that THE FEAR did when it was used by the Bush administration.
Don’t let yourself get yanked around on a chain. I’m for a lot of populist legislation, including a much higher marginal income tax rate on the rich, new robust financial regulation, breaking up the big banks and financial services institutions and keeping them separate, and a huge estate tax hike, for starters. I’d love to see Obama go all Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt on Wall Street’s ass. And I am all for throwing people in prison if they committed fraud or other crimes. But let’s stop acting like imbeciles about the TARP funds and how companies are spending it. If we don’t stop acting like Pavlov’s dogs everytime some TARP-fed corporation has an office party, we’ll effectively cripple the first decent administration we’ve had in fifty years.
Use your heads.
Amen.
Perhaps you should tell Josh Marshall to STFU then?
These are all just sympthoms of the major problem: The huge monied interests just got bailed out by us, the regular people and yet those same interests are still calling the shots for the political class. A political class who are not even bothering to listen to anyone advocating a more leftists (for example) position than they are.
That’s the kind of helplessness that leads to cynicism or violence.
This Josh Marshall?
Well, that’s actually David Kurtz, but it’s on TPM’s front-page.
You mean just to the left of the giant picture of Pandit under the screaming headline: “Citi Spending $10 Million On New Executive Sweet”(linking to the story you linked to)? How is that not directly stoking the faux populism?
Well F me. Suite not Sweet.
That would be expensive candy.
On the other hand, wasting such clear and overwhelming public support for real reform of the financial system is just as criminal.
Demagoguery is pointless and stupid as you’ve said. However everything AIG and its brethren has done makes a clear case for a real, positive plan of action: nationalization and breakup of these “too big to be allowed to fail” companies.
We did it to Ma Bell. We did it to Washington Mutual and dozens of other banks over the last year. Let’s finish the job. The time has come for a strong, bold plan to do so. If Obama’s serious about taking responsibility for all this as he said yesterday, then it’s time to start with breaking up the insolvent banks.
There just has to be a moment, when it’s all about to go crazy where our Dear Leader simply has to say:
“Outraged?”
“Offended by the sinful humanity of these corporations’ management? Well. Me too.”
“Now Imagine what would be going on if we DIDN’T have our hands in these pies? The only reason we get to be outraged is that this stuff is coming to light, and it is coming to light because we’ve decided these companies need to be fixed.”
“Fixing Corporate culture is a critical part of fixing what caused these problems, so when we get abused, we know we are dealing with grade A assholes and we’ll treat them as such. Or you could just have them drive us all into the next ditch while we ignore what they are doing. Your call.”
Interestingly, I had a marketing meeting (i.e. drinks) with some local bankers yesterday from a bank that has actually been approving some loans (yippee!). They are a regional bank that has a decent balance sheet (all things considering) but they took TARP funds and say that was what helped them make more loans in the first quarter than they would otherwise not have made. It did exactly what it was intended to do.
This outrage is being fed by progressive bloggers who often don’t know what they are talking about. I was surprised by a blog post I read the other day. I won’t name names but it was someone who has done outstanding work on other matters and excels at pouring through documents trying to figure out what is going on. I realized that this person didn’t have a clue about much of the retention bonus issues though when I read a blog post that implied that there was something deeply nefarious about a clause in those contracts that allowed the executive to collect their bonus if they quit “for good reason”. Now I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t draft or negotiate contracts for a living for not knowing anything about that type of clause and what it is meant to do. But I do think it is irresponsible to have a blog post that raises this as an issue and then lets the commenters just fan the flames of distrust by speculating (erroneously) on what the clause means. Google is your friend. Bloggers need to do their research before they stoke the flames of outrage on issues that just aren’t issues.
Of course this incident will now make me doubtful about ANY outrage this blogger has on issues that I don’t know something about. Which is a shame. But then, as I always say, trust among their readers is an asset that bloggers shouldn’t waste.
How many bloggers are raging against REGIONAL banks? It’s the big institutions like Goldman or AIG or BoA that are getting the hate.
I for one am if not overjoyed at least satisfied with the treatment of regional banks. It’s the national banks the rage is directed against not the people you socialized with.
There’s no reason why ‘progressive bloggers’ should be immune to the manipulations of corporate media; we’ve all been bred to be equally reactive, 20th Century babes that we are.
It’s true.
I think some of the blog outrage is just laziness – the subject matter is too hard to really dig into and understand easily and it’s so much easier to rant (and their readers love rants).
But I also suspect that some of the outrage is real — but is really outrage at the fact that this is the main political (not just economic) story of the day and it is just too complicated for them to really bring anything to it no matter HOW hard they try. Because every day brings them something that they know nothing about. Bloggers are expected (or think they are expected) to write immediately about things. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for research. And it certainly doesn’t leave time to learn an entire area that you know nothing about.
That’s not their fault – people who are experts are admitting that they find this story extremely complicated and the facts are changing every day. But a lot of progressive political bloggers are really smart people who have always managed to bring something to the table in every other political discussion. Not this time.
But when the story turns to populist outrage? THAT, they know how to do.
This seems strange to me. In the last 2 1/2 years that I’ve been an avid financial blog reader I have had almost the exact opposite experience from you. I find the best information on blogs and if I would have relied on the MSM financial press like the WSJ or CNBC I would have been woefully ill-informed. I have gotten a lot more light than heat from the bloggers whereas the establishment press jumps all over themselves to toe the company line and squelch any sort of dissent.
I know some bankers as well. The ones I talk to are not as positive as the ones you talk to, or, at least are honest enough to admit that the intent was never to give TARP funds to banks so they can loan money again (at least to us normal people). The intent was to save these well-connected firms from going bankrupt like normal insolvent firms (not to mention the treatment of insolvent “consumers”). The intent also may have been to cover up a criminal conspiracy.
It all comes down to fundamental differences. The Democratic party is split. A significant number of Democrats, and indeed the party leadership, have swallowed the supply-side corporatist argument: that we need to bail out the largest and most well-connected firms to “save” the economy and get them lending money again. Others, believe the economy can survive losing some of the dead weight that caused these problems in the first place (the huge shadow banking system that grew out of proportion) and need to focus on traditional banking and fixing the social safety net and the regular economy. I believe these fundamental differences will radically change American politics in the years to come. And the bottom 95% of us might start taking what’s ours if change doesn’t come soon enough.
Oh, and on the clause. I’m on an lawyer list serve and I saw a ton of creative and good legal advice re the retention clause and what to do about it. Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is the taxpayers are giving money to the banks with nary a string attached while the blue collar workers and the rest of us are treated differently.
I’m not talking about financial blogs.
I know lots of bankers. Most are not as positive. I was simply sharing a story. Don’t worry, I’ll never do it again. At least not here.
List servs are not political blogs. You’re right – it is beside the point. At least, my point.
Sorry to jump. Your posts are well thought out I enjoy reading them and I like anecdotes so I hope you share in the future.
Here’s an example of my good financial blog I’ve been reading: http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
Strike “my”.
The hamsters have exited the exercise wheel
Why won’t you name names? How can I or anyone, for that matter, check out your sources and your interpretations? Trust is all well and good but I prefer to verify.
I don’t understand why citizen outrage over lavish corporate expenditures on our dime should be categorized as “faux populism.” We have every right to be pissed– in fact, I would be far more troubled if we weren’t.
Humiliating and disciplining the CEO’s who got us into this fix is a necessary part of breaking down the culture of arrogance that fostered their outrageous behavior. We should be celebrating the fact that finally the servile American electorate is riled up about something. It’s about time.
BooMan makes the point that the base emotions of the great unwashed (that’s us) are manipulated extremely easily by media, whose interests are largely distinct from the greater good.
If this is true with regard to the exposure of certain aspects of corporate culture — without any real examination of the culture (of which the MSM especially is an integral part)& its actual societal impact — then, yes, this is a faux populism. In that case, the word ‘populism’ doesn’t even belong in the conversation; it’s only mass manipulation. Mass stimulation. Business as usual.
Outrage without comprehension is always the enemy of progress & can be easily misdirected — at immigrants, liberals, Democrats, the President, whatever. Histories of US media & its political uses make this clear.
The AIG outrage is off the wall around the progressive blogesphere – Mob mentality rules the day. It’s scary. It doesn’t help us in any way. It distracts from the real issues of the day. It also harms Obama’s chances of getting his agenda through.
Booman, Thank you so much for this post. Al Giordano Over at the Field has a very good post up about the AIG outrage
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/banality-outrage
That’s an excellent piece by Al.
TPM cuts to the heart of the problem here: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/03/bigger_than_the_both_of_us.php?ref=fp1
Basically it’s what I said before.
” If we don’t stop acting like Pavlov’s dogs everytime some TARP-fed corporation has an office party, we’ll effectively cripple the first decent administration we’ve had in fifty years.”
wouldn’t be really, really awesome for the gvt to nationalize a shitload of banks so we can be outraged about how they are being run, too?
oh man, AIG x 30. awesome.
it doesn’t matter whether we nationalize them. We haven’t nationalized Citibank and that isn’t stopping people from checking to make sure they’re using Scott’s toilet paper in their executive bathrooms.
sure, we didn’t nationalize city…but they got some of our $.
now, imagine the u s of a outright owning 20-30 of our biggest banks, and us getting to check the TP in every executive suite. awesome.
yeah, that would be awesome. Awesomely depressing.
yes, all well and good, BUT, Obama/Geithner/Summers are the ones who in fact are NOT effectively dealing with the larger, Trillion dollar issues. you can spin the blame for this onto MSM hacks and bloggers.
Obama has failed to send a message to the middle class/poor voters who put Obama in office, by refusing to nationalize AIG and the Zombie banks.
Instead, they are acting exactly like repuglicans by throwing Trillions to the wealthy investor class, while giving US a paltry $8 bucks less per week in payroll tax (IF you even have a job today) and an extra $50 Bucks per month in your unemployment check.
SEE the disconnect?
99% of the pain from the financial disaster is being put on the poor and middle class and Obama is more or less saying, Hoover-like, “just hang in there.. things will get better.. months/years from now, but it will get better”.
face it, the “hope” message only goes so far.
this is weak. let’s not blame Obama’s stumbling on MSM hacks and bloggers.
Instead, they are acting exactly like repuglicans by throwing Trillions to the wealthy investor class, while giving US a paltry $8 bucks less per week in payroll tax (IF you even have a job today) and an extra $50 Bucks per month in your unemployment check.
Yep. I’m kinda curious how long it will take the billions going banks and their banking counter-parties to trickle down to the rest of us?
(oooooh, did you see what I did there?)
right. well, a large part of this whole scam is– can one clownservative hack on mainstream media, rush, or hannity, etc, point to ONE single factory or medium sized business built in the U.S. as a result of the reduced taxes for the wealthy class the last eight years?
Isn’t that always the reason they give for reducing taxes? i.e. our wealthy benefactors are going to invest in businesses which employ US, the ‘little people’?
OK, where did THAT money go? I’ll tell you where: instead of investing in businesses, it went right to the very Wall St. “masters of the universe” Casino in search of greater profits, that’s where it went.
That, or it went to China, India, etc. Few seem to know that GM is investing $3 Billion building new auto manufacturing plants in China.
politicians acting like demagogues?…shocking!
the RATs are even trying to have it both ways….“political circus”, indeed.
Blaming the victims of financial terrorism isn’t going be a politically viable strategy. Nor is invalidating their anger by calling it “faux”. I hear this a lot from conservative and centrist Dems. It’s very revealing to me (as an implicit acknowledgement that the plebes are only being used for support but the Dems bread is really buttered by Goldman Sachs et. al and they don’t really believe in the rhetoric).
Obama and the centrist Dems were able to keep the lid on the anger through the campaign because Bush and McCain were both on his side. Now, as you point out, the right-wing finks have abandoned ship for the most part (Limbaugh and some other conservatives will remain consistent and support Obama on this). So this strategy is done; you’ve lost control and your entreaties to leave the bankers alone will fall on deaf ears.
Ultimately, Obama is choosing to run the country for the benefit of the bankers and not the people and no one should be surprised that there will be backlash. It happens in any country where the oligarchs have taken over.
The let them eat cake message won’t work but I say bring it on because I believe the Democratic party has now become an impediment to change and if Obama chooses to be a Hoover a Hoover he shall be. We need to start all over.
Considered in and of itself, of course the outrage about the $165 mil is silly. But what’s really silly is to look at it in and of itself. It is emblematic of a whole attitude. The very guys who caused this disaster are rewarded, and the public pays. So the issue of the bonuses is extremely important, POLITICALLY, because by putting Treasury and the big bank holding co’s on the defensive, it gives us (i.e. we the people) a political HANDLE ON ThE SCANDAL — the real scandal, I mean, which is the massive socializing of the debt, the pouring of taxpayer money down a black hole, for the benefit massive financial institutions that are insolvent and can never recover. This recovery plan so far has been too much focused on the needs of Wall Street rather than directly on economic recovery. In otehr words I agree with Zandar1.
Nice post. I agree with you and Zandar1. The $165 million does not stand by itself, it must be taken in context. It highlights like nothing else the shameless and irresponsible behavior of the Wall Street plutocrats.
Perhaps, a few financial facts are in order. AIG has received $182 billion in federal aid. It’s stock is worth a few billion dollars. Citigroup got $75 billion from the federal government. Its stock is worth between five and ten billion dollars. The federal government might just as well take over both companies. I don’t think it would do any worse than their present misguided leadership.
Finally, if we are going to solve this financial mess, we must know how bad it really is. What are the true assets of these troubled banks? I mean once you subtract all those toxic derivatives. Time for Timmy boy and his merry elves to come clean with the American people. And, for President Obama to show some spunk no matter what Wall Street coughed up for his recent political campaigns.
symbol trumps reality….again.
the bigger concern is the macro, and we proles are so easily distracted by TP, (a measly few mill, micro), and while looking for scapegoats to verbally guillotine, are allowing the charade, or travesty more like, to go on as if the last year has only been an unfortunate hiccup.
of course the deciders might reason differently if their addy was sacramento tent city, (whip up demagoguery).
its BOTH that are the problem, one because symbols resonate quicker, the other (reality tsunami down pike) because it’s so easily forgotten under the howls of the blog-lynchers.
separating them is just arguing whether the foam on the tidal wave is more important than the main muscle under the surface.
at the end of the day, it’s all one and the same.
obama’s trying to get the guiness book of records prize for doing the widest splits in history, both cuddling geithner et al, and hinting at future green social utopias (after we act nice and keep his wall st donators in business).
anyone else marvelling that the seam hasn’t burst yet?
i guess when the thread’s made of hope, (as in last…), it doesn’t yield easily.
so i hope too.