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bubble by purposely not regulating the derivatives market, resulting in oceans of money poured into bad loans sold as safe investments.” Scheer impresses upon us the dismal fact “that there are no adults watching the store, only a tiny elite of self-interested multimillionaires and billionaires making decisions for the rest of us.” They will cheat us whenever and as long as we give them that power. President Obama’s economic team also came from and catered to Wall Street and the “demands that its financiers continue to be legally free to plunder. It was the final nail in the coffin of the New Deal, burying the dream that representative democracy could” have leverage over greed and power. Scheer is an excellent writer and passionate about government oversight. He organizes and clearly explains the causes of this sordid chapter in our history, and how we might prevent it from recurring. “How did this happen?” President George W. Bush asked Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Paulson acknowledged that “it was a humbling question for someone from the financial sector to be asked—after all, we were the ones responsible.”
Wall Street as their Republican rivals. The influence of big corporate money far overwhelms that of labor, environmental, consumer, or grassroots organizations, making a mockery of the American ideal of self-government when it comes to reining in the antics of the largest conglomerates of wealth. ~ Excerpted from The Great American Stickup Author Robert Scheer hopes that an alert and informed public will once again grow tired of being ripped off and will organize behind progressive candidates representing the equitable distribution of wealth and opportunities. To prevail in these struggles, voting rights must also be strongly protected. Many Republicans are currently trying to pass state legislation throughout the country to reverse and gut reasonable access to ballots and polling places, according to recent National Public Radio news reports. In this book on the 2008 Wall Street financial meltdown, Scheer traces the deliberate destruction of our regulatory system by influential financial interests, their lobbyists, and their allies amonghighlyplaced elected officials in both political parties. It was “a system that had been functioning splendidly for most of the six decades since it was enacted in the 1930s.” He angrily laments that the enablers
of the destruction and hardships will not only “emerge largely unscathed” but “likely wealthier—from exploiting the newfound bargains in foreclosed properties and bankrupt businesses that this turmoil provides to those with ready cash.” Taxpayers, however, “will foot the bill” for this “giant hustle.” He blames the banking and real estate meltdown on our elected officials. “Worst of all, legislators from both political parties we elect and pay to protect our interests assaulted us instead and changed our laws to” enrich themselves at our expense. Even the mass media—business reporters and editors—“missed the story for years until it was too late.” Those who enabled radical financial deregulation are responsible for the ensuing global recession. Robert Rubin, President Clinton’s Treasury Secretary and former co-chair of Goldman Sachs, “led the fight to free the financial markets from regulation and then went on to a $15-million-a-year job with Citigroup, the company that had most energetically lobbied for that deregulation.” In assessing blame, Scheer refers to Rubin as the “Wall Street and Democratic Party darling, along with his clique of economics super- friends—Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Summers,” in addition to Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson, and others “who inflated a giant real estate
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PATHWAYS—Spring 21—47
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