Obama The Great

Yesterday we experienced more vintage Obama rhetoric while he announced the proposed financial system overhaul. "Millions of Americans who have worked hard and behaved responsibly have seen their life dreams eroded by the irresponsibility of others and by the failure of their government to provide adequate oversight. Our entire economy has been undermined by that failure." Truer words have never been spoken. But his policy has been to bail out the irresponsible while ignoring the damage done to the responsible.

Has Tim Geithner, President of the monetary policy implementing and Wall Street bailout managing New York Federal Reserve Bank at the time the major commercial banks were conducting their irresponsible activities, suffered any consequences from his participation in the debacle? No, he was rewarded by being appointed US Treasury Secretary by Obama even though he was discovered to have cheated on his taxes.

Did Alan Greenspan and then Ben Bernanke, Chairmen of the Federal Reserve while the economic system was becoming overleveraged due to the Fed's accomodative monetary policy, suffer any consequences from their central position in the financial catastrophe? No. Alan Greenspan managed to get out before the crap hit the fan and Ben Bernanke is still the Fed Chairman.

Have Barney Frank or Christopher Dodd, perhaps two of the most blameworthy protagonists responsible for creating the housing bubble by being the Congressional mouthpieces and cheerleaders for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ever suffer any consequences for their actions? No, they remain in their jobs as chairmen of the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee, respectively, and spend their time blaming everyone but themselves for the disaster.

Have top bureaucrats at the federal regulatory agencies that were asleep at the switch in providing oversight for the financial industry suffered any consequences of their negligence? Not that I know of.

How about the top executives at the major banks, insurance companies and Wall Street investment firms who were the major players in the fiasco? Less than a handful at the very top lost their jobs, but received exceedingly generous severance packages. Others may see their compensation packages temporarily curtailed, but they will still have jobs making much more money than those they fleeced.

The mega-rich hedge fund and pension fund managers who played the game of investing in the worthless crap have also not exactly had to sell their multi-million dollar apartments in New York and London, mansions in Greenwich, homes on the French Riviera, yachts or corporate jets. Many took some hits, but they should have been wiped out. Most will soon be back taking advantage of the gullible victims again.

All of this is what is so infuriating about Barack Obama. He is skilled at saying the right thing, but does the opposite. You have to watch what he does, not listen to what he says.

Will the new rules announced yesterday about overhauling the financial system make any difference? The Wall Street Journal said it best. "The main idea behind the Obama Administration's new financial revamp is essentially this: With more power and a modest reshuffling of the bureaucratic furniture, the same regulators who missed the last credit mania will somehow prevent the next one."

Most of the "historic" proposals were things the government was already supposed to be doing. The plan is really nothing more than public relations damage control by changing a few names and reassigning responsibility. Dealing with the financial collapse should not be that difficult or complicated. It is not hard to recognize the one common thread running through the whole meltdown - debt. Debt should be less easily obtained, and the consequences for default should be more severe - for both the borrower and the lender. Let the bankruptcy laws work, and stop meddling. But the government won't. And over time, the financial vultures will again capitalize on the incestuous relationships with regulators or catch them asleep at the post and figure out new ways to devour the public.