88% Growth to Corporations, 1% to Wages

BLOWING WHISTLES

ed: Why are banks and corporations not sharing the sacrifice while many of the rest of us abandon the American Dream?

Because we never forced them to do so?

An example of what I mean: Today the French authorities told banks that they would have to reduce charges on their automatic teller operations. The total amount in lost revenue to the banks is expected to be about 650 million euros. Which means savings to consumers that they can spend elsewhere. (And get the damn economy going again.)

Can you imagine the Treasury telling American banks to do the same? I can't.

Well, that's the difference between Social Democracy in Europe and just plain vanilla Democracy in the US. That is, the singular most difference is that European governments, that is, the representatives of the people, have little compunction in interfering in business operations.

Whereas to do so in the US is tantamount to a heinous crime, one would think the way the Chamber of Commerce and other hacks raise their hue and cry against BigGovernment Intervention.

A CASE IN POINT

From today's The Daily Beast, titled, "Will the GOP Topple Warren?" (of the Consumer Protection Agency):

The march to create the CFPB has developed into yet another intensely partisan hurricane whipped into being by a frothing Republican opposition. And sitting in its eye, trying to hire staff, put systems in place, and keep a forceful hand on the rudder, is Elizabeth Warren. One of the country’s leading experts on the slew of issues that affect families and their money, Warren ran the oversight panel that monitored the success of the TARP bailout. The CFPB—an agency designed to protect consumers from financial fraud on mortgages, credit cards, and other loans—was her idea in the first place, and when lo and behold the final version of the Dodd-Frank bill actually included it (a touch-and-go drama for months), she was the natural choice to head it. Which is why Barack Obama named her the interim chief.

But she wasn’t a natural to everybody. Banks and lending institutions of all stripes—national, regional, community, you name it—believe she’s drawn a target on their backs and will cost them and their customers money. Republicans, of course, agree. She’s even hit potholes within the administration: As TARP overseer, she gave some pretty tough grilling to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was said to oppose her interim appointment.

The industry lobbying groups—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Banking Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and others—have been pushing hard against her and the agency, as Ari Berman reported in detail in The Nation in June. The resistance appalls her defenders. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who has been pushing hard for her, says he finds it especially galling because he thinks she’s gotten a bump rap and is sure her opponents’ fears about her “would be allayed within a matter of months.”

So, after the greatest economic contraction in half a century that has laid low consumers across the land, the Replicants are still pushing against an Agency that might blow too many whistles next time around.

And there will be a next time. Finance regularly concocts some monumental scheme that breaks all records in terms of public scandal. Sure as hell, they will do it again. Particularly if there is no one around to blow the whistle.

MY POINT

It is more pertinent than ever that a Progressive Agenda draws a line in the sand by enlarging, not diminishing, government regulatory oversight of key markets. Let's start with Finance. (Then let's go on to Health Care.)

How do we get that done? By throwing out the Bluedog Dems and Troglodyte Replicants at the next election.