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The Boston Globe has posted an interview with Elizabeth Warren (chair of TARP Congressional Oversight Panel).
In the interview she describes what the TARP plan is supposed to accomplish, "Treasury has given us multiple contradictory explanations for what it’s trying to accomplish," the difficulty in getting any information from Treasury, "I’ve spent four weeks now looking for someone who can give me the details of the stress test so that we can do an independent evaluation of whether the stress test is any good" and lots more.
The interview is short and ends with this question:
Q: Is there anything else that you would want people to understand?
A: I don’t have a badge and a gun. The power of this panel is derived entirely from the voice of the American people. If they stay out of the policy debates, then Treasury can spend at will and reshape the American economy with no one in the room but insiders. If they are involved, the policies will look different.
It’s the design of the rules going forward that will tell us or that will determine whether we are moving to a cyclical economy with high wealth, high risk, and crashes every 10 to 15 years. Or whether we will emerge, as we did following the new regulatory reforms in the Great Depression, with a more stable economic system that benefits people across the economic spectrum. It’s an amazing moment in history.
For anyone wanting to know more about Warren, I highly recommend her 2007 interview with Harry Kreisler, The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class: Higher Risks, Lower Rewards, and a Shrinking Safety Net.
87 Comments
Thanks selise.
Recommended.
digg is open
I’m getting hosed up on the Digg. Any ideas?
At the top, under the post’s description is a “Who dugg this?” link. I’d check that and see if your digg shows up.
Another option is to add a comment. IIRC, that will increase the digg total.
Let’s hear it for new regulatory reforms!
Thanks, selise.
Thank you, selise.
Design? Plan? Rules? A roadmap for extricating our country from the strangling grasp of the banksters? Has anyone heard anything of substance on these from Congress or the Administrative branch?
This is precisely right. Warren simply underlines the lack of policy and debate on regulatory reform by the Congress and Administration. For me, Glass-Steagall is the bellwether. When I see a real push to get it re-enacted, I will believe that re-regulation is beng taken seriously.
But let’s be real. We have a process where transparency is an obscene joke, ditto for Congressional hearings, where trillions are being earmarked to the worst, most corrupt, and least productive sectors of the economy, where a stimulus is only marginally stimulative, and where housing remains a forgotten step-child. All the while, the economy continues its inexorable descent into depression. Given this background, do any of us, can any of us, really think that regulatory reform will happen?
Thank you, Hugh. My answer to your last question is, “No”.
I do.
More like her.
Thanks selise.
Thanks.
For some reason I don’t have a recommended icon to click, but recommended by comment.
Mary, I’ve been watching for you! Back on Jim’s Friday diary (does Bybee memo authorize torturing children?), I posted a comment to you at #30. .
Care to comment?
Me, too. Thanks, Selise!
One of my senators is on the Banking committee. I’ll let him know.
Bob in HI
Thanks Selise. Warren gives us some hope.
Obama, Holder, Leahy, Whitehouse, Waxman, Conyers, Pelosi “no one is above the law”
Still waiting
Hi Selise; glad to see the UCTV site referenced; Kreisler has some very interesting guests and does a good job of interviewing.
As Liz Warren says “The power of this panel is derived entirely from the voice of the American people. If they stay out of the policy debates, then Treasury can spend at will and reshape the American economy with no one in the room but insiders. If they are involved, the policies will look different.”; it’s why I am so disappointed with the ‘anewwayforward’ turnout.
ubetchaiam,
How do we get into the debates when Obama pays no attention even to our Nobel Prize winning economists like Krugman, Stiglitz, and Galbraith, the son of another?
This is my serious question, not snark or a put-down.
“How do we get into the debates when Obama pays no attention even to our Nobel Prize winning economists like Krugman, Stiglitz, and Galbraith, the son of another?” ;
massive civil disobedience; mass movement of ‘assets’ from the ‘big banks’(BofA,Chase,Wells Fargo,Goldman,HSBC,Citi,etc.) to credit unions and community banks; educating friends and neighbors; usage of all forms of media to ‘get the message out’; support of those who have spoke out (like Senator Sanders, Feingold,etc.); and to never quit in one’s efforts.
Thanks, ubetchaiam. Doing/done those things. They seem so small.
Selise, thanks! (The recommend button is gone, is that ‘cuz you’re #1?)
Dugg (as Thales11) Congrats Front Page Selise!
So let me get this straight the government won’t tell itself whats going on? This is Bushian BullSh!t
Hey Selise: Thank you for this. I’ve been nagging the hell out of my senators. I’ve also written and called Pelosi’s office, most recently just this morning. If these creeps don’t hear from us (and hear from us, and…), it’s guaranteed that they will do nothing. We must hold their feet to the fire.
Thank you, selise! Elizabeth Warren is my hero, and it sounds like she’s saying WE are her heroes.
Somebody give that woman a gun and a badge, and a seat at the Cabinet table. Let’s rock and roll.
(This diary is front-paged at FDL, so the Rec button has disappeared, FYI)
“Somebody give that woman a gun and a badge, and a seat at the Cabinet table. Let’s rock and roll.”
Seconded.
love that!
Shorter Elizabeth Warren: Treasury is lying. Taxpayers are getting reamed. And lack of transparency ain’t a bug, it’s a big damn feature.
Sigh.
It would help if progressives would actually get PHYSICALLY involved in demonstrations. In SF, there were only about 100 of us involved in picketing the Fed building. There were a fairly good number of cars honking as they drove by. If there were better preparation, and some (any?) coverage by the media-this could have been successful.
What’s needed is young blood. This effort must not be regarded as a failure, but as an entry into the fray. Organizers of such events must start with college campuses, educate and have the students do the recruiting. I’m sure we would find a receptive and enthusiastic audience.
You are correct.
It was a necessary first step.
I agree about college students, but I think unions are a more likely ally in the short run. My guess is that they are scared of offending blue dog Democrats.
I give huge credit to Jane for just pulling the damn trigger. We learn by doing.
The young ones are the ones who are going to have to haul most of the weight of public visibility. For some reason they just haven’t responded as we have wished. I guess things are going to have to get worse and starts to actually affect the students, etc.
It’s too easy to co-opt street actions, I don’t think any of that stuff has near the impact it used to.
I’m afraid you’re probably right but I’ll keep at it.
I agree about the danger of co-opting street actions.
Given the fact, however, that our elected reps spend all their time raising money and the MSM won’t address these issues, I think the option of street action has to stay on the table.
The students are worn down. Thousands in debt to corrupt bankers who raise the interest rate when they cannot pay due to probably not finding work. And the banks come after them hard. There will be a tipping point. Unfortunately, Obama has pushed that back with personality and some favorable measures.
excellent point about the debt.
This is precisely why the students are ripe for recruiting. They are the ones who have nowhere to go in this society. They are very aware of the unemployment figures and it’s only about a month until commencement exercises.
It’s not like Greider, Stiglitz, Black, etc, don’t have the answer. They all say what’s needed in people in the streets. I think this is imminently doable as well as vital. Peop[e are ready to come out of the woodwork if they are believe they are part of a larger movement. Getting there from here is closer than most think.
My youngest is graduating with a masters in nursing in August. She is in Portland right now looking at hospitals. She is finding that even nursing jobs are disappearing. She will owe around $70,000. My oldest is getting her masters in Chinese Med. Has a year to go. She will be in debt to the tune of $150,000 and then have to start a business. I think many students wouldn’t be able to pay their debts. Amy told me she cannot get her license renewed if she leaves the country and doesn’t pay her student loans. And her interest rate is around 8% on some of the loans. I buy lottery tickets every week. Just four dollars worth.
I understand and agree. There is no job market and what must seem like limitless debt to prospective (or recent) grads. My nephew has a tremendous job as a designer with Apple and HE sweats the student loan payments. My only point in that regard is the mounting frustration/anger can easily be channeled into action.
wow. sounds like starting out life in indentured servitude to the banksters.
(((everyone with a student loan)))
…..
dear tim geithner,
please bail out mary’s family and all student loans before bailing out any more banksters.
sincerely,
selise
I second that emotion!
my youngest and I will have a 35,000 dollars debt when she graduates from the Univ of Colorado. Can we get bailed out?
Hasn’t he made a change to do away with the middleman banks and just use direct government loans to students? That ought to be better until we get another crazy Repub prez.
Thanks.
i don’t know… i saw an amazing amount of very smart organizing students/ngos/unions/others in miami at the ftaa protests (missed the earlier ones). so i know there is a reservoir of experience out there. maybe we could suggest to jane to ask starhawk to visit fdl? starhawk is an activist i have a tremendous amount of respect for and she may have some helpful thoughts. just an idea, what do you think?
I’m on starhawk’s list and I too have a great deal of respect for her.
We’ve got two USF campuses and St Pete College. Their attendance at any type of progressive, anti-war, what have you event is very minuscule. I fully agree with marymccurnin’s comment. When the economy really starts to affect them they’ll become active.
the students were active a decade ago (of course, the generational change is every 4 years so that was a long time ago). my (v limited) experience organizing with students was that they were motivated by idealism and outrage over injustice. and working for a just cause with friends can be fun/inspiring.
i first saw starhawk in action in miami (ended up staying in a rented house with her and about 20 other people for a week). imo, she really knows her stuff when the shit comes down. very grounded. very smart, very wise, very compassionate. great writer too. there was a ton of preparatory work in the communities in the months before the actions. i think that kind of thing helps with the issue of co-optation (which i agree is a danger) among other things.
Yes, I should have mentioned unions, as well. They certainly would help from an organizational standpoint. But, I maintain that the youthful energy of students is what is most missing today. I think the will is there, but maybe not the initiative. Those of us with more life experience can certainly give them a little push.
Thanks selise. Liz Warren is awesome.
I want her Elizabeth Warren at the Lake to talk to us if we can get her!
What could she say? Hasn’t she already said she can’t tell what’s going on and nobody will let her know?
I think Warren is telling us two things:
1) The Treasury is acting in a way that is hostile to the interests of most (like 99.9% of) Americans.
2) Obama is unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
How can these conclusions not be drawn from what she says?
Does this mean that every time you see a closed door you assume there’s somebody on the other side doing bad things?
Well done, selise.
Anybody know anything about this guy? A Native American Mormon raises some red flags for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_EchoHawk
Worries me too but American Indians were oppressed by every religion in America and the religions all excused that oppression so just where was an Indian to go to church?
By going to church I don’t mean for spiritual reasons, but to mingle socialize and network you know the reason why many professionals go to church these days its good for a career.
As long as he doesn’t advocate spreading Mormonism to Indians or Mormon values I’m ok with it.
OT:
As long as he doesn’t advocate spreading Mormonism to Indians or Mormon values I’m ok with it.
Evangelism (recruiting) is an obligation of being a Mormon. There’s no such thing as being a Mormon and not advocating spreading Mormonism.
Anyone have a priority list of who we should call/email?
Might be kind of nice to email Treasury, but copy it to an address available to Warren, so it doesn’t disappear into a black hole.
Anyone have a list handy of Congressional committees who oversee Treasury?
Office of Inspector General is still held by a Bush appointee, Eric Thorson. Is he a good focus for our efforts?
Are there any natural allies we have out there, such as an association of small banks or credit unions? It seems to me that they understand that the big insolvent money center banks are just leveraging their failures into the ability to squash their smaller, solvent, competitors.
Is there anyway we could pressure the American Banking Association. AFAIK, they’re just paid thugs for the banksters?
Dodd’s Senate committee on Banking, etc. is the best place to start.
Bob in HI
Thanks.
I donated to Dodd’s presidential campaign. I always mention that when I call his office.
thanks Selise
Noam visited with Amy Goodman today. Interesting take on the economy
the IMF is the “credit communities enforcer”
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think President Obama is any different than President Bush when it comes to the economy? And if you were in the Congress, would you have voted for the bailouts and the stimulus packages?
NOAM CHOMSKY: He’s different. I mean, first of all, there’s a rhetorical difference. But we have to distinguish the first and the second Bush terms. They were different. I mean, the first Bush term was so arrogant and abrasive and militaristic and dismissive of everyone that they offended, they antagonized even allies, close allies, and US prestige in the world plummeted to zero. Now, the second Bush administration was more—moved more toward the center in that respect, not entirely, but more, so some of the worst offenders, like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others, were thrown out. I mean, they couldn’t throw out Dick Cheney, because he was the administration, so they couldn’t get rid of him. He stayed, but the others, a lot of them, left. And they moved towards a somewhat more normal position.
And Obama is carrying that forward. He’s a centrist Democrat. He never really pretended to be anything else. And he’s moving towards a kind of a centrist position. He’s very popular in Europe, not so much because of him, but because he’s not Bush. So there is the kind of rhetoric that the European leaders and, in fact, the European population tend to accept. In fact, you know, even in the Middle East, where you’d think people would know better, they accept the illusions. And they are illusions, because there’s nothing to back them up. So, yes, he is different from Bush.
Same—on the economy, well, you know, the current Obama-Geithner plan is not very different from the Bush-Paulson plan. I mean, somewhat different, but circumstances have changed. So, of course, it’s somewhat different. But it’s still based on the principle that we have to—somehow, the taxpayer has to rescue the institutions intact. They have to remain intact, including the people who, you know, destroyed the economy. In fact, they are the ones who Obama picked to fix it up.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain.
NOAM CHOMSKY: Like Larry Summers, for example, who is now his chief economic adviser. I mean, he was Secretary of Treasury under Bill Clinton. His great achievement was to prevent Congress from regulating derivatives, exotic financial instruments. Well, that’s one of the main factors that led to the crisis.
His kind of senior adviser, one of the first, was Robert Rubin, who was Secretary of Treasury right before Summers. His main achievement—many achievements, like what he did to Indonesia and the third world, but here, his main achievement was to lead the way to revoke the Glass-Steagall legislation from the New Deal, which protected commercial banks from risky investments. It broke down those barriers. Immediately after having done this, he left the government, joined Citigroup as a director, and they began to make huge profits, including him, from picking up insurance companies and so on and making very risky loans, relying on the “too big to fail” doctrine, meaning if we get in trouble, the taxpayer will bail us out, which is just what’s happening, taxpayers now pouring tens of billions of dollars into rescuing Citigroup.
Well, these are the advisers who were supposed to fix up the system. Tim Geithner was right in the middle of this. He was head of the New York Federal Reserve, so, yes, he was supervising these actions. Now, you know, you can argue about whether they’re doing the right thing or the wrong thing, but are these the people who should be fixing up the system?
Actually, the business press just had some interesting things to say about this. Bloomberg News, you know, main business press, had an article in which they reviewed the records of the people who Obama invited to his economic summit. I think it must have been last November or December. They just reviewed the record. I think there were a couple dozen of them. People on the—you know, people like, say, Stiglitz, Krugman, they were never even allowed close to it, let alone anyone from the left or labor and so on, given token representation. So they went through the records, and they concluded that these people should not be invited to fix up the economy. Most of them should be getting subpoenas because of their record of accounting fraud, malpractice and so on, and helping bring about the current crisis.
http://www.democracynow.org/20…..l_economic
this interview with Noam on the economy, Obama, is so worth it. What a brilliant and compassionate person. I had not known that his dear wife had passed. Noam’s insight are a gift to us all.
http://www.democracynow.org/20…..l_economic
i heard that interview this morning and thought it was excellent too. big chomsky fan here.
Sounds like the Stockholm Syndrome to me.
Speaking of Native Americans, there’s a funny bit at the end of Two Worlds. Starts at 50:35 or thereabouts. How the stars came to be in the sky. Click on the Listen Again link.
This on Itunes where can I get it:)
Two Worlds hasn’t done a playlist since Chante Ishta left in October so I have no idea who this guy is. Outstanding Native American show, though. On MNF’s home page, all the way at the bottom on the left is a podcast link.
Thanks good tunes!
committee contact info:
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
534 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
P: (202) 224-7391
F: (202) 224-5137
House Financial Services Committee
Democratic Staff
2129 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Ph: (202) 225-4247
Fax: (202) 225-6952
links to the list of committee members:
House Financial Services Committee
Senate Banking Committee
toll free phone numbers (from katymine) to the capitol switchboard (call one of these numbers and then just ask for any congress member’s office):
(800) 828 – 0498
(800) 459 – 1887
(800) 614 – 2803
(866) 340 – 9281
(866) 338 – 1015
(877) 851 – 6437
Noam
“In fact, that’s another critical part of the way the economy works. The public pays the costs and takes the risk of economic development, and if anything works, maybe decades later, it’s handed over to private enterprise to make the profits. And that’s a core element of the economy. Of course, we don’t permit the third world to do that. That’s considered a violation of free trade when they do it. But it’s the way our economy works. And it’s kind of complementary to the “too big to fail” doctrine of protectionism for financial institutions. But the general—we do not have a capitalist economy. We have kind of a state capitalist economy in which the public has a role: pay the costs, take the risks, bail out if they get into trouble. And the private sector has a role: make profit, and then turn to the public if you get into trouble.”
watertiger up: I, For One, Can’t Afford All Those Wedding Presents!
The sad thing about student loans is that many are returning to school to get the loans so that they will have money to live on. Of course, they go to school and perhaps find work later. Who knows what kind of work and salary they will command. Will they ever pay off their debts?
i’m not joking: i want debt forgiveness on all student loans to be on our to do list. what kind of country doesn’t educate its citizenry without making them go into indentured servitude?
if there are trillions of dollars available to bailout the fucking banksters that means there is $$$ for education and healthcare.
Damn right.
Another factor in street action is the wider issue of mobilizing liberal/progressive blogs on a local level. I have no idea how we do that, I just thought I’d throw it in.
i’ve had this dream for a years that national and local blogs would help amplify and report on local organizing (i think local organizing has to be face to face and using platforms like indymedia).
but other than glenn and jane (primarily) at the rnc last summer, national blogs haven’t done that. seem more interested in mainstream media than democracy now! (which is the only national media i know that does give voice to local street activists and organizers).
i actually got pulled into supporting fdl because of the roots project (which i saw as heading towards something like what i was hoping for), but that project was killed i guess.
anyway, i’ve given this a lot of thought over the years. think it probably requires us blog readers and commenters to be involved in (or at least with) local organizing. but really don’t have any answers. would love to discuss it with anyone else who thinks the topic worth discussion.
Maybe it would be worth looking into pre-book tour guest appearances on national blogs. The blogs cross-publicize not only their guest appearances, but the entire pre-tour slate. When authors follow-up with book store appearances, bloggers already have discussed the issues presented and meet like-minded bloggers.
Just a thought…
i’ve had this dream for a years that national and local blogs would help amplify and report on local organizing … national blogs haven’t done that. seem more interested in mainstream media than democracy now! (which is the only national media i know that does give voice to local street activists and organizers).
Thanks for this post, selise, and I’m struck by your dream. DN is unabashedly left, which most national blogs still are reluctant to be. But the “which side are you on?” moments are coming thick and fast.
There is a real lack of understanding of and respect for street activism at the ‘election head’ sites. Comments at DKos diaries on New Way Forward were truly depressing. In that case, it’s a tone set at the top: Kos does ugly put-downs of Code Pink (just this week equating them with TeaBaggers), even as they are one of the only orgs consistently going after the perps and enablers in public (’FAIL’ at the Paulson-Bernanke testimony, getting a banner on stage during Larry Summers’ appearance at the Economics Club in DC). DK is a particularly bad example; Kos has a problem with feminists and left-wing street activists, so I can see how he’s allergic to CP.
But that basic political assessment — that elections and lobbying are the ballgame and anything else is hippie bullshvt — pervades a lot of big-blog land. [Just to take one example, not one of the bloggers who went to cover the convention said a word about the demos outside except GG.] Combine that with the dawning realization, very early in his term, that a Democratic president is not the people’s friend and not really any kind of progressive on economic issues, and … Well, you said it was a dream.
There’s going to be a brawl in the party. Our best hope to keep the insider-player blogs onside is straight-up political self-interest. As Digby said the other day:
nell, would you email me at gmail? it’s not a big deal, so don’t sweat it if you’re not comfortable with it, though.
amen. and it really pains me that we usually ignore those, like amy goodman, who don’t.
selise @69: Organizing is an organic process and Internet blogs are counterfeit interactions. Do you know any of your counterbloggers personally? I have advocated personal meetingsto confirm real flesh and blood authenticity. My colleague, Jack Martin of Figgers Institute, recently volunteered to travel around the USA interviewing significant Bill Moyers Journal bloggers so that others could confirm their personhood. I am writing words to you now but you cannot feel my presence, see my eyes or hands, share other immediate sensations with me in real time. Human beings are limited in their subconscious and have trouble with realness because of te way media works. If I know Wally on “the Wire” is about to be shot by Body on orders from Stringer i do not drive to Baltimore to try and save him. Neither do I consider the “biggest losers” as actual people struggling with weight and diet and lifestyle. Organizing is as Woody Guthrie considered it in his songs, up close and personal. Egalitarian organizing (as with Miles Horton and Paulo Freire) is the hardest kind. I am heartbroken over anewwayforward but not surprised in a world where intimidating power has become multidemensinal and invasive of all privacy. (see Steven Lukes? Katha Pollitt’s husband’s “Power:A Radical View”) C, Wright Mills never foresaw the intensity of “status panic” or “income anxiety” we face now. I work at Morgan Stanley, but for how long if I write on this blog?
On another front is changing demographics. We see the university as we experienced it long ago, and even assume our children are having a similar experience intellectyally. But that is not so. Witness the erosion of tenure and academic freedom (Norman Finklestein?). Enrollment for business, marketimg and data management degrees has shot up at the expense of the humanities and social sciences. So much of higher education is purely vocational now. I never expect to see nurses pouring into the street for a demonstration considering the type of persons who study nursing and how and what they are taught. And business graduates, even less so. Economics alone amounts to a brainwashing regimen at most schools, and how perfunctory that taught so that the dots are never connected.
So you see selise, I believe you are an intelligent and well-meaning woman, but you don’t yet understand what grassroots education and accomodating outreach will be required to organize people afraid to go anywhere but work and Walmart, maybe with sufficient reason. Zephyr Teachout has learned the lesson of shallow branding I hope, that one scream from Dr. Dean can upset a prarie fire campaign, that brand Obama is only pasive consumption of hopefulness and that anewwayforward will not be has via email. Someone has to be on the ground sincerely listening, and touching hands, and glancing eyes and pitching in. Until you can knock on that bolted door and extend that magic clipboard (maybe now PAD or WiFi laptop) you are not organizing. At best you’re advertising an intangible product to confused “forever strangers.”
I would wecome your thoughts or others’ input on my observations.
yes. i met commenters here starting 3 years ago. the first i met were revdeb and prof foland but kathryn in ma, scarecrow and others soon joined up (roots project). met lots more volunteering in CT for the ned lamont campaign (mostly canvassing).
as i wrote upthread, i completely agree that organizing is ultimately face to face. but that doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be a role for blogs in a diverse ecosystem of activism.
my 2 cents.
p.s. re “accomodating outreach” – no shit (i agree). i’ve tried to make that argument when i’ve had the chance (matt stoller made the mistake of sitting next to me once at a group dinner in CT during the lamont campaign), but also pach and others. mostly i’ve gotten looked at like i’m talking gibberish.
Weren’t you listening to candidate Obama’s campaign speeches?
Poor woman. Ms. Warren is up against a fog she can’t see through. Maybe somebody somebody will explain it to her.
Ruminations on direct action in recessions:
Elizabeth Warren “a more stable economic system that benefits people across the economic spectrum.”
Warren sounds like a damn pinko commmie. or maybe a follower of that socialist Jesus
What was the ‘Roots’ project?
Congressional involvement, when it’s smart and determined rather than just bloviating showboating, can make a huge difference. That’s what Warren’s pointing to. But on top of the corporate buy-off, the Dem-on-Dem aspect of the current situation makes that even less likely than usual. They’re all desperate to give him slack so we can get something on health care and climate change for Dems to run on, and they’re not going to challenge the administration until some of that’s in place. Say… January 2010.
selise etal: Anyone may email GradyLeeHoward @ beretco.op @ hotmail dot com , and i would be happy to hear from anyone with thoughts on organizing.