But hold the presses, there's more!Not only has our President declared that he "did not run for office to be helping out fat cat bankers on Wall Street," he called a bunch of those fat cats to his office to tell them what's what. In a one-hour meeting (via). The President was girding his loins for that confrontation all weekend:
"If they wish to fight common sense consumer protections, that's a fight I'm more than willing to have," Obama told reporters in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the executive mansion.That means he's finally going to rip off the mask and quit playing 12-dimensional chess! He's going to take the gloves off for some bare-knuckle mano a mano! He's going to show the banksters and America and the world what Barack Obama is really made of! (Sawdust, I think.)
Glenn Greenwald is dubious too. He quotes Time magazine:
"It's a p.r. stunt," says an executive at one of the banks that will be getting a dressing-down at the White House meeting. Executives from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are expected to be among those in attendance.
Greenwald remarks:
(image source)
One of the most revealing aspects of the bailout was that it was justified by the increased lending it would enable, yet contained no requirement that the funds be used for that. And, of course, they weren't.
One can say many things about these bankers, but they're typically quite perceptive about matters of self-interest. They don't exactly seem frightened -- or even remotely concerned -- by the presidential "dressing down" they're about to receive. In fact, they seem to think it's all a sham for public consumption. I wonder why they think that.
