Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters has a bit between one-time sorta-conservative Andrew Sullivan and CNBC business analyst Becky Quick and has this to say about Sullivan’s characterization of Wall Street as “parasites” and Quick’s vibrant defense of our financial system:
As readers know, Wall Street bashing has been all the vogue the past few years since the 2008 financial collapse with some good reason. However, most presidents throughout this country’s history have known that our system of capitalism is very much based on banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies, and that our economy cannot grow without a strong financial services industry.
Irrespective of his obvious socialist leanings, even Barack Obama understands the importance of Wall Street, as he was one of many Democrats to vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008 along with his current Vice President Joe Biden and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…
…Despite their posturing and finger-pointing at Wall Streeters, when push came to shove in the fall of 2008, even Democrats realized the first thing needed to prevent a total meltdown of our economy was a stabilization of the financial services industry.
Sullivan has either forgotten that or is ignorant.
Nice job by Quick to remind him.
Not being one to normally defend Sullivan, here I have to speak up for him – he is dead right. Of course, Sheppard is a bit right, too. You see, we do need a strong financial services industry – unfortunately, what we’ve got is a bunch of parasites who have taken our financial services industry and turned in to a crap game where all losses are covered by the taxpayer. Not to put too fine a point on it, what we needed in 2008 was precisely a complete meltdown. The reason we’re still wallowing in the economic doldrums – and heading back towards recession – is because we passed TARP and stimulus and essentially propped up a lost game.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a vital role for the banker in our society. The trouble is that we have JP Morgan/Chase and don’t have a J. P. Morgan. Ever seen a picture of the old J. P.? Here ya go. He looks like a hard-nose financial guy who is always thinking about money – how to protect what you’ve got and pile up more. Here’s a picture of the guy who runs JP Morgan/Chase today, Jamie Dimon. Just screams “how can I get a bigger bonus and then jump ship?”. Its the difference between having your bank run by “JP” and having it run by “Jamie”. People like JP provided the financial sinews for turning America in to the most powerful, productive economy in the world. People like Jamie are turning us in to a Third World backwater.
The main thing which bugs me about defenders of capitalism today is that they wind up defending the most indefensible aspects of it – the dregs of the free market; the juiced-in, politically connected, Ivy-League educated dimwits who took the most vibrant and creative economy in the world and turned it in to a basket case. What sort of cretin do you have to be if you are living a lavish, American life but then figure that the next pot of investment money should go to build a factory in China, or open a mine in Chile? What kind of American, capitalist CEO are you if you’re best buds with a President who (a) never worked a day in his life and (b) thinks we should impose policies which will necessarily make energy costs skyrocket?
Don’t get me wrong here – the leftist critique is even more idiotic. Hypocritical, too, as the same left which condemns capitalism will lick the boots of any rich man who comes along with a grant for a liberal cause.
To me, the worst thing we can do is defend “capitalism”. We should be defending the free market – and free people. We should be wanting neither Big Government nor Big Corporation. We should be working for an economy geared towards the average American; towards the small and mid-sized producers of actual goods; towards the man and woman trying to raise a family of decent, educated, law-abiding children. Everyone else can get stuffed.
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