Brilliant interview! If I were to paste all my favorite parts, it would be almost the entire piece. I just started reading a copy of “Implementation” written in 1984 and recommended by Jen. As much as things change, they stay the same.
"There's a new book called The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. He says, take any scandal over the past 20 years. When the news first breaks of this scandal, everyone goes, we're going to have to hold these people accountable.
And then you follow the commission that investigates it, or the journalism, or the official investigation. They almost always come out with, “There's not really anybody to blame."
There were dozens of moronic steps taken by congresses, legislative agencies, and factors beyond any one individual's control (i.e., stagflation) that played a very large role in creating the crisis. Yet somehow we managed to throw about a thousand bankers in jail for fraud. Bill Black's "The best way to rob a bank is to own one : how corporate executives and politicians looted the S & L industry" is a must read on this. https://archive.org/details/bestwaytorobbank0000blac
Compare that to Obama's complete failure to hold anyone accountable for the GFC, much less change the rules in any significant way to prevent it happening again. Which I'm sure had nothing to do with Citibank handpicking his cabinet. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html
And ultimately, his decision to intentionally maximize the number of foreclosures on poor people by giving banks a pass on robo-signing, to "foam the runway" for Wall Street. https://prospect.org/economy/needless-default/ Destroying the majority of black wealth in the process. And since partisan politics necessitates that criticizing your own party results in being outcast (Cornel West, Denis Kucinich, ect), and the GOP was in favor of all of these policies, the only criticism he got for being an awful president came from the lunatic fringe racists right. which only further endeared him to the people he screwed most.
Wow, this was so good. So much gold. The refrain of "culture eating policy" really resonated.
Brilliant interview! If I were to paste all my favorite parts, it would be almost the entire piece. I just started reading a copy of “Implementation” written in 1984 and recommended by Jen. As much as things change, they stay the same.
"There's a new book called The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. He says, take any scandal over the past 20 years. When the news first breaks of this scandal, everyone goes, we're going to have to hold these people accountable.
And then you follow the commission that investigates it, or the journalism, or the official investigation. They almost always come out with, “There's not really anybody to blame."
And taking these investigators and/or commissions at their word is pure lunacy. Take the S and L banking crisis of the 80's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_and_loan_crisis
There were dozens of moronic steps taken by congresses, legislative agencies, and factors beyond any one individual's control (i.e., stagflation) that played a very large role in creating the crisis. Yet somehow we managed to throw about a thousand bankers in jail for fraud. Bill Black's "The best way to rob a bank is to own one : how corporate executives and politicians looted the S & L industry" is a must read on this. https://archive.org/details/bestwaytorobbank0000blac
Compare that to Obama's complete failure to hold anyone accountable for the GFC, much less change the rules in any significant way to prevent it happening again. Which I'm sure had nothing to do with Citibank handpicking his cabinet. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html
Also, his failure to do anything to fix the problem, besides trying to propagandize the public into thinking he fixed it.; https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/the-empire-continues-to-strike-back-team-obama-propaganda-campaign-reaches-fever-pitch.html
And ultimately, his decision to intentionally maximize the number of foreclosures on poor people by giving banks a pass on robo-signing, to "foam the runway" for Wall Street. https://prospect.org/economy/needless-default/ Destroying the majority of black wealth in the process. And since partisan politics necessitates that criticizing your own party results in being outcast (Cornel West, Denis Kucinich, ect), and the GOP was in favor of all of these policies, the only criticism he got for being an awful president came from the lunatic fringe racists right. which only further endeared him to the people he screwed most.