On Which Street Will Obama Walk?

[babsbunny]

http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/?p=3468

Here’s a fact. Obama cannot walk on both Wall Street and on Main Street at the same time. Any appearance that he does so is mere pretense. To walk on Wall Street is to oppose Main Street. To walk on Main Street is to oppose Wall Street. It was not always so. Before the repeal of Glass-Steagall, Investment Banks served to transfer wealth, and Commercial Banks served to provide the loans needed to fuel the economy. Now all have flocked to investment, because that’s where the most money can be made. Nobody is fueling the economy. Unless government does so, funding the effort with funds from the beneficiaries of unprecedented upward transfer of wealth, the economy will continue to wither. The economy depends on jobs here to benefit Main Street. Transfer of wealth depends on keeping wages here depresses and transferring jobs offshore to benefit Wall Street. On which Street will Obama walk?

[Autumn]

1. Wall street would be my guess n/t

[ProSense]

2. Let's see:

BIGGEST. TAX CUT. EVER...:

Chris Hayes had a similar observation.

On the politics side of the ledger, Ben Smith notes Obama's emphasis on the tax cuts in the bill. I'm not necessarily a fan, though politically it's true that every single Republican member of congress can now be accused of "Voting against the biggest tax cut in history" come next election." Clearly, this hasn't escaped the White House's notice.

The ARRA:

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA (Pub.L. 111-5), is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009. The Act of Congress was based largely on proposals made by President Barack Obama and was intended to provide a stimulus to the U.S. economy in the wake of the economic downturn. The measures are nominally worth $787 billion. The Act includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, and infrastructure, including the energy sector. The Act also includes numerous non-economic recovery related items that were either part of longer-term plans (e.g. a study of the effectiveness of medical treatments) or desired by Congress (e.g. a limitation on executive compensation in federally aided banks added by Senator Dodd and Rep. Frank). The government action is much larger than the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which consisted primarily of tax rebate checks.

Add to that the home buyers credit, cash for clunkers and student financial aid.

Krugman on health care:

Guys, this is a major program to aid lower- and lower-middle-income families. How is that not a big progressive victory?

link

Liberals cheered when Elizabeth Warren was appointed interim director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after a long internal fight. The bureau, which Warren first proposed in 2007, is one of the more expansive innovations of the financial-reform law known as the Dodd-Frank Act.

<...>

The miracle of Dodd-Frank is that it got stronger as it moved through the process. The question now is whether that forward momentum will be reversed. Because the factions in the executive branch mirror those in Congress, it's worth looking back at the legislative story.

The Senate has been the graveyard of most progressive reforms of the Obama era. In the case of financial regulation, though, the bill reached the Senate just as the economic crisis was worsening and Wall Street had become politically radioactive. A backbench revolt of relatively junior senators like Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Ted Kaufman of Delaware, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas unexpectedly succeeded with floor amendments that toughened regulation of financial derivatives and conflict-of-interest prohibitions. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama, shocked into action by Scott Brown's January 2010 election to the Senate, embraced what he called the Volcker Rule -- a partial return to the pre-1999 Glass-Steagall separation of federally guaranteed commercial banking from more speculative investment banking and proprietary trading of securities.

<...>

Reformers ultimately prevailed on a few key issues, including tough regulation of financial derivatives, the Volcker Rule, and Warren's consumer protection agency, while the moderates and their Wall Street allies were able to block other proposals outright, such as breaking up the big banks. But time after time, to gain the support of key swing votes, the bill's managers had to punt details to the executive branch

link

Elizabeth Warren Helped Shoot Down Bill That Would Have Sped Foreclosures

[Oceansaway]

3. Wall Street..that was easy....nt

[NorthCarolina]

4. My guess: Wall Street. He's already there, so Main St. would be a long walk back. nt

[Catherina]

5. Need one even ask ? n/t

[xchrom]

6. recommend

[_ed_]

7. Walk?

He downright lives on Wall Street. He got more than any other candidate in history from the banking sector, and he didn't get a damn thing in return. Stunningly naive.

[Individualist]

8. No brainer. Wall Street.