Henry Paulson, the Treasurer of Wall Street

[Better Believe It]

Paulson, the Treasurer of Wall Street
By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive
October 14, 2008

Is there anyone out there other than Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Bernie Sanders who wonders about the conflict of interest that Henry Paulson has been displaying lately?

He and us are bailing out Wall Street, and we’re barely getting anything in return.

Though we’re buying a financial stake, Paulson is not demanding a change in management, much less a say.

He’s not requiring the banks to halt foreclosures, or to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages.

And he’s not requiring them to stop dealing in the derivatives and credit default swaps that caused the crisis in the first place, even though Senator Charles Schumer of New York urged him on Monday to ensure that the banks engage in “safe and sustainable, rather than exotic, financial activities.”

As Steven Pearlstein notes in the Washington Post, while oddly praising Paulson, the least the bankers could have done was show some gratitude.

“After getting their closed-door briefing yesterday from Paulson on the government's latest initiatives, Wall Street's finest literally ran from the Treasury to their waiting limousines, bypassing a media scrum eager to convey any scrap of wisdom or insight,” Pearlstein writes. “The Wall Street crowd yesterday looked particularly guilty, unable even to conjure up a soothing word to a nation fretting over its shrunken 401(k)s, or a simple thank you to taxpayers for having saved their bacon. Their silence and invisibility throughout this crisis attests to the moral and political bankruptcy of a financial elite that is the perfect match for the financial bankruptcy they have now visited upon their investors, their creditors and their customers.”

Please read the entire article at:

http://www.progressive.org/mag/wx101408.html