2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumIn light of its Big Backers, can Democrats really criticize Trump's awful remarks?
The high dungeon being expressed over Trump's asinine remarks about profiting from the housing crisis is a perfect example of what a moral sinkhole the country has fallen into.
And how the Democrats cannot claim the high ground.
Trump was merely expressing, in a particularly blunt and tactless way, the Standard Operating Procedure of the New Corporate United Wall Street of America -- Cause and Profit from the Misery of Others.
That's the mentality of many of the the Big Corporations and Wall Streeters that are pumping money into the Democratic Party.
If it were not so tragic, there is a strong irony of all the moral outrage being expressed in opposition to Trump's statement by the same people who are in bed with those who do that daily.
And the fault was with the people who drove this speculative craze by knowingly peddling bad merchandise and continually driving the markets upward. Think, for example, of Citigroup, which was selling huge masses of mortgage securities even as its traders were saying things to each other like, "We should start praying… I would not be surprised if half of these loans went down."
We know the names of many of these companies because many of them have agreed to pay huge settlements for their involvement in selling mismarked mortgage securities.
Four of them — the aforementioned Citigroup, along with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan Chase — are among Hillary Clinton's top six contributors for her career.
The new Clinton ad references people in foreclosure — it even shows a big, scary foreclosure sign. Many of the same banks also agreed to massive settlements for, among other things, using fraudulent documents to kick people out of their houses. Major Clinton donors Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase were signatories to the original $25 billion foreclosure settlement, for instance.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/hillary-clintons-new-anti-trump-ad-misses-the-mark-20160525#ixzz49jKShjNP
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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Goldman_Sachs
]In July 2010 the SEC announced that Goldman would pay $550 million to settle the Abacus charges. The settlement also required Goldman to “reform its business practices” but did not oblige the firm to admit to wrongdoing. In January 2011 Goldman announced that an internal review of its policies in the wake of the SEC settlement had found that only limited changes were necessary.....
http://robertreich.org/post/124342268010
Meanwhile, cities and states across America have been forced to cut essential services because they’re trapped in similar deals sold to them by Wall Street banks. Many of these deals have involved swaps analogous to the ones Goldman sold the Greek government.
And much like the assurances it made to the Greek government, Goldman and other banks assured the municipalities that the swaps would let them borrow more cheaply than if they relied on traditional fixed-rate bonds—while downplaying the risks they faced. Then, as interest rates plunged and the swaps turned out to cost far more, Goldman and the other banks refused to let the municipalities refinance without paying hefty fees to terminate the deals.
Three years ago, the Detroit Water Department had to pay Goldman and other banks penalties totaling $547 million to terminate costly interest-rate swaps. Forty percent of Detroit’s water bills still go to paying off the penalty. Residents of Detroit whose water has been shut off because they can’t pay have no idea that Goldman and other big banks are responsible.
Likewise, the Chicago school system—whose budget is already cut to the bone—must pay over $200 million in termination penalties on a Wall Street deal that had Chicago schools paying $36 million a year in interest-rate swaps.
A deal involving interest-rate swaps that Goldman struck with Oakland, California, more than a decade ago has ended up costing the city about $4 million a year, but Goldman has refused to allow Oakland out of the contract unless it ponies up a $16 million termination fee—prompting the city council to pass a resolution to boycott Goldman. When confronted at a shareholder meeting about it, Blankfein explained that it was against shareholder interests to tear up a valid contract.
Goldman Sachs and the other giant Wall Street banks are masterful at selling complex deals by exaggerating their benefits and minimizing their costs and risks. That’s how they earn giant fees. When a client gets into trouble—whether that client is an American homeowner, a US city, or Greece—Goldman ducks and hides behind legal formalities and shareholder interests.
Borrowers that get into trouble are rarely blameless, of course: They spent too much, and were gullible or stupid enough to buy Goldman’s pitches. Greece brought on its own problems, as did many American homeowners and municipalities.
But in all of these cases, Goldman knew very well what it was doing. It knew more about the real risks and costs of the deals it proposed than those who accepted them. “It is an issue of morality,” said the shareholder at the Goldman meeting where Oakland came up. Exactly.
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Press Virginia
(2,329 posts)but it might backfire because it was the big banks that caused the problem and those big banks are supporting HRC
Skwmom
(12,685 posts)it could be turned back on them.
He can accuse them of enacting legislation that caused the problem and why did they do this? Because by doing so they have become a member of the 1% and to further future political aspirations.
His obligation as a business person was to increase the bottom line. Their obligation as the two for the price of one presidency was to do what was right for the American People. They forsook that responsibility for their own personal gain and power.
eggplant
(3,911 posts)On Thu May 26, 2016, 04:00 AM an alert was sent on the following post:
In light of its Big Backers, can Democrats really criticize Trump's awful remarks?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512054937
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
"Trump was merely expressing..."
Yes, let's defend poor Donald - he just wanted to make an honest buck off the Democratic Party's economic collapse (that happened on Bush's watch)... oooookay
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu May 26, 2016, 04:08 AM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I don't get it The post blasts Goldman-Sachs, etc, for what it and many others did. It does not defend the Chump, just points out the hypocrisy of taking huge sums from companies and then decrying them in ads. I don't get the alerter's point.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: It is not a defense of Trump, but a condemnation of the corporate wing of the Democratic Party.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Trump isn't an investor or banker. He is a sleazy fucking opportunist.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Does one really need to explain a vote to hide this....
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)
amborin
(16,631 posts)highprincipleswork
(3,111 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)because he is second generation in his predatory development business, his father was also a racist landlord exploiting public funding to enrich himself and enforce his racist views.
Groups and persons I am associated with have been protesting Trump in regard to housing issues since the 1980's. He's part of the crowd that makes bubbles happen, across generations.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)It's awful. He's awful.
My point was not to defend or justify him or his statement.
Simply noting that unfortunately the Democratic Party is restrained in their ability to criticize it because it has not been an effective force to combat it -- and in too many cases has been complicit. Too many ties with the likes of Goldman Sachs and Trump counterparts and otehr abusive investors and corporations.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)while some others went to his weddings and such. Others still accepted his offers and legitimized him on his TV show. Fact is there are people who said hell no to Trump's fees. Some saw fit to ignore the monster to get the money. NBC certainly pumped Trump, as did every last celebrity who went on his show.
Back when Hillary says Reagan was starting the conversation about AIDS, ACT UP was already demonstrating regularly against Trump at Trump Tower.
Ask me in 85 who Trump was and my answer was 'racist bigoted pirate'.
So I'm just a tad cheesed that yet again, no one listened to decades of warnings.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)we would descend so far as a nation to the point where he'd be a serious presidential contender.
I also think he's a symbol of everything that is wrong.....He has been for a long time. Things that should have been called out by the Democrats long before he even dipped his toes into presidential waters.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)Some in this Party think Reagan was the fist AIDS activist, so clearly they missed all the protests against Reagan and those against Trump. They did not pay attention at the time and never bothered to learn the facts down the road.
Warning them is a pointless act that simply drains your energy and funds and they pay no heed at all. They make pals with the villains instead.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)The rest of the discussion is just fluff...
