Americans do not want to face up to their problems. This unpleasant fact almost goes without saying, but there is complexity. The owners of this country set the agenda through the media, and even in the best of societies most people will never be conscious enough to question the twaddle they are bombarded with every day. However, the educated "management" class in this country also accepts this nonsense without question.
I am fond of the word corruption. I use it frequently because the shoe fits. When Americans refuse to acknowledge their problems, they are refusing to see that politics is the servant of money. Campaign contributions are bribes. This should be simple to understand, but the wall of denial is impenetrable. Americans are aware that their interests are not being served, but will not ask themselves why. Their self-deception about how this country works is perfect.
Thus, the vast majority of Americans watching the Daily Ticker video below would not notice that anything is amiss. Wall Street money guy Steven Rattner joined Dan Gross and Aaron Task to ask Obama & Wall Street: Is the Love Affair Really Over?
The popular view is the president alienated Wall Street with his "fat cat" rhetoric and support for financial reform legislation. After supporting Obama's candidacy in 2008, several prominent money managers, including Dan Loeb and Anthony Scaramucci, have publicly distanced themselves from the president and are actively supporting GOP candidates; former private equity executive Mitt Romney is particularly appealing to many on Wall Street."It is clear [Obama's] supporters will have to work much harder to win over the financial services industry than they did in 2008," The NYT reports. "He has suffered some unusually public defections and criticism by some former Wall Street supporters who view his policies and rhetoric as unfair to the industry."
That may very well be true and many in the industry don't like Obama-care or his calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, either. But the reality is Obama raised a higher-than-expected $2.3 million from Wall Street-types at last week's $38,500 per plate dinner at Daniel, according to The NYT's Andrew Ross Sorkin. And as of May 31, the Democratic National Committee had raised $10.5 million for the 2012 campaign vs. $6.2 million for the RNC.
"At end of the day, he won't get back everybody from Wall Street he had in 2008 but he will get back enough so his fund-raising will be quite successful," says Steven Rattner, the former private equity executive who served as special advisor on Obama's auto task force.
Despite Obama's tough talk, Rattner believes the president hasn't been so bad for the industry, and may indeed have been "the only thing standing between the bankers and the pitchforks."
Obama was the only thing standing between the bankers and the pitchforks. Obama raised a huge amount of money on Wall Street during his seemingly interminable 2007-2008 campaign. Without that funding he likely would not have won the election. Consequently, the O-Man has served Wall Street's interests ever since. Long before you and I got clued in, the Big Money People knew Obama was someone they could work with.
Obama would play ball. Wall Street's money cemented the relationship. It was a Love Affair, but is it over? Aaron writes—
I've expressed a similar view here many times, including earlier this month when I wrote: Obama's populist rhetoric has not been matched by his actions vis-a-vis Wall Street.
Rather than using the 2008 election as a mandate for real change, the Obama administration continued and extending the Bush administration's policies of providing bailouts with little or no restrictions, and failed to hold senior executives and bondholders responsible for their actions.
(See: Obama Lashes Out at "Fat Cat Bankers," But Talk Is Cheap)
If you voted for him, perhaps you thought Obama would be leading those with the pitchforks
Now the question on the table is whether Wall Street's money will back Obama in 2012. Obama of course will get some money, but perhaps it will be Mitt Romney who benefits most from Wall Street's largesse.
Much of what is wrong with America is right there in the plain sight in the video below. It is a matter of perception. Most of my regular readers will see it right away, but most of the millions upon millions of people who will never look at this blog or read this post would not.
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