Jim Hightower: Save Wall Street! Congress Passes JO(BS) Act

[marmar]

Published on Wednesday, April 4, 2012 by Creators.com
Save Wall Street! Congress Passes JO(BS) Act

by Jim Hightower


Hallelujah, Washington has finally heard the people's cries for jobs! In an urgent bipartisan push, Democrats and Republicans have joined hands across the aisle to pass the JOBS Act. In this time of "The Great Hurt" — with widespread unemployment, middle-class incomes tumbling and the price of gasoline skyrocketing — we can all applaud our stalwarts in the capital city for meeting the No. 1 need of America's hard-hit economy: deregulating Wall Street.

Huh? I thought this was a jobs bill?

We'll get to that, but first (as always) Wall Street bankers must be served. Yes, them. The same priests of unmitigated arrogance who caused the disastrous financial crash that continues to rumble across our land. The same Wall Streeters we bailed out with trillions of public dollars. That Wall Street is now sulking and skulking around the U.S. Capitol, insisting that it is an economic victim, held back from its profiteering potential by government regulations to protect the public from finaglers and fraudsters. "Free Wall Street," is their cry!

Clucking with sympathy, Congress' tea party Republicans have rushed to the side of these poor, rich financiers, pledging to unshackle them from "burdensome" regulations. Serving Wall Street is not all that popular these days with voters, however, so the Repubs and their Democratic allies have committed their own fraud in order to pass this bill, deceptively titled it the "JOBS Act" (even though it doesn't actually create any jobs). ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/04

[gratuitous]

1. As John Reid of Citibank remarked

"You don't have brakes on a car to stop it; you have brakes on a car so that you can go fast."

A healthy regulatory environment, with proper oversight and enforcement, is the brake on the Big Finance Boyz, supposed to keep them on the straight and narrow. When regulations and oversight are not in evidence, it's a fool's game to invest. As Atrios has extensively documented, MF Global basically stole its clients' money to cover its reckless and irresponsible investments, and because the regulations that would have prevented that were either suspended or not enforced, it's unlikely that investors will ever see their money again. That happens, unfortunately. But the principals at MF Global are still in place, with neither the SEC nor the Department of Justice all that interested in prosecuting them. That shouldn't happen, because it leaves the road intact for it to happen again.