Bannon's origin story doesn't add up - By Richard Cohen

[DonViejo]

By Richard Cohen Opinion writer March 20 at 7:46 PM

It is a story oft-repeated and, at first, quite moving. It is the story of Marty Bannon, father of the White House chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, and how he lost much of his nest egg when the financial system cratered in 2008. He had worked for AT&T for 50 years, buying the stock when it was as safe as gold (only gold paid no dividend) and was now watching it go south at such an alarming rate that he decided to sell it. In a flash, the system turned on Marty and a lifetime of savings was gone. For his son Steve, it was an unforgettable lesson. It made him the revolutionary he is today.

The story reappeared last week in the Wall Street Journal. “The only net worth my father had beside his tiny little house was that AT&T stock,” Steve Bannon was quoted as saying. “And nobody is held accountable? All these firms get bailed out. There’s no equity taken from anybody. There’s no one in jail.”

That day, that October day when Marty Bannon panicked and took Jim Cramer’s advice from the TV and sold his AT&T stock, was when Steve Bannon had an epiphany: “Everything since then has come from there,” he said.

This could be Sen. Bernie Sanders speaking. This could be the indignant writers of the 2015 movie “The Big Short,” which ended by noting that almost no one went to jail for the giant scam. I also think of New York City cab drivers, many of them immigrants, who leveraged themselves for three generations to buy a cab and now have had their investment gutted by Uber. This is the human cost of disruption, which, if you don’t happen to be poor and drive a cab, is supposedly a wonderful thing.

At some point in the Steve Bannon story I started wondering: If his father got fleeced, if “nobody (was) held accountable,” how can the remedy be less regulation? If Wall Street picked his old man’s pocket, why has President Trump appointed tycoon after tycoon who think the fairest tax is none at all and, in some cases, got immensely rich by collapsing companies and squeezing employees?

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bannons-origin-story-doesnt-add-up/2017/03/20/8f2ef9f8-0d90-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html?utm_term=.59bca2b2af24&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

[subterranean]

1. His father's mistake was listening to Jim Cramer.

AT&T stock only fell back to the level it was at around 2005, and was still paying good dividends. The price recovered after a few years. He should have held on to it.

And besides, wasn't Steve Bannon formerly a banker at Goldman Sachs? You'd think he could have given his father some investment advice. Maybe diversify his investments a little? But apparently not. I don't buy his story.

[GeoWilliam750]

2. Having maxed out the number of articles I can read for this month in the Washington Post...

I have to agree there are things that do not add up.

The first thing is that Steve Bannon's father appears to have been born in about 1922. So - fair enough, it is possible that he sold his AT&T shares in 2008, at the lows, and had little left. With pension, social security, and whatever was left after selling the shares, he should have still be in reasonable decent financial shape. FWIW, it was Marty Bannon Jr., and Marty Bannon, Sr., also worked for the telephone company.

The second thing is that if his father was no longer able to competently manage his affairs, why were his financially savvy sons still allowing him to do so?

The third thing is that marty had two successful sons (as I understand). In the very worst case, they could easily afford to hire care or put their father into assisted living for a tiny fraction of their wealth.

My understanding - admittedly potentially flawed - is that Republicans believe in free market economies and personal responsibility. Thus, Steven Bannon seems to have believed that government should have looked after his father when Steve either would not or was not interested in doing so, and Steve Bannon is attempting to destroy government for not doing what Steve Bannon himself refused to do.

[Skittles]

3. none of Bannon's stories add up

[dalton99a]

4. Bannon is full of crap.