My partner and I just went to see the documentary narrated by Matt Damon "Inside Job" which describes the 2008 global Great Recession. It begins by covering all the factors that led up to the 2008 global meltdown and the aftermath including the first year or so of the Obama Presidency. An excellent diary on this film was written the other day and this diary is just meant to add some reaction to the film.
I will summarize my points as discussed with my partner:
- The corrupt Democrats (yes Wall Street favorable academics and politicians) are only exceeded by the even more corrupt and boisterously proud corrupt Republicans. (My partner chided me "watch out, you're sounding like Ralph Nader!" and I snapped at him deriding the egomaniac who hand delivered George Bush to us and thus the Iraq War, Katrina, and yes the fulmination of this economic house of cards et al.)
- The hubris of rich fat cat Wall Street bankers and their sympathizers who literally rape capitalism by making lots of money when the economy is good and who still make lots of immoral money with their complicity to ponzi economic schemes when they go awry and times are bad.
- Disappointment in how Wall Street laden even the Obama administration is with Summers (now gone thank god), Geitner, Bernanke, Tyson, and many other players in the long term breakdown of financial regulation in the US over the last couple of decades.
- Realization that Iceland (the first global nation to sink in the 2008 aftermath) was able to let their private banks fail (Ireland on the other hand just cannot do this or better said, the EU will not let them do this, since the losing investors would be the French, the UK & Germany); Iceland devalued their currency to keep their economy running (Ireland however uses the EURO and thus is a slave to a declining EURO currency....that's another story...the teetering of EU economics); and finally Iceland put in emergency laws preventing gross amounts of Iceland currency from being taken out of the economy and stored in foreign banks. My thoughts are that even if this risky Iceland strategy had totally failed and Iceland was destroyed, the global economy would not have gone down with it. In the US, however, the stakes were simply too high and I give much credit to Obama saving us from a Great Depression. But still he has governed way too timidly controlling all three branches of government.
- Last and the most painful realization of all - it gave me a little sympathy for the outrage of the Tea Partyers until my partner reminded me that most of the outrage of the Tea Partyers only arose when a black man took control over the White House and that any specifc outrage directed at Obama can be modeled (in triplicate) by an even greater outrage of the Bush administration (Patriot Act, Wiretapping, Torture, and unbridled extension of Executive powers, etc.) So where was their OUTRAGE UNDER BUSH??
So I left the film very depressed (him too). I know Markos rightly hits on this theme all the time - Obama can side with Wall Street (who are making tons of money now) and lose reelection OR with Main Street and possibly win. Since the Repugs can always side more demonstrably with Wall Street then the DEMS, Obama will never really even get credit for trying. My only fear is that in some way the Robber Barrons of Wall Street have Obama hostage - give us MORE of what we want (less regulation) or we will sit on our ass AND our cash and not do any real job hiring.....and thus seal Obama's fate in 2012.
I am very depressed and know the vast electorate will never see this film or know what a snow job and snake oil the Repugs are selling. What is one to do?