Is the White House really this stupid?
If it's true, as the WaPo claims here, that the Obama administration's Treasury team is planning to get around Congressional limits placed on executive pay by middling any bailout money to insolvent financial firms through entities not subject to Congressional oversight, then of course it's a horrible plan and a betrayal of the public trust. The problem is, the article is based entirely on unnamed sources. I have to wonder who these "administration officials" are, that they are leaking what is clearly an unacceptable strategy to the press. For all we know it could be the official White House janitor making these claims.
That the Wall St. firms are resisting any oversight is a more credible claim. Many CEOs and other top brass are on record as saying as much, even though none are cited by name in the article either. And if this is really a White House leak to test run public acceptance of such a boneheaded strategy, then I suggest they go back to the drawing board. Clearly, the answer to the extortion demands of the banksters is threat of prosecution, not ransom money. I realize that prosecution isn't on table, but I'm finding it a little hard to swallow that such a blatant payoff is either.
I see smarter people than me are working up a righteous outrage over this piece today but I'm finding it a little difficult to believe that that White House would really try to pull such a politically tone deaf move. It feels a bit like a trap to generate some of that criticism from the left that the media has become so fond of lately. Until I see an official statement with a name under it, I'm inclined to treat it as just more speculation driven by the demands of the 24/7 news cycle, and a complacent media that considers delivering white noise for the benefit of Republicans, as somehow related to doing their job. It seems to me, if we allow ourselves to get suckered in by such shoddy journalism in giving credibility to unsubstantiated claims, then we'll get the media we deserve. Not the media we want.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
That the Wall St. firms are resisting any oversight is a more credible claim. Many CEOs and other top brass are on record as saying as much, even though none are cited by name in the article either. And if this is really a White House leak to test run public acceptance of such a boneheaded strategy, then I suggest they go back to the drawing board. Clearly, the answer to the extortion demands of the banksters is threat of prosecution, not ransom money. I realize that prosecution isn't on table, but I'm finding it a little hard to swallow that such a blatant payoff is either.
I see smarter people than me are working up a righteous outrage over this piece today but I'm finding it a little difficult to believe that that White House would really try to pull such a politically tone deaf move. It feels a bit like a trap to generate some of that criticism from the left that the media has become so fond of lately. Until I see an official statement with a name under it, I'm inclined to treat it as just more speculation driven by the demands of the 24/7 news cycle, and a complacent media that considers delivering white noise for the benefit of Republicans, as somehow related to doing their job. It seems to me, if we allow ourselves to get suckered in by such shoddy journalism in giving credibility to unsubstantiated claims, then we'll get the media we deserve. Not the media we want.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
Labels: Corporatocracy, economy, Media, Obama administration, spending
posted by Libby Spencer at 4:47 PM
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