Bailing Out The Ruling Class

As I've pointed out earlier, Obama is in Wall Street's pocket, so deep in its pocket he can't pull himself up and peek outside. The evidence is apparent and ever more abundant. Here's an example. On Monday, the New York Times ran an article about how Treasury Secretary Geithner prevailed over Obama's other advisors in fashioning a bailout. Those other advisors apparently wanted tighter restrictions on the recipients of aid, but old Tim Boy was having none of that and look what we've got, Bush/Paulson redux. In the words of the Times, "And for all of its boldness, the plan largely repeats the Bush administration’s approach of deferring to many of the same companies and executives who had peddled risky loans and investments at the heart of the crisis and failed to foresee many of the problems plaguing the markets." That's the Gray Lady speaking, folks, not The Nation or The Progressive.

If there's an up side to the current economic crisis, it might be this. It is becoming abundantly clear to all that there is indeed a ruling class in this country, an aristocracy in whose interest the government operates. When they make concessions to the people, as they did in the 1930's with things like Social Security and unemployment insurance, it was only because circumstances forced them to do so. FDR himself was well aware of this ruling class. Here's a remark he made to Colonel Edward House on October 21, 1933. "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson." When people like me make such assertions we're accused of being conspiracy theorists.