Elizabeth Warren: Americans Aren't Here to Serve the Banks, They're Here to Serve Us

[Joanne98]

Bailout monitor Elizabeth Warren says the U.S. government "shows strong improvement" from the early days of TARP, when $350 billion was "shoveled into financial institutions" with a "no strings attached" and an attitude of "take my money, please."

The chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel was fairly complimentary of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, certainly in comparison to his predecessor in three key areas: transparency, accountability and clarity of purpose for various programs.

But "we started in the basement", she says, in terms of both the government's handling of the bailouts and the public's confidence in how taxpayer money was being spent. The Harvard law professor gives the government an “incomplete” for its handling of the bailouts, up from an early failing grade.

"It's better than it was but I'm still wanting more," Warren says, suggesting a fundamental issue remains unresolved: "Is this all about ‘we've got to fix problem at the top boost high-end financial institutions' or about 117 million American households who really are in trouble?"

No matter how much money is put into banks, no economic recovery is sustainable without "building from the bottom" and getting average Americans on sounder financial footing, says Warren, an expert in consumer bankruptcy and co-author of The Two-Income Trap.

"American families are not here to serve the banks," she says. "The banks are here to serve the American people."

http://finance.yahoo.com/techticker/article/242629/Elizabeth-Warren:-Americans-Aren't-Here-to-Serve-the-Banks,-They're-Here-to-Serve-Us

[TimesSquareCowboy]

1. Let's put her on the Supreme Court.

That's a nomination that would sail through.

[ejpoeta]

2. i love elizabeth warren. first saw her in the movie 'maxed out' talking about

the credit card companies shenanigans. she is a great advocate for citizens.