So the bank apologist on CNBC say that what Obama is proposing is doomsday for the

[WCGreen]

regular folks in the country...

When I hear that, I know he must be on the right track.

Bankers and the financiers behind them would have no regulations or oversight and unfettered capitalism.

So at first Blush, I like what he has started.

As an accountant I view his measure of re-regulating the bank system doesn't go far enough.

We need a transaction tax so that people trade stocks and other financial market items for economic reasons and not for purely speculative reasons. That does more damage to the economy that the little guy faces than most any other thing. There was no economic reason for Oil to hit 145 bucks a barrel.

[babylonsister]

1. Ratigan had Spitzer on today; they were both almost joyous at this

wonderful turn of events. So yea, I've decided cnbc is solely worried about 'their' bottom line, not ours.

[TTUBatfan2008]

55. I like Ratigan...

He called out the Federal Reserve a while back for hiding what went on with the "troubled assets." I was pretty surprised that someone from CNBC would call out the Fed like that. Of course, he didn't do it until he was on MSNBC. Yes, same conglomerate. But different network nevertheless.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Someone is apologizing for the banks?

How refreshing! }(

[WCGreen]

3. Noses thoroughly browned...

[FrenchieCat]

4. Isn't it CNBC where the Teabagging movement was born?

[WCGreen]

5. Rickie S and his infamous rant...

[icee]

6. I too am an Accountant, a former regional controller for a

Fortune 100 company. Now, it's hard to say what Obama will do after today's reaction to his plan. However, if he does what he has stated, the markets will dive to SPX 550 or lower. The nascent recovery will stop dead in its tracks. Job recovery, what little there was, will reverse course. In a matter of months we will be in the beginning of a deflationary depression that will last 5-10 years that will make 1929 seem like childsplay. It is never wise to screw with banks during the beginning of a recovery. For about the last 10-15 years the stock market has actually led economic recoveries. If the market crashes, so does the recovery. I will be selling everything on January 29 if the market closes at less than it opened for January and will be advising everyone to do the same. The market looked set to go down in around June or July; Obama simply sped things up.

[TheKentuckian]

11. Please, more cries for kid gloves for the leech class the only recovery is their's

One day fools will get it through their meter thick skulls that trickle down is lie.

[icee]

21. I'm old. You're probably young and can wait for ten or so

years for things to get better. Chartwise, here's how I see the market now.

[WCGreen]

12. Good for you...

So what your saying is the banks should be able to do what ever they want and not be held accountable...

Not only that, you say that the so-called free marketeers will surely and purposely tank the economy if there is even the hint of reigning in the anything goes attitude that has ruled the market for the last 25 years or so...

During that time investing became more important in driving the economy, way more so than working for a living so that the worker was stripped of all dignity and respect while the fanciers put themselves on a pedestal and yelled as loud as a petulant child that they will tank it all if we so much as lift a finger against them.

That's surely a great balance for a healthy economy...

[icee]

19. Reasonable. What I'm saying is you don't screw with banks in

the middle of a nascent recovery, particulary one where the other side of the fence has just allowed corporations to be people again for political candidates. Disaster.

[TornadoTN]

28. I admire your honesty, because they will tank the economy

I don't put it past the bankers to purposely put this whole thing in a nosedive with enough padding so they can be there to pick up the pieces. The SCOTUS ruling today most assuredly will make this a reality.

The question is: can we withstand it in the short-term? I'm all for regulation and clamping down on the corruption, but the question has to be asked of the American populace. Are we willing to weather some manufactured tough times to actually clean house?

[icee]

30. I think that's asking a lot of a people who have been through

what the American people have. Many people have retirment accounts that dropped up to 60% in 2008-2009. So now because of the lack of patience of a President those funds drop another 45-60%? What do you think that will do to people? I believe 100% they will be screaming for Obama and Democrat's hides, their ostensible message in the Mass elections notwithstanding. Too much to ask right now, if you ask me.

[dmr]

32. If the banks want to screw us, then nationalize the banks

put the greedy, self-absorbed money-men out of business.

[icee]

41. I'd go along with that. But not the other right now..........We should

have nationalized at least two banks last year.

[sendero]

39. The banks..

.. are doing NOTHING to aid in the recovery. They are taking interest-free money from the Fed and gambling in the markets with it.

You are woefully misinformed. This action should have been taken a year ago.

[icee]

42. Negative. Although what you say is right, we should NOT

penalize or regulate the banks RIGHT NOW! I, for one, don't want to be standing in front of a barrel and the corner of Walk and Don't Walk because the penalized banks decided to lend even less than their lending now, and that causes a dominoe effect and the market drops below its 666 low. Not rationale. You want to nationalize them, fine. But do not penalize them now.

[sendero]

48. Ur a dumbass..

... and you don't know what you are talking about. Good luck to you.

[icee]

56. I can converse without calling someone a dumbass.

[Truth2Tell]

58. You don't want to be standing in front of a barrel?

Really? Well too late, you already are. Wake up my friend. I can't believe you're on this board making the argument that we should FOLD in the face of what can only be described as economic blackmail bordering on the treasonous. And that's using even the apologetic description YOU use of what's happening. The fact that you keep referring to "the market" and your silly 550 666 numbers as if that crap had anything at all to do with our real economic decline says it all really.

[icee]

59. With your statements "the market" and "silly 550 666 numbers",

you are not someone I care to post to. You have one theory; I have another. Let's see who's right.

[Dappleganger]

53. +1000

[cutlassmama]

13. WE'RE ALREADY IN A DEPRESSION. It will already take 5-10 years

to get of thanks to Bush.

[icee]

20. Yes, maybe, but this will make it hit the ground, where all falls

apart, including societal niceties.

[Yavin4]

22. Child, Please. There's No Recovery.

What there is is massive, and I mean massive, multiple stimuli. The Fed is allowing banks to borrow money from them for nothing. Billions have been pumped into the economy from the govt.

There's no real recovery going on at all.

Also, we've got to move this economy away from being dependent on financing and more towards new technologies to help the environment and conserve energy.

[icee]

24. So we shut down the bank hedge funds and say: tech, get

busy. Energy find something new. These things take time. And while we're doing this if we turn into a Haiti, what have we achieved. I know business people who were getting ready to hire back shift workers because of expected demand, who after today's debacle will simply hold off. There are no time outs...child.

[Yavin4]

31. Save It. Please Save The Bullshit.

The economy is fundamentally broken, and it needs change. That was the whole point of the election of 2008! Duh!

Basing the entire economy on the banking sector is beyond moronic because we did this before and we experienced frequent crashes.

After the Depression of the 1930s, we strongly regulated banking and guess what happened. We developed entire mfg and tech industries which made America into a middle class nation.

Since we've begun deregulating your precious industry we're back on the boom and bust cycle.

[icee]

43. Baloney. This is not 1929, and Obama is not FDR. The banking

sector funds the economy. We experienced crashes for host of reasons, but most was due to overspeculative bubbles. You want to nationalize banks, fine. Tell Obama. But no screwing with banking until the economy has at least a year of solid GDP and we have at least gone below 10% real unemployment. My precious industry? lol I hate banking, bankers, their staffs, their accountants, their lawyers...everything about them.

[Dappleganger]

50. If banks were actually helping the economy right now

it may make a difference, but since they continue to screw over homeowners who need help and turning down small biz loans while simultaneously taking OUR goddamn money interest-free while they improve their bottom line, THE BANKS CAN GO TO HELL!! They are NOT too big to fail!

[Dappleganger]

35. Oh cry me a fucking river...

No, Obama just slowed things down for the banks and sped it up for the middle class like me who have nothing left to cash in. Our market has fucking crashed already and there's no recovery in sight, so people like YOU are just finally getting a whiff of what real capitalism does to a person.

We were unwise to screw with the banks...we should have let them hang by their tendrils in the wind!

[icee]

37. It's not going to go through from what I hear. If it does, it will be

over 3-5 years, at which time Obama may not be around. I know what capitalism is. I lost plenty in the stock market crash. I don't want to repeat that because of a President's impatience and chagrin over a Massachusetts vote.

[Dappleganger]

51. You're obviously too deeply in bed with them

and have lost any sight of how much the banking industry has screwed over the middle class. Sorry, we didn't just lose money but we lost our livelihood!

[tranche]

40. Buy the options and post later on DU your results.

You could make enough money to retire comfortably if what you say is correct.

[icee]

44. Don't do options. Too complicated anymore.

[Hugabear]

52. The banks can go straight to hell. They should all be nationalized.

It's the banks that got us into this mess to begin with.

[Dappleganger]

54. +1000

[HughBeaumont]

60. So, in a sense, Corporate America IS sabotaging the economy, and in turn, the USA.

It's pretty much what I've been saying all along, and what people are silently cringing at.

So we're finally admitting that Corporations run this country, not politicians or the people.

It IS a Plutonomy.

It IS "The Business Plot" of 1933, only they didn't need a Bonus Army. Just a whole lot of co-conspirators and judges.

[icee]

61. Yep. And Obama just provided all the fuel the corporations

needed to move forward. The resulting crash as a result of his actions combined with the SC decision of letting corporations act as individuals creates the perfect storm for corporations. They'll drop kick the US into an abyss that it will never recover from. We should have nationalized the banks when we had the chance. Now they will use their new leverage to end us.

[HughBeaumont]

62. He's not at fault for this. 28 years of unbridled Reaganomic corporatism is.

Let's put blame where blame is due. This was caused by Republicans and moderates. THEY'RE the owners of this mess.

[icee]

63. I know that. But when I'm warming my hands by a barrel on

4th and Main that won't make a difference. Also, regardless of who caused it over history, Obama has brought it down. Haiti may be asked to give us a loan one day.

[Bitwit1234]

7. The industry that has caused one of the most

harmful things that has contributed to the mess we have in this country should go unregulated.

Well now, how about letting people drive as fast as they want, dangerous, you say. Oh well we can't regulate a little thing like driving. And just think of all the other regulations we should get rid of...

I suppose the banks and wall street have had free reign for so long the think they are little gods. But don't worry they will take it to the republican supreme court and the will take away the regulations away.

[newtothegame]

8. We have plenty of tax revenue already.

We just need to spend it wiser.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Erzatz capitalism, that is what they want

Just a friendly correction.

[cilla4progress]

14. You heard that on Diane Rehm this morning, didn't you!

Joseph Steiglitz. Gawd...his lips to Obama's ear, huh?

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. No I have been calling it that way for years, even a decade or more

I have said for years that the US has as much in common with Capitalism as they USSR had with Socialism.

The problem is I don't have the name, so could not get a book published...

[WCGreen]

17. You are spot on...

But that is a pretty high minded concept to get across to the average joe.

They believe that the US is the pinnacle of capitalism and free-market economies.

[cilla4progress]

34. Wow - and he got a Nobel for it!

Maybe he heard it from you! :)

Anyway, he's a good guy and I really enjoyed hearing him on her show. She's an incisive interviewer, as well.

(exactly how would you define "ersatz," by the way?)

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Not real

from dictionary.com

tz
  /ˈɛrzɑts, -sɑts, ɛrˈzɑts, -ˈsɑts/ Show Spelled Pronunciation Show IPA
Use ersatz in a Sentence
See images of ersatz
Search ersatz on the Web
–adjective
1. serving as a substitute; synthetic; artificial: an ersatz coffee made from grain.
–noun
2. an artificial substance or article used to replace something natural or genuine; a substitute.
Origin:
1870–75; < G Ersatz a substitute (deriv. of ersetzen to replace)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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substitute
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er·satz (ěr'zäts', ěr-zäts')
adj. Being an imitation or a substitute, usually an inferior one; artificial: ersatz coffee made mostly of chicory. See Synonyms at artificial.


er'satz' n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Main Entry: ersatz1
Part of Speech: adj
Definition: substitute, artificial and often inferior; using substitute components
Etymology: German 'replacement'
Main Entry: ersatz1
Part of Speech: n
Definition: an artificial substitute; imitation
Etymology: German 'replacement'
Main Entry: ersatz2
Part of Speech: adj
Definition: simulated, counterfeit
Etymology: German 'replacement'
Main Entry: ersatz2
Part of Speech: n
Definition: something similar in a superficial way
Etymology: German 'replacement'
Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2010 Dictionary.com, LLC
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

ersatz
1875, from Ger. Ersatz "units of the army reserve," lit. "compensation, replacement, substitute," from ersetzen "to replace."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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[cilla4progress]

57. Thanks --

Cool you came up with the same modifier as Steiglitz. Says something about your brains! Good for you.

[cilla4progress]

10. Transaction tax

I heard about this a couple years ago and thought it was a straightforward, viable idea.

[spanone]

16. spitzer said it was Huge reform...i'll take spitzers word

[TheWebHead]

18. I would say to a large degree it's self-defeating

the net result will be less capital to lend and that's the engine for creating jobs... yeah, it may primarily hurt the evil greedy successful banks who repaid TARP w/interest and like Goldman paid over $6b in corporate taxes in '09 (roughly equal to that for their employees' income tax), but when it's reported that you are the primary cause of a 2% market sell-off, the 100 million+ or whatever americans with money in stocks/mutual funds won't be jumping up and down for the president today.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. If capital went into lending to firms to create jobs

then that would be normal capitalism. And I don't see that that kind of lending would be affected by the new proposals. What would be affected is the market playing - indeed, if the banks were restrained in playing world money and derivative markets, they might put more money into productive job creation (as opposed to unproductive jobs in the markets).

[TheKentuckian]

23. It needs to just be the first step

They can cry and scream bloody murder all they want but the systemic risk is greater than a full blown crashout and cannot be tolerated.

[SOS]

26. Many "regular folks" have Stockholm Syndrome

Falling in love with the person holding a gun to your head is a widespread form of mental illness these days.

[GreenTea]

27. CNBC certainly is not an impaital sorce - They agree & love to see more corporate wealth

at any cost....

[Dappleganger]

36. The only good thing to come out of CNBC

is Dylan Ratigan. The rest of them are a bunch of shills.

[Canuckistanian]

29. I don't remember any banking disasters pre Graham-Leach-Bliley

Other than the Great Depression, which was BEFORE the imposition of Glass-Steagall.

What Obama is proposing is a return to the regulation of greed - because that's basically what the problem is.

[zbiker]

33. unfortunately a move like this will kill my local economy

the local farming community has been savaged already by not only the bad economy but a deep freeze early this fall. wiped out virtually all the sugar beets in the area as well as the bean crop and the crop insurance only payed 40 percent of what was lost.
now under the federal mandated banking reform many are getting notices from banks ( well several that were sold to new company's before the depression hit) that with the government control they must be looked at as a bad risk.these new owner only see the bottom line, not the families that have done virtually to a man these farms are privately owned and the only debt they carry is for fuel and seed as they have had their property paid for for years now. if they need a new tractor or granary they just pay cash......
if they throw a tax on the banking industry, they will be forced to pass it on to the little guys like the locals here. I am one of the fortunate one, i took bush tax check and started my little retail store and have built it up to what it is today without taking a banker in as a partner, many on main street have not been as Savoy and will probably lose all if things continue with the banks taking bigger and bigger hits from the government handling procedures like this one.
i understand there desire to start recouping money to lower the national debt, but why wipe us little guys out in the process

[Johonny]

38. yah but they promised the market would love the Brown election

thank god I'm too cheap to pay for those type of stations.

[WCGreen]

46. That's the one that cracks me up....

The market gave back everything it gained on Tuesday almost as soon as the Bell Stopped ringing on Wednesday morning.

[Lucky Luciano]

49. MS and BAC earnings overshadowed the MA election - which may have also

been a sell the news event since it was so expected that Brown would. Brown was trading on the internet with a 70% chance of winning.

[laughingliberal]

47. Oh, right! Cause those unregulated markets have worked out so well for us

"regular folks"

I have no doubt what he is proposing does not go far enough. A start could be a good sign, though.