Bob Casey Is Either a Liar or a Thickwit.
PA Senator Bob Casey’s response:
Ooops, Lenny Small did it again…
earlier this month, shortly after the bailout was enacted, The Times’s Mark Landler reported that Treasury officials also wanted to steer the bailout billions to banks that would use the money to buy up other banks.
Now, lo and behold, with $250 billion in bailout funds committed to dozens of large and regional banks, it turns out that many of the recipients of this investment from taxpayers are not all that interested in making loans. And it appears that Mr. Paulson is not so bothered by their reluctance. …
In his column on Saturday, The Times’s Joe Nocera told about a conference call that he had listened in on recently between employees and executives of JPMorgan Chase. Asked how an infusion of $25 billion of bailout funds would change the bank’s lending policy, an executive said the money would be used to buy other banks.
“I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way,” the executive said. He added that the money could also be used as a backstop in case “recession turns into depression or what happens in the future.”
There was not a word about lending — not to businesses or home buyers or car buyers or students or other consumers. Just the opposite. In response to another question, the executive said that the bank expected to continue to tighten credit.
That’s because the Senate didn’t bother to place conditions on the funds (like they did with the piddling $17 billion or whatever they loaned (not gave) to the car companies, who actually produce a tangible good). Thus, people like me have been calling the Senator to criticize his original decision to support the bailout. Newspapers, radio stations, and tv shows from coast to coast have discussed how taxpayer funds were abused. Everyone knows that the original condition-free handout didn’t work, and that it didn’t work because there were no conditions placed on the funds.
I didn’t agree with Casey’s original vote, but at least I could understand where it came from. the Senate and the House were panicking, and they passed a bad bill. Shit like that shouldn’t happen, but it does.
He doesn’t have that excuse this time. And he knows it, because he told me in a letter dated 12/15/08 that:
You write, “we need proper oversight of all government investment to ensure sensible use of funds.” That’s not what you voted for. You write, “no blank checks should be awarded.” That’s not what you voted for. You wirte “there need to be clear limits ion executive salaries and bonuses in all companies receiving taxpayer support.” That’s not what you voted for.
There is nothing I like less than a liar, and unless Bob Casey is actually a high-functioning moron who got to where he is today because of personal wealth and family connections, that is exactly what he is. There is no other way to reconcile what he wrote in last month’s letter and how he voted yesterday.
Senator Casey certainly has lots of time to get emergency funding together for his pals at Goldman Sachs, Citicorp, and all the rest of the companies that are responsible for destroying our economy. But just ask his office, like I did, to identify the emergency legislation to help Philadelphia out of a $2 billion dollar deficit directly tied to the implosion of the market, and all you’re going to hear is a bunch of double-talk, stammering, parsing, and eventually the admission that there is no such legislation. Ask his office if there are news articles and tv appearances in which Casey advocates for Philadelphia, one of the economic engines of Pennsylvania, but don’t expect a real answer, because none exist.
So there you have it in a nutshell: if you’re ridiculously wealthy and you participate in an ill-adivsed Ponzi scheme that crashes the economy, Senator Bob Casey is there to pick up the pieces and suckle you at his breast, no matter what. But if you live in a struggling working class city, with an inordinately large population of impoverished children and families, a city so badly hit by the financial crisis that the mayor wants to cut public resources like libraries, pools, and fire departments, don’t expect one goddamn penny. Bob Casey doesn’t represent you: you don’t count because you’re not wealthy and powerful enough.
Bob Casey cares about embryos and rich people. And that’s about it.
January 17th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
[...] Bob Casey Is Either a Liar or a Thickwit. [...]