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- iHaveNet.com: Economy
by Jesse Jackson
Was the bank bailout successful?
The
But the Treasury is leaving out far more than it is including. The losses by the
But the biggest costs are to working people and the real economy. Joseph Stiglitz, an economist and professor at
Even more staggering are the costs the Treasury doesn't think to count: the human costs of the Great Recession. Some 8.5 million jobs were lost. Millions lost their homes, with more to come. One in four homeowners at last estimate found their homes "under water," worth less than the mortgage. The stock market collapse savaged retirement savings and pension funds.
Poverty increased; homelessness increased. Unprecedented long-term unemployment will do permanent damage to workers -- particularly those over 55 and young workers whose incomes are likely never to catch up with the time lost. States and localities have been forced to make sharp cuts in spending, with teachers being laid off, classes becoming more crowded and university tuitions soaring. Morgenson quotes an economist suggesting that globally lost economic activity tallied about $4 trillion last year. The numbers are staggering.
Because the bailout featured a kind of trickle down economics, it focused on bailing out Wall Street while doing little for Main Street. No real help has gone to homeowners. Small businesses still can't get loans because banks were rescued without being reorganized, and are reluctant to make new loans while they slowly write down their toxic assets.
And perhaps equally costly, the big banks have emerged bigger and more concentrated than ever. They've reopened the casino and are back to making huge profits on trading. Bank profits are back to nearly 30 percent of all corporate profits. Million-dollar bonuses are back. And the bankers are mobilizing big time -- employing more than 125 former members of Congress and former congressional staff members -- and spending tens of millions to defeat financial reform. If they succeed, one cost of this bailout will be the cost of the next one sure to come.
And now citizens are about to get the bill for the mess. Our national debt has exploded. And now there is a move, led by Pete Peterson, who made his fortune on Wall Street, to balance the budget by raising taxes on working people and cutting
Financial reform is now going forward in the
The tea party rallies gained national attention railing at Obama and big government. But the country needs citizen movements that turn its attention to the banks and policies that caused the mess rather than the administration that was stuck with cleaning it up.
Available at Amazon.com:
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
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Bank Bailout: Who Counts the Cost? | Economy