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A Formula For Control

By: Caleb Howe (Diary)  |  April 27th, 2010 at 01:15 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Fabrice Tourre today “categorically” denied allegations against him before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington. The Goldman exec vowed he would defend himself in court against charges specifically of fraud, and no doubt in the press against what is essentially the blame for the entire financial meltdown being symbolically cast at Goldman-Sachs’ feet.

Redstate readers are familiar with the “magical” (as Dan Gainor put it) timing of the SEC investigation into charges that huge Obama donors Goldman-Sachs essentially created something designed to fail in order to then bet against it. Such evil greed, so blatant, and so on time for the Obama administration’s push to control the financial sector.

Financial “reform” is a biggie, and the President needed a bit of populist anger to create popular support in a populace becoming increasingly restive in the face of growing government. And then “poof” … a villain appears. But as Erick pointed out last week, “poof” can sound a lot like collusion.

To summarize the timeline of events Erick posted on last week: The SEC announced its charges Friday morning. At 10:38 a.m., the New York Times broke the story. 28 minutes later, Organizing for America sent out an email in President Obama’s name calling on people to support his version of “Financial Reform.”

Right after that, the New York Times published a massive hit piece on Goldman Sachs’ alleged actions during the highly publicized bursting of the housing bubble. By that afternoon, the DNC had launched a Google Ad campaign tying Goldman Sachs’ alleged wrongdoing to the need for Obama’s “Financial Reform” proposal. As Erick wrote, this is stunning – especially since (and this bears repeating ad infinite) Goldman was a top donor to the Obama campaign in 2008.

Erick and Dan both (rightly) questioned just how this series of events would have been treated by the press if this had happened during the Bush administration?

If you need a nutshell overview of the situation with Goldman, I can’t recommend anything better than that you listen to Francis Cianfrocca break it down on “Coffee and Markets“. It isn’t black and white. Should Goldman-Sachs not have done precisely what they did? Perhaps not. But as Cianfrocca points out, there was risk on both sides.

Yet, if there is one thing the Obama administration likes, it’s villains. Bush did it. Rush said it. Domenech wrote it. Insurance companies are killing you. Oil companies are bilking you! Arizona hates Mexico!! And now Goldman-Sachs ruined your house. This is the formula for control that works perfectly for the Obama administration, thanks in no small part to a compliant media. Identify a sector to be controlled, give speeches about how said sector has run amok and turned against you, produce a named villain or, in the case of health care, named victims, and then seize control by any means available. And when all else fails, haul citizens and corporations before a committee for a hearing. After all, even if you were transparently wrong, nobody will make a big deal out of it. What, and risk becoming the next target?

This tactic isn’t just used to enact specific legislation, however. Demonization is the method of choice for Democrats in need of popular support. People didn’t care for how the health care vote went down? Never mind that; tea partiers spit on me! Town hall attendees were mean to me! From Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) claiming Republicans “want you to die” to President Obama vilifying the Supreme Court during a State of the Union Address, those holding the levers of power in Washington have transformed the Chicago Way into the new American Way. Or maybe it’s better termed the Alinksy Way: Pick a target, take it out. Pick a target, take it out. And all from within the walls of the White House and the halls of Congress.

The Obama machine is big on message, and this is one message that’s loud and clear: “you’re either with us, or you’re against us. And you don’t want to be against us.”

The power of government is being brought to bear against American citizens for protesting, analysts and reporters for questioning, and the free market for being the free market. I would tell you to worry about being the next target … But you already are.

COMMENTS

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  • roses

    The ballot box cannot fix this criminal enterprise running the US government.

    • Kyle-MI

      with your first ever comment here at Redstate? If the ballot box cannot fix it, then what can?

      • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

        Indeed… lets at least TRY to fix it in November, and THEN make some conclusion.

        This is an example of massive Government-media-political-organizing collusion, it smacks of corruption and control of the ‘message’ in a seriously damaging way.

        Wise voters can fix this.

        http://remembernovember.com

      • WarEagle01

        Really anything, preferably involving guns, that he can take back to DKos to show all his moonbat friends.

  • republicanblack

    Sometimes when I think about our court system, especially our higher federal courts and the supreme court, I think we should get rid of people like Roberts, who seems to be political in his judicial rulings; How can we the people ensure our constitution is not being pimped out by these judges, so I thought that term-limits would be the answer but its not check the story on why

    http://bit.ly/aBOewJ

    • Ben Howe

      Can you cite anything that leads you to the conclusion that Roberts is a partisan Justice?

    • E Pluribus Unum

      don’t be late.

    • Joshua Persons
    • Hugh

      influences his judicial rulings then I have some beachfront property in Kansas that I will sell to you at a bargain price.
      Be sure not to miss the bus that E Pluribus Unum told you about.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Let’s see. You hate Roberts, you apparently hate Citizens United, you hate Sarah Palin.

      “Pimped out?” And you’re talking about Roberts and not the left bloc? Give me a break.

    • zuckey6

      The Christians living in Jerusalem tryed Socialism ;their fellow Christians in other areas needed to assistthem because Socialism didn`t work then. Why do some think it an work now?

  • Hugh

    I have been involved in the securities business for longer than I care to admit to. I was watching the goat roping on TV a bit ago and saw Levin questioning the Goldman rep about internal e-mails. Wow. I hope some of the e-mails I may have wriiten over the years are never scrutinized out of context at a congressional hearing. Many things get said that are business lingo that are not necessarily understood by the general public. I presume all business entities have some of their own language.
    Having said that, I have never seen, witnessed, or been involved in “putting lipstick on the pig” sales. Most investors that I deal with are very astute about what they are doing. There is no diabolical plot to screw the public in the interest of profitability. I promise you there will be if the Socialists take control of the financial industry.
    Final thought…seems we are being made to feel that we should apologize for being profitable like it was evil. The only evil that I see are the ones trying to control us.

    • Common_Cents

      It’s unreal the standards these panels put on other but have NO accountability for themselves. Lead by example. Why don’t public officials publish ALL their taxpayer funded emails?

      Another panel member was berating the testifiers about excessive bonus compensation while the market tanked. Why don’t we have the same scrutiny of the compensation of our elected elite? The same standards do not apply to the self claimed elected elite.

    • davesinsanantonio

      Profit is evil. You can only make a profit by screwing someone else out of it. That is one of the tenets of the leftist religion. I say religion, because these are articles of faith with them, don’t let the heretics shake your faith with facts. Or, Gaea forbid, with logic!
      What these idiots refuse to realize is that economics is not a zero sum game. The only fair trade is a voluntary one. But that prevents them from controlling it. So, they will destroy our economy in order to be able to keep us from doing anything outside of their control. They don’t care how poor and miserable people are, as long as they control the misery.

  • jaybo

    Glenn Beck has discovered that Goldman Sachs is currently invested in the Carbon Credits Market Exchange in Chicago. Why is this not generally known?

    Is it possible that they have cut a deal with them to take a whipping in The Senate for the Democrats and then later rewarded with a Cap and Trade Bill that would allow them to make billions in profits?

    • IJB

      Along with the unions, Goldman Sachs is as responsible for putting campaign money into the pockets of Dem politicians as anybody.

      And I’m supposed to feel sorry for them now that they’ve gotten roped into a Show Trial?! I’m not feelin’ it.

      Goldman can either switch sides, or I hope they choke on it…

      • jaybo

        “Goldman can either switch sides, or I hope they choke on it”

        Goldman shouldn’t be on anyone’s side.

        When you make bad decisions as a business then you have to suffer the consequences. But at this moment in time Goldman is a “welfare queen” and deserves the same respect as all of the other leaches that get their sustenance from our hard earned taxes.

        I only hope that the American people get wise to the attempt to pick our pockets through the Cap and Trade legislation.

        • http://beaglescout.wordpress.com Beaglescout

          And they are guaranteed to be bailed out anytime they want after this bill passes. Corporate profits. Socialized losses. It’s the economic doctrine of fascism.

    • jiminga

      Are you kiddding? GS and Al Gore are partners in the clearing house that will broker carbon credits. If cap and trade is passed both will make billions.

      As for the SEC fraud suit…..just showtime for the masses to make Obummer look tough on evil Wall Street. GS will settle for a few million and some underling will get fired (with a big payout for falling on his sword).

      GS always wins, as they own the referees.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    … can sort of backfire on you, should they notice the man behind the curtain.

    Have I mixed enough metaphors to make the point?

    STUNNING …. ” The SEC announced its charges Friday morning. At 10:38 a.m., the New York Times broke the story. 28 minutes later, Organizing for America sent out an email in President Obama?s name calling on people to support his version of ?Financial Reform.?

    Right after that, the New York Times published a massive hit piece on Goldman Sachs? alleged actions during the highly publicized bursting of the housing bubble. By that afternoon, the DNC had launched a Google Ad campaign tying Goldman Sachs? alleged wrongdoing to the need for Obama?s ?Financial Reform? proposal. As Erick wrote, this is stunning ? especially since (and this bears repeating ad infinite) Goldman was a top donor to the Obama campaign in 2008.”

    …

  • texasgalt

    is keeping score

    Obama is starting to look like an early day Mussolini. He is turning the corner on socialism and moving right on to II Duce. That turned at very poorly, in the end.

    They cant go too hardly on Goldman. After all it’s the recruiting ground for all Treasury Secs.

    • conservos
  • conservos

    .. Scandinavian Politics and Policy in the Global Age.”

    Circa 2003

    You know — Sweden and Copenhagen and all those schmucks who are trying to tap into America’s wealth?

    It’s a text, and although I fell on this side of pricey, the reason I bought it because of what it said toward the end of Chapter 1:

    “Chapter 10 is devoted to the labor market, where the size, strength, and centralization of unions and employers’ organizations combined with the exigencies of governmental economic planning have transformed traditional patterns of industrial relations.

    We examine the interlock between public policy and collective bargaining; the long-term strain that that imposes; the drive for increased participation in decisions made on the shop floor, or industrial democracy; and the move to broaden the ownership of industry through collective empoloyee funds, a move toward economic democracy.”

    Yep, socialism and wealth redistribution.

    1. Gotta kick this guy the hell outta office and

    2. If he senses there’ll be hell to pay in 2012 (which he does), he’ll do all he can to bring America to her knees before he leaves (which he’s doing).

    And we’re barely into year 2.

    But I’ve read the end of the book .. we good guys win (you mofos).

    Y’all have an excellent night.

  • Jonas Parker

    I’ve seen quite a bit of this topic in various articles lately, but seems to me it isn’t getting the attention it deserves. It has become quite clear that as long as we have ‘too big to fail’ in banking and financial (I’ll leave car companies alone for now) we remain strapped in a chair with a muzzle to our temple.

    The only way to break up the insidious crony capitalism between DC and Wall St is to break up these institutions to reduce their individual influence. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that if we don’t do this, we cannot preserve freedom and the free market.

    Economies of scale for individual entities aside, the efficiency of the *market* is only maximized when there is real risk. We don’t have real risk today. We have ‘we will bail you out regardless of what foolish thing you do’.

    Frankly, I have reached the point where I want to see no public money underwriting any private debt. That includes the dissolution of Fannie/Freddie and the breakup of all the large financial companies. We might even be smart enough to break them up along functional lines as we have in the past so that trading, loaning, M&A, etc are separated. If any entity goes under, its investors loose, and the market re-establishes equilibrium much faster. Today, that doesn’t even happen, because of government involvement.

    We need to separate the government from the economy, except for necessary regulation, which I support fully. Breaking these companies up will significantly reduce the opportunity for the few big ones to buy our entire government, which is what they are doing now.

    I realize this is a proposal in which the government will force companies to re-organize.. and that (all of this) is a gray area in terms of the government mandating the dispensation of ‘private’ property. But face it… I’m not a progressive like T Roosevelt, but I understand there are times that we must do things to create a viability in the economy and in the body politic. I doubt there are many that would defend monopoly and the obvious havoc and political reaction that would result. We have curbed some of those excesses of capitalism… we need to get to Trust Busting V 2.0.

    Now the Reps have always been considered the soulmates and bed-mates of the large financial entities. Of course, that is no longer true in the sense of who the financial entities contribute to, but the Reps retain that stigma and to a great degree, that mindset, when in fact it no longer does them much good.

    Much better for them to break out… forego the contributions, if that’s what it takes, and be seen as the party that truly and significantly will restore sanity and confidence in the economy and the social contract. Imagine the benefits to accrue we can be convincing in this regard.

    We cannot preserve our freedoms, our constitution, and restore our economic viability without taking on this huge challenge.

  • spinoneone

    In fact, one of Goldman’s “Big Boys” is now Obama’s Ambassador in Berlin. Not a bad gig, really! Just one example of the multiple pay-offs by the regime to present and former Goldman employees for “services to the cause.”

  • texasgalt

    Goldman CEO says he likes teh One’s new financial regs . . . better for everybody. The dog and pony show continues.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/94735-blankfein-supports-financial-reform-legislation

    • davesinsanantonio

      those who are supposed to regulate them. This smells fishy. What are they getting out of the relationship? At least in part, it is the inside track on the carbon offset market mentioned above. They literally stand to make a trillion dollars or more.
      This is like the Mafia “accepting” the federal government “regulating” numbers running, prostitution, protection rackets, and drug smuggling. If it came to that how would you tell the two sides apart? Same for Goldman Sachs. They are in collusion with the feds on this, and the “show trial” in Congress is just whitewash to keep the voters from delving too deep into their love affair.

      • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

        Mussolini and Woodrow Wilson pioneered it, FDR exploited it. The Peron’s and the Euro’s perfected it. It puts all the power into the hands of the government, and keeps the profits for the big corporations and big labor.

        The only people hurt are small business, non union workers, taxpayers and consumers.

        • texasgalt

          Remember at how Obama marvelled at their success when he went over for the Olympics?

          Here at home, this too shall pass, very soon or if not soon, in a couple of generations. One or the other.

      • texasgalt

        but the average Joe is the one taking it in the shorts. We should probably thank Obama for this, too.

  • leehazel

    also commonly referred to as Corporate Fascism.

    This is basically defined as the merger of Big Business and Big Government.

    Huge business segments are encouraged to marry up in an oligarchy. This is a kind of semi-monopolistic arrangement whereby the competitive environment of a free market economy is replaced by these huge commercial/government business cartels. One-size-fits all taken to absurdity.

    This has been going on since WWII. Does anyone remember Dwight Eisenhower’s famous warning about the existence of the Military-Industrial complex and the dangers it would portend.

    As you watch what is currently happening to our Financial business segment, our Health Care business segment, our Energy business segment, our Transportation business segment, our schools (a business segment of a slightly different ilk) keep in mind the following:

    1) Each of these major parts of our economy has come under increasingly direct control by our WDC based bureaucracies.
    2) The Financial segment is undergoing the grand finale as it is effectively put under total government control. The FDIC, the SEC, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have each played a role to get us where we are today.
    3) The free market Health Care segment is going the way of the Dodo bird. Medicare, Medicaid, and the hand-in-hand activities of a captive health insurance and pharmaceutical industry have combined to create the new fascist/socialized medicine we are seeing come into being.
    4) Energy segment. Anyone who can’t see how we got from gasoline mixture controls, highway speed controls, alcohol controls, green energy and Climate Change was and is not paying attention. Take a moment to consider the role that the corporate giant GE (toxic light bulbs) and another giant, Dow Chemical (the myth of the Ozone layer problem and the sole source fix by Dow) and add to that the reduction in Big Oil into a very small group of very large businesses that control at least 90% of this entire business segment.
    5) Automotive and Transportation are themselves a study in how the government attains its fascist big government agenda through the use of Unions. A sixty year study of Unions in the US since the end of WWII is a real study in the ability of a government and specifically a brace to hand in there until the sun shines. Take a look at the automobile workers unions and the truckers unions along with the NEA and SEIU for a study in a successful criminal conspiracy by government and union
    6) Schools. The federal Department of Education has slowly broadened their influence into the classrooms. Today almost all decisions made regarding K-12 education must meet federal standards and requirements. To some extent the Universities other than through grant monies was to some extent hands off by the feds. That all ended with Obama-care. In this bill is the tool for the complete takeover of our Colleges and Universities by a Federal bureaucracy. The Student Loan is the vehicle.

    I hope this has been somewhat informative. We really have our work cut out for us. The situation we find ourselves in today took a long time to implement. It will not be uprooted in a day.
    PC is Thought Control

    • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

      and the wealthy, and Academics, and the wannabees. As I wrote before, the losers are: Consumers, taxpayers, non-union workers, and small business.

      • leehazel

        Thanks. Big Labor is clearly a factor. Note my subparagraph 5)

        Some one above noted the need for Term Limits. If what I have said here doesn’t add positive support for TL’s I don’t know what I could have said that would be more in favor.

        Long term professional politicians will bring our democratic Republic to its knees.

    • leehazel

      bad sentence; 5)… (4th line) brace to hand
      should read:
      Bureaucracy too hang in …….