Slouching toward Weimar
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)
John Cole takes a brief look at the criminal corruption within Moody’s and asks the relevant question:
Again, I am not a lawyer, but what exactly has to happen before this stuff falls under RICO. How is this not an organized crime situation?
It is an organized crime situation. The SEC covering up Wall St. crimes for 10 years pretty much qualifies as an act of organized crime. Goldman’s big short on products it was selling as high-quality investments to its clients qualifies as an act of organized crime. The attempt to settle the MERS fraud for pennies on the dollar qualifies as at least organized pseudo-criminality. Heck, the circumstances of the entire bank bailout itself above and beyond the official TARP monies is a story of probable criminal behavior by itself. Matt Taibbi has been documenting Wall St. organized crime for years now.
Ultimately, what defenders of the Obama Administration have to understand is that the refusal to hold even a single one of these criminals to account for their actions (much less the organizations themselves) has been the most damaging decision the Administration has made both with the progressive base and with independents. One can argue the motives for that decision until the cows come home (be it corruption, lack of political power, a desire to instill confidence in a rocky financial system on the brink of collapse, etc.), but in the end it doesn’t matter.
The American public knows that something is deeply, deeply wrong with the system. We have seen three consecutive wave elections, which is unprecedented in modern American politics. What that means is that people are lashing out, looking for answers from someone. Anyone.
Somebody is to blame for the fact that the system is broken. Not just the political system as President Obama is keen to emphasize, but the economic and social system as well. Not everyone is clear on who broke it, why or how, and the effect of rightwing propaganda on a wide swath of the public is immense. As Digby has often noted, compromise is difficult because most of the public is divided between two very different theories of how society should be organized, and who precisely is responsible for the problems in it. But what both sides can generally agree on is that someone is responsible. This mess isn’t happening on its own, and it’s not happening because elites in Washington just aren’t chummy enough with each other like they used to be. The American people on both the left and the right know better than that. Maybe a few low-information swing state independents haven’t quite caught on yet (another reason the national popular vote act would have a positive impact on democracy), but even they’re more aware of how broken the system is than pollsters would have us believe.
If the President in his desire to be the Compromiser in Chief doesn’t point a finger at those responsible for the mess, the public won’t just give up and forget about the crime. They’ll find a scapegoat instead. Ultimately, someone will be punished for the destruction of the middle class in America, and the punishment will be as severe as the crime–whether it falls on the head of the guilty or not.
This sort of situation is the wellspring from which fascist movements originate. In the 1930s FDR saved capitalism and prevented America from falling to the same temptations as Germany and Italy by placing the blame on big business and monied interests as appropriate, rather than on racial and religious minorities.
Perhaps Barack Obama will win re-election in 2012, and perhaps he won’t. Certainly, whoever ends up as his Republican opponent will be even less likely to hold Wall St. accountable than the President has been. And they will do untold damage besides. Allowing the likes of Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann to stride into the Oval Office is not an option.
But either way, the failure to hold this class of organized criminals to account has weakened not only the President and the Democratic Party, but also American democracy itself. By attempting to paper over criminal behavior in the interest of bipartisan compromise and corporate investment, President Obama is only making the day of reckoning that much more ferocious down the road, and endangering the very vulnerable people who are likely to make the easiest scapegoats for a scared and angry citizenry led by the Pied Piper of Fox News.
Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt knew what had to be done in this situation. One can only hope that Barack Obama and his advisers will learn from history before it’s too late to save the country.