“We Were There For Them”
by digby
Understatement of the century:
When I asked top White House economic advisor Larry Summers if the President needs to encourage banks to do more lending, he told me that bankers “need to recognize that they’ve got obligations to the country after all that’s been done for them, and there is a lot more they can do.” Tomorrow, the President will meet with heads of the country’s biggest banks and Summers told me the White House has a blunt message: “President Obama is going to be talking with them about what they can do to support enhanced lending to customers across the country. “We were there for them. And the banks need to do everything they can to be sure they’re there for customers across this country.”
They sure were.
But I’m afraid that Summers is willfully misrepresenting his banker pals’ moral philosophy which says that they are “fulfilling their obligations” by making huge profits and giving themselves enormous bonuses. They are the productive members of society who are supporting all of us parasites with their superior talents and stronger work ethic. “We have to tolerate the inequality” of giving bankers huge paychecks in order “to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all.” In fact, they are doing God’s work. Profits, after all, are not satanic.
It’s nice that the president is going to scold these people about not being greedy bastards, but I’m fairly sure that after everything that’s already happened, the bankers will be trying hard to keep from smirking and the rest of the country will roll its collective eyes at the absurdity of appealing to their sense of gratitude and fair play. It’s just a little bit late for anyone to take finger wagging seriously, I’m afraid.
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