The Dysfunctional Obama Administration

They think they represent Wall Street, not the American people. Here's a bit from a post by Barry Ritholtz on his The Big Picture blog to demonstrate this fact:

The NYT reports that the White House and the NY Fed are pressuring NYS Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

Given the sadly misguided history of both the Obama administration and the NY Fed (led by the President Tim Geithneir, now Treasury Secretary) when it comes to Bailouts, this is not a huge surprise.

But what is surprising is the utterly inappropriate behavior of Kathryn S. Wylde. She is not only a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, but occupies the seat supposedly reserved for the representing the public.

If the Times report is accurate, and the quote below represents Ms. Wylde’s comments, than that position is a laughable mockery, and Ms. Wylde should resign effective immediately.

The quote in question, which was reported to have occurred at Governor Hugh Carey’s funeral (!?!) was as follows:

“It is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street — love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible.”

I do not know if Ms. Wylde understands what her proper role should be, but clearly she is somewhat confused. She appears to be far more interested in representing the banks than the public.

Note that the Federal Reserve (and indirectly, the NY Fed) are conflicted players in this. On the one hand, they are supposed to be bank regulators (a task they have performed poorly). But they are also substantial investors in the banks, and their regulatory oversight role is obviously conflicted.

There have been all manner of criminal and civil trespasses committed, and we should find out who ordered them, who committed them and why. AG Schneiderman should continue investigating the robo-signing, bring civil and criminal charges where necessary.

Recall that the original problems came about in large part due to Alan Greenspan’s Nonfeasance — the failure to perform his professional obligations of oversight and regulation. That any member of the Federal Reserve or NY Fed wants this closed before any investigation has been undertaken is a scandal of the highest magnitude.

Kathryn S. Wylde, and any other Fed member shirking their duties and committing nonfeasance should step down immediately.

Obama kept the same clowns who, under Bush, pushed for deregulation and how block any attempt to introduce effective regulation (e.g. Brooksley Born). Obama has wined and dined Wall Street while turning a cold shoulder to massive unemployment and a historic destruction of home ownership in America. He has let the economy stagnate and wages fall while agreeing with Republicans to extend big tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires.

It is the Obama administration which is trying to pressure the state attorney generals to yield to the Wall Street banks and "settle" leaving more Main Street victims of Wall Street greed. Obama is not interested in justice. He isn't interested in reining in Wall Street. He has let the multi-billion dollar "bonuses" continue on Wall Street while the Main Street economy lapses into a recession within a depression. Enough!