Saturday, June 20, 2009
Breaking the Bank
The FRONTLINE special Breaking the Bank, while perhaps factually correct, proposes a meta-narrative at odds with reality.
While it may be true that the Secretary of the Treasury is exercising plenary powers with a heavy hand, it isn't like the Congress and White House weren't in it up to their necks for the last thirty years. The deregulation that led to Ponzi schemes, bailouts, bribes and bonuses -- exceeding by far all other corruptions in our history combined -- wasn't accidental; it was bought and paid for by lobbyists in the halls of Congress. And that didn't end when the banks were "forced" to take hundreds of billions of tax dollars to supposedly avoid economic Armageddon.
While FRONTLINE is to be commended for naming names, it should be chastised for creating false illusions about the corrupted state of our federal government.
While it may be true that the Secretary of the Treasury is exercising plenary powers with a heavy hand, it isn't like the Congress and White House weren't in it up to their necks for the last thirty years. The deregulation that led to Ponzi schemes, bailouts, bribes and bonuses -- exceeding by far all other corruptions in our history combined -- wasn't accidental; it was bought and paid for by lobbyists in the halls of Congress. And that didn't end when the banks were "forced" to take hundreds of billions of tax dollars to supposedly avoid economic Armageddon.
While FRONTLINE is to be commended for naming names, it should be chastised for creating false illusions about the corrupted state of our federal government.
