Comments on: When standing on principle means defending the status quo

By: eric

eric — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:16:19 +0000

Ruth: Without the incessant advocacy of people like Simon Johnson, it’s unlikely the Leonhardt piece would have been as good. Leonhardt is a smart guy and a very clear writer, but he is essentially a reporter, not an analyst, so his weakness is that he is only as good as the conventional thinking or the public debate allows. Because the conventional wisdom completely failed both to notice the housing bubble and to foresee the Great Recession, Leonhardt’s pre-crash pieces were pretty weak. He has gotten better since the crash mainly because the crash broke the complacency of the debate and allowed a wider variety of opinion to be heard. He’s still too nice to Geithner et al.

Re Barney Frank: he has already passed a bill; what’s needed now is a push from higher up.

By: wordnerd

wordnerd — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:14:00 +0000

Barney is asking for money–more signs of nervousness from the Mass. Democrats. But surely he’s not nervous about reining in Wall Street? I’ll write him.

By: ruth gutmann

ruth gutmann — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:11:20 +0000

I recommend David Leonhardt’s “Heading off the Next Financial Crisis”; I usually read him on Wednesdays, but found this much longer piece on the NYT website today (3/26). He understands the intricacies of his subjects — he was equally good during the run up on health care reform — and makes clear just how complicated Wall Street regulation is and why. I greatly prefer him to the ubiquitous Simon Johnson of MIT, or, for that matter, to Gretchen Morgenson. He is not an advocate for any particular aspect of what can be done and the usefulness of it, and that inspires trust in his explanations. (This evening, Gretchen was jammering as if were all a done deal on Bill Moyers’ program, who was jammering about government not being allowed to pay for abortions).

We had quite a laugh this evening when David Brooks attributed Nancy Pelosi’s strength and smarts — praised by Mark Shields — to her learning from her father and brother.

By: dc

dc — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:06:07 +0000

Don’t some of you have Barney Frank’s ear? Financial reform is his bailiwick, so he’s the logical place to start if you want Pelosi and co. to get more serious about Wall Street reform. (Meanwhile Carol can keep encouraging Pelosi from this end of the country.)

Speaking of Wall Street, I noticed that the Republicans had no comment about the fact that the stock markets continued rising in the first two days after the HCR bill passed in the House. If the stock market had fallen instead, you can be sure that the GOP would have cited it as proof that HCR is the death of the dynamism of the American economy etc. etc. etc.

By: eric

eric — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:16:19 +0000

“Now on to a little regulation of Wall Street!”

Is there some way we can pique Nancy Pelosi’s interest in this issue?

I think HCR will help the democrats in the next elections, but if they’re going to let unemployment stay at 10%, they’d better at least get some heads rolling…

By: ng

ng — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:58:36 +0000

I too felt really good about the government, probably for the first time since the 2008 election, and let the Democrats know.

By: wordnerd

wordnerd — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:51:52 +0000

Victory (partial only of course) from the jaws of defeat! Now on to a little regulation of Wall Street!

By: dc

dc — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:46:36 +0000

“Probably the best congressional moment of my lifetime.”

Better even than the impeachment of President Clinton? That’s hard to believe!

When it came down to it, I don’t think Barbara Lee’s vote was ever in serious doubt, even though she’d obviously prefer less half-assed reform. Obama’s passivity on this issue for much of the last year was really disappointing, but I’m glad that when push finally came to shove, he listened to Pelosi and fought hard for this victory, instead of listening to people like Rahm Emanuel who was (if news accounts are accurate) urging a switch to a piecemeal, even more incrementalist approach. It’s hard to see how any further delay or change in strategy would have ended in anything except failure.

By: unique distance from isolation

unique distance from isolation — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:26:30 +0000

I can’t believe it actually happened! Probably the best congressional moment of my lifetime. Yesterday I wrote my congressman (who had wavered but finally voted YES) to thank him. As Carol pointed out, it’s good to cheer them on when they do the right thing.

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:34:53 +0000

If you’d only rented that apartment from me, Dave, Nancy could be your Congressperson, too. And there’s a bike lane right beside my house down to City Hall.