Open Letter To Obama on financial malfeasance and regulation
Open Letter to President Obama
AUGUST 13 2010
Montara California
from W. Alexander Hagen
Motivation:
Mr President:
REQUEST TO RE ACTIVATE AND RE-ESTABLISH PECORA COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE FINANCIAL FRAUD AND IRREGULARITIES AND DETERMINE WHAT WE CAN WE LEARN AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN WE MUST NOT FORGET.
Additionally request to have William K. Black head the investigation.
On your election Cornel West said "He is only as strong as the people organizing and advocating"
I must with good will hold you as my choice for President, accountable not to abandon the dream and hopes you have ignited, the "Change We Can Believe In" Movement - in which you captured America's Good Naturedness and Altruism
But let it not be said Naivete..
Your election led to the feeling we truly had a voice in redirecting our national energies to enlightened purposes, to restore social mobility which has effectively slowed greatly since 1973, and actually has reversed.
To restore efficient and logical management and administration. Your campaign was such an extraordinary organizational accomplishment, we new that if you concentrated, that you could be trusted to drain a swamp or two.
To restore our moral authority in the world, after years wherein we eavesdropped on our own citizens, tortured other countries citizens without due process, and invaded other countries themselves without effectively due process of law.
To restore our investment in education and the sciences to revive america from her slumber as other nations grew great.
To look at what works in other countries and see how we look and feel when we compare our expenditures and results in different human endeavors, and draw the needed lessons and make the necesarry reforms.
MR President:"
You have a population willing to sacrifice and contribute to revive America. Now that the financial collapse is largely familiar to the world, we have irreparably harmed America's brand as a financial powerhouse. Wall Street is now more than ever in its history since 1929 viewed worldwide as a FRAUDULENT UNTRUSTWORTHY NETWORK OF BANKS.
The harm this has done is to kill the very Bankers who wish to hide their mistakes and perhaps worse and maintain their positions and continue to recieve bonuses that have no possible justification in any normal occupation.
How is it so that the Banksters have exterminated themselves regardless of the coverup by Treasury and its allies ?
Basically because people will piece it together. The U.S. deindustrialized in the 70s through 90s, converting much of the economy to "Financial Services" These services are essentrially mechanisms to fund businesses and consumers, yet they now have become more important than the real world activities that they are assembled around. Thus mortgage insurance on a single house 500,000 could be 5 Million, even the bizarre bets that the derivatives placed not being sufficiently leveraged, they would then leverage another 10fold.
If we allow them to do this and then offer support when this collapses. We must know what TO BIG TO FAIL really really means.
IF YOU CAN BET 10 TIMES THE VALUE OF A HOUSE IN INSURANCE AND YOU LOSE THE BET - ALL OVER THE COUNTRY - YOU WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR `10 TIMES THE VALUE OF ALL REAL ESTATE IN THE US or 25 TRILLION DOLLARS.
AT WHAT POINT COULD THIS RECKLESS BEHAVIOUR ACTUALLY WRECK OUR PROSPECTS PERMANENTLY - OR DESTROY THE ECONOMY OF THE US If an average american works 35 years at 40,000 a year that would be 1.$ Million for each wage earner. To destroy the economy utterly would be to effectively suck all his future earnings for the rest of his life. To inarguably nationally destroy our economy would be a loss of around 120 TRILLION DOLLARS:
To return to the central point, we moved away from manufacturing and Basic Industrial National Policy towards military specialization and financial services. With the Sup Prime Meltdown. Our companies and even our currency is no longer trusted.
These companies through their misconduct incalculably damaged any shred of integrity or dignity Wall Street possessed as a Global Brand. If you are a Greek Pension Fund Trustee, what do you think will be the difference in your reception of financial undertakings by companies like Goldman Sachs. For those who do have any shred of integrity on Wall Street, to keep the benefit of this industry we have invested so much in bringing revenue to America, YOUR HANDLING OF THIS MALFEASANCE HAS BEEN SO POORLY MANAGED THAT OUR GOVERNMENT HAS NOW HARMED OUR FINANCIAL SERVICE GLOBAL BRAND IMAGE!!!!
So we must heal the United States Credibility as NOT BEING A NEST OF LIARS AND THIEVES RUNNING A CORPORATIST KLEPTOCRACY
By fully investigating, restoring the Glass Stiegal act and similar limitations of abuse, and looking at restoring protections we learned in the S&L scandal as well as the regulations imposed after the 1929 crash, our currency and financial brand will heal. This will add value and reduce anti american extremism. (As long as we act like pigs, the revolutionaries can merely broadcast/replay our own actions to recruit their new members.
the euphoria of a national movement of progressives who for the first time in what seemed a very long time, perhaps since Roosevelt or Kennedy.
This "Change We Can Believe In" movement
Helen Tomas asked Gibbs whats the difference between Obama and Bush on foreign policy- I couldnt believe it. He responded that under Obama we increased troop levels in Afghanistan. Like your legions of formerly ardent admirers, I am deeply bitter now, This presidency looks like its serving similar power interests as Bush. A friend once told me "Clinton is the best Republican President we ever had".
The Internet is becoming a HUGE factor. We cant pretend any more with the new quasi intelligencia. I have learned - thanks to the movie "Plunder the crime of our times - how deeply disliked treasury and Geithner and Summers are by people following the money.
We do support the attempts in all the initiatives - but they all seem like such hopelessly compromised sellouts. Health Care with little cost control - financial reform putting The Consumer FPB under the Fed is just insane. Increasing regulatory power - is just matching the increase in corporate power with an increase in government power. Why ? Because its too hard to actually change the rules like Brown Kaufmann would have done. Through educating myself I have now a deep distrust in the Fed and Wall Street - although I am a businessman - Whoever actually reads this should watch the brilliant (although perhaps too extreme) Max Keiser. He gives you what Jon Stewart only flirts with. This administration looks so pro military industrial that I just cant believe it. No Press Conferences! Hows that for transparency! Secrecy Laws attacking our constitution - maintained and upgraded - it appears your administration does not want to lead - but rather to rule. To accumulate power. I wish I could be a fly on the wall there and find out just what in tarnation drove our "Change we can believe in" into "A Muscular Executive Branch" It is like Boromir believing he would do good with the ring. Dont settle for half measures so often! And dont amass executive power - what will happen when another less wise comes in to power - and we have voncentrated all this power ?
Show us what you really believe in - not just "We support working folks" But - We support intelligently designed functions (laws) that even the playing field, use incentives available to ALL - not targeted promotions - I dread to think of the carnage in the renewable industry - if we use grants - ALL renewable power should have a credit - a real credit - not merely a tax credit - `we need fairness and to allow people to get to work innovating without being politically connected. That means hard work designing the math functions (laws). Now that is centrism - no waste - no fraud - no picking winners and losers - it can be done - and for true social justice it must be done.
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W. Alexander Hagen