By appointing Bill Daley Chief of Staff, President Obama hopes to present a centrist face to voters skeptical about his commitment to free enterprise.
Don’t be fooled.
Deeper in the Administration, the president’s electricians are busily rewiring American capitalism for failure.
The recent crisis was caused by a huge international trade deficit, massive foreign borrowing and shoddy Wall Street practices.
From 2004 to 2008, Americans spent and consumed five percent more than they produced and earned, scarfing up electronic devices made in China, Middle East oil and houses whose mortgages they couldn’t afford. The Chinese and Middle East royals bought U.S. bonds and other securities with the dollars not spent on U.S. exports, and Wall Street banks recycled those to consumers through first and second mortgages.
Big Wall Street bankers bundled those questionable loans into bonds, which ultimately failed and nearly destroyed the global financial system but for four trillion dollars in loans, gifts and favors to Wall Street from the Treasury and Federal Reserve.