The Obama Administration Has Been Very, Very Good To Banksters And Wall Streetians

[JDPriestly]

75. Bush and Obama are to blame for a situation out of which Wall Street was given the message

that its greed was not just OK but almost vital to our national interests.

When the big bail-out deal was dictated in 2008 (and agreed to by Obama), certain employees on Wall Street had labor contracts (employment contracts if you prefer) that insured that they would receive huge bonuses.

Never mind that many of the companies, the banks, brokerages and Wall Street were not only failing but were bringing down the world economy with them. Never mind that. When it came time for bonuses to be awarded, the big shots on Wall Street and their employees argued and insisted and prevailed on the idea that the bonuses were guaranteed by their contracts and had to be granted to them. The greedy top dogs in the financial sector got their bonuses, stock options, etc. per their contracts.

Apparently those who negotiated the bail-outs made no effort to consider amending or revising the labor or employment (one word for the 99% and the other for the 1%) contracts even though some of the banks and insurance companies would have ended up in bankruptcy had the government not saved them.

Move to the auto industry and the bail-out that saved some of the auto manufacturing companies. As a condition for the bail-out (perhaps not literally but actually this was a condition whether called that or not), union contracts were renegotiated -- including some of the terms of the retirement benefits that had already accrued and were for current retirees (insurance benefits -- if my understanding is correct and benefits as well as pay scales were changed on existing contracts. Contrast this with the benevolent treatment of the fat cats on Wall Street.

And now, teachers find themselves being shortchanged across the country on their contractually agreed pensions.

So the benefits of the people working in the financial sector are sacrosanct while those of the 99% of working people -- not so much. Obama signed off on the bonuses for the financial sector. His representatives in the bail-out of the auto companies made the employees pay part of the losses of their employees in the form of contract changes.

Shows where Obama's heart is. Sorry. But those are the facts. And now, state after state is reducing teachers' salaries and cutting benefits. The bail-outs of Wall Street and of the auto companies started a trend.

Race to the bottom for ordinary employees. Race to the top for the highest-level employees.

Let's ask for more change in 2016. The change we got with Obama is an improvement over Bush's regressive policies, but not nearly what we need in America.