Congress Grilling of Bankers

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by badexcuse, Feb 11, 2009.

  1. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts

    What a joke. Majority of these representatives are just flat out embarrassing themselves. No doubt who the smartest men in the room are...and they're not asking the questions.
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Anastasis

    Anastasis 1,000+ Posts

    This demo's going off.
     
  3. TexonLongIsland

    TexonLongIsland 2,500+ Posts

    That guy is flat out nuts and quite stupid.

    Mike Capuano, proudly serving the 8th district of Massachusetts

    [​IMG]
     
  4. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts


     
  5. Anastasis

    Anastasis 1,000+ Posts

    Somebody grilling the bankers now on credit card practices, esp wrt to targeting low income individuals who should not qualify for such cards, and the fact that now the American people are going to have to bail them out for those practices.

    Response from bankers: *crickets chirping*
     
  6. johnny chimpo

    johnny chimpo 500+ Posts

    Did anyone ask the bankers what they thought of A-Rod's steroid use?
     
  7. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts


     
  8. YoLaDu

    YoLaDu Guest


     
  9. GHoward

    GHoward 2,500+ Posts

    Someone let me know when that credit card bailouts going to happen so I can buy some more stuff that I don't need.
     
  10. johnny chimpo

    johnny chimpo 500+ Posts


     
  11. TahoeHorn

    TahoeHorn 1,000+ Posts

    I despise all Congressional grilling at hearings. All of 'em. It'd be ok if the guy getting grilled was in a position to respond aggressively. He's not. It's the same as poking the tiger in a cage with a stick.
     
  12. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts


     
  13. Beau Vine

    Beau Vine 1,000+ Posts


     
  14. YoLaDu

    YoLaDu Guest


     
  15. Texas_Rocks

    Texas_Rocks 500+ Posts


     
  16. 911_horn

    911_horn 500+ Posts


     
  17. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts

    It's all about face time. They're going to puff out their chests, beat these guys up with a bunch of questions and then give them their money and send them down the road.

    I agree that the banks' credit card strategies have backfired, and I'm glad they did because they were based on greed and a desire to exploit people. But for the congress to grill these guys and then turn around and say "oh and btw, you better be lending to everyone so that we ALL can live in houses and fulfill the American dream" is the height of idiocy.
     
  18. Austintxusa

    Austintxusa 2,500+ Posts


     
  19. ousuxndallas

    ousuxndallas 500+ Posts


     
  20. LosIllini

    LosIllini 250+ Posts

    Bankers don't really care about a little 'grilling' in Washington- they're getting their cake and eating it too.

    For the cash these boys are pocketing, the crooks in congress could chew their asses out on prime time tv every day of the week. Doesn't mean a thing. They'll be lighting their cigars with benjamins, laughing all the way to the bank.
     
  21. Hornius Emeritus

    Hornius Emeritus 2,500+ Posts


     
  22. EuroHorn

    EuroHorn 2,500+ Posts


     
  23. TahoeHorn

    TahoeHorn 1,000+ Posts


     
  24. YoLaDu

    YoLaDu Guest


     
  25. badexcuse

    badexcuse 1,000+ Posts

    WSJ Editorial. Kinda funny.

    February 11, 2009, 6:49 pm
    Mean Street: Wall Street to Congress, ‘I Don’t Know What You’re Talking About’
    Posted by Deal Journal

    Today in Washington, the Wall Street CEOs showed why they get paid — or at least once got paid the big bucks.

    They’re damn good salesmen.

    Good enough, that it made me think that Wall Street was actually properly disposing of the TARP money.

    meanstreet

    Whether it’s true or not — who knows?

    But in show trials like today’s House hearing, the facts matter a lot less than general impressions. Score this one for Wall Street.

    Of course, that’s not the way it should have gone.

    Three hundred and fifty billion dollars in TARP money has gone to the banks, but there’s still a crushing contraction in credit.

    Foreclosures are at record levels, but a bailed out Wall Street is still paying itself tens of billions in bonuses.

    Shooting CEOs in a barrel, right?

    Not when you have Congressmen like California’s Maxine Waters and Massachusetts’ Michael Capuano holding the shotguns.

    Waters addressed the eight CEOs as “Captains of the Universe.” Captain Kirk? She then followed up with questioning so rude and confused that the CEOs came across as gentlemen geniuses. Here’s an exchange between Waters and BofA Chief Ken Lewis:

    “I think it’s important for us to understand why you paid yourself fees on the money we gave you. As a matter of fact, Bank of America you paid yourself $30 million in fees just to accept our TARP money…Why do you do that?”

    To which Lewis paused before answering, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

    As for Capuano, he had a red-faced rant better suited to nursery school than Congress. “I am amazed that none of you have been prosecuted yet!” he yelled, before demanding the head of the guy who invented credit default swaps.

    Good luck finding him, Mike.

    All the Wall Street CEOs really had to do was not lose their cool, stick to the script and calmly answer all the predictable questioning.

    Which of you have corporate jets? What was your bonus last year? Why are you raising the rates on credit cards? What are you doing about foreclosures?

    Softball after softball for the A-Rods of Wall Street. It was almost effortless.

    J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon eagerly volunteered to personally look into any unfair credit-card charges.

    Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack waxed eloquently on how he loved doing his job for almost no pay.

    And CEO John Stumpf proudly noted that Wells Fargo execs are “Americans first. Bankers second.”

    That’s good stuff. At times, you had to wonder how such clever CEOs had managed to bankrupt their industry.

    But that was the past. And what the CEOs were good at articulating, in fact, better than the current Treasury Secretary, was that the future is getting better.

    All thanks to the TARP money.

    That TARP was “successful” runs hard against the conventional wisdom. TARP is seen as a failure because millions of Americans are still hard-up for the credit they can’t really afford anyway.

    But the true purpose of the TARP money was to recapitalize and save the banks – not necessarily increase their lending. At least not directly.

    So what was with all of today’s mumbo jumbo about evaluating TARP in terms of lending?

    Politics. The politicians sold TARP to America’s credit junkies as the fix for their credit woes. But they failed to mention that loose lending is exactly what created the mess with the banks in the first place.

    The good news is that judging by today’s CEO testimony, the banks are not in such bad shape anymore.

    TARP worked. Everything will be fine.

    If you believe the CEOs.
     
  26. jameson_bond

    jameson_bond 500+ Posts

    What we learned from this thread: Bankers are victims. Many on this thread would like to identify with them. Doubtful that any of these same erstwhile bankers could even tell their own congressmen anything more than, "Really pleased to meet ya, Mr Congressman," much less sit before the US Congress without pissing in their pants.
     
  27. UT1986

    UT1986 500+ Posts

    Our spineless congressmen should be handing out orange jumpsuits and slapping the cuffs on these dirtbags, not giving them more money and grandstanding before the media and American people, as if to reaffirm apathetic America "wow I guess our congressman really mean business this time. I bet those bankers are pissing in their Armani suits, way to go boys!" [​IMG]
     
  28. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts


     
  29. BA93

    BA93 1,000+ Posts

    Like stated, its all part of the game. The bank officers could turn it around and make the congressmen look stupid but what does that accomplish. Let the congressmen have their say, and then everyone goes home.
     
  30. Macanudo

    Macanudo 2,500+ Posts


     

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