I’ve been waiting during this presidential election cycle for even one candidate vying to challenge President Hopey-Changey to recognize that there is a LOT of political mileage to be gained across the political spectrum from attacking Wall Street and the big banks for the damage they have wrought upon the nation’s economy. Alas, I’m still waiting. The latest candidate to place himself squarely in the corner of the forces that have spent the last 30 years strip mining the wealth of the working and middle classes is Herman Cain. Here’s Talking Point Memo:
Herman Cain had some tough words for the Occupy Wall Street protests, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: Don’t blame the banks for your financial problems — blame yourself.I love how this dipshit prefaces his remarks with, "I don't have the facts to back this up..." There was a time in America when a politician might have been embarrassed to actually admit such a thing when opening his big, fat yap. Not anymore, apparently. And his assertion that the banks are not responsible for the deplorable state of the economy that they themselves crashed because this is 2011 and not 2008 would be laughable if it wasn't so outrageous.
“I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated, to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration,” Cain said. “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks — if you don’t have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!”
Interviewer Alan Murray asked: “You don’t think the banks have anything to do with the crisis that we went into in 2008?”
“They did have something to do with the crisis that we went into in 2008. But we’re not in 2008 — we’re in 2011!” Cain replied.
You can call the Occupy Wall Street protesters dirty hippies all you want, Herman, and say derisively that they need to get a job. But are you then going to say the same thing to the millions of working and middle class families around the country who are essentially in the same predicament? During this campaign, you've tried to portray yourself as an outsider, but this just sounds like more of the same old shit to me.
Republican front runner and notable Wall Street whore Mitt Romney also showed where he stands this week by calling the Occupy Wall Street protests “class warfare.” Sorry to break this to you, Mitt, but the rich have been waging war on the rest of us for more than a generation now. It’s about time we little people of all political persuasions band together and start fighting back.
Herman Cain is not running for President to run the country for the people but to continue increasing the wealth and power of the top 1%. He gives the typical corporate talking point response -- we are not to blame, the people are to blame.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the bankers and Wall Street took the money of the workers and speculated the country into an economic decline, then expect the people to bail out those very same criminals, is NOT our fault. It is NOT something we should pay for. It is NOT about rich and poor but the fact that the corruption of those top 1% allows them to continuously build more and more wealth while the rest of the country pays for their gambling.
If a homeowner can not pay their mortgage, they lose their home. If a banker can not pay their investors, American citizens pay. Cain says, "If you don't have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!" The protests go way beyond just "wanting to be rich" and unemployment. It is about the corruption that has penetrated the fabric of what is supposed to be a democracy.
HE is utterly disgusting,
This is the classic example of the myth of American Exceptionalism and the new nobles. This idea that we Americans (and, here I am referring to we rich Americans) are so innately gifted, so blessed by the Almighty, so superior to all other forms of life, that, duh, it's obvious that if you are not one of us, you are worthless. We are great because we are great. You are not. Go away. Cut my grass.
ReplyDeletePeople like Cain and Blankfein believe, down to genes, that they deserve everything they have and more, and they further believe that they, and nobody else, are responsible for their place. These people are the new nobles, and they know it, and they like it.
I should note, historically speaking, that this was precisely the tone and attitude in France circa 1789. How'd that work out?
Just sayin'.
"I don't have the facts to back me up on this…"
ReplyDeleteSome of these people (I guess I am thinking of the very wealthy) have absolutely no idea how clueless and idiotic they sound to the rest of us. Remember Barbara Bush's sage observations as New Orleans was drowning?
Speaking of 1789 -- wasn't there someone then who said of the starving masses "Let them eat cake"?
@bmerson & Patrick - they deserve something, all right. And I think the French had the right idea back then.
ReplyDelete@Bill Hicks "Alas, I'm still waiting." -What about Ron Paul? He's been attacking the banks and our monetary policy for 30 years..
ReplyDelete@Zach - RP needs to come out with a STRONG endorsement of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. I haven't seen it yet. Reigning in Wall Street will take (horrors!) government regulation, and I fear RP is too much of a doctrinaire libertarian to ever endorse that.
ReplyDelete@Bill Hicks - As a politician Ron Paul can't endorse the Occupy movement because he can't put himself in a position to be scrutinized for the actions of individuals who may step out of line. He has said that "If they were demonstrating peacefully, and making a point, and arguing our case, and drawing attention to the Fed – I would say, good!" And I think that's about as much as he can do, because there are some misguided people out there. I just saw a video from a guy on the streets, protesting who knows what because he was against Ron Paul and thought the Fed should print more money. I would love to see Ron Paul endorse the Occupy movement because of the popularity he'd get, but he can't because of people like that.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I believe that this movement has come about largely in part by Ron Paul's message gaining popularity, thus ending the peoples' apathy, and gradually educating the masses on the corruption going on in our government. Ron Paul wants to end the Fed, which will stop the big banks and wall street's endless reserve of money. He's a very, very smart man and always has a mind of attacking problems at their source. If anybody can make a difference, I believe it's him. And besides, what other candidate comes even close?
I don't think Ron Paul, being a free-enterprise libertarian, would endorse such an virulent, anti-capitalist movement. But as movements like these gain momentum, which they will, then an appropriate revolutionary cadre (not revolutionary in a Marxist way, but something radical, a break from the past) will appear from its ranks.
ReplyDeleteThe sort of leader you are hoping for is probably still a youngster, perhaps not even born yet. The current stand of politicians are too imbued with the residue of the whole post-war economic boom, too obedient to the ghost of Ronald Reagan and fearful of their status to take such a radical stance.
If infinite economic growth is impossible on a finite planet, please remind me again why trying to fix anything on the national level is worth our time?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't we be focused on the local?
If there is an election in 2012, shouldn't we just pay attention to local measures?
@Mercury4 - Ron Paul supported Ronald Reagan in his campaign and believed his message, but even admitted when debating in the Ronald Reagan Library that the 80's weren't a great economic time because Reagan made mistakes and took many policies in the wrong direction. Ron Paul wrote a letter to Reagan saying he would leave the republican party if that's the road it was going down. He's a man of his principles, and falters on them for no one or no thing.
ReplyDelete@John Anderson - That's exactly Ron Paul's message. The federal government does nothing right and is hardly accountable to the people. He wants most federal programs gone and turned over to the state and local levels, because they know infinitely more about what's best for their people, and because the people have much more influence at the local level.
My personal take is that the political system at all levels is fundamentally broken and is no longer of any value. That said, Ron Paul is the best candidate currently running for president out of a VERY bad lot.
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