An Absolute “Must Read” — Phil Angelides’ Exposé of America’s Ruling Class’s Attempt to Lie about Its Causation of the Financial Disaster that Impoverished Ordinary Americans — Brilliantly Done

© 2011 Peter Free

 

29 June 2011

 

 

I admire people who can intelligently express their well-justified fury without sputtering and stumbling over words

 

Phil Angelides served as Chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

 

What do you think of what he said yesterday?

 

They say that winners get to write history. Three years after the meltdown of our financial markets, it’s clear who is winning and who is losing. Wall Street — arms outstretched in triumph — is racing toward the finish-line tape while millions of American families are struggling to stay on their feet. With victory seemingly in hand, the historical rewrite is in full swing.

 

The contrast in fortunes between those on top of the economic heap and those buried in the rubble couldn’t be starker. The 10 biggest banks now control more than three-quarters of the country’s banking assets. Profits have bounced back, while compensation at publicly traded Wall Street firms hit a record $135 billion in 2010.

 

Meanwhile, more than 24 million Americans are out of work or can’t find full-time work, and nearly $9 trillion in household wealth has vanished. There seems to be no correlation between who drove the crisis and who is paying the price.

 

© 2011, Phil Angelides, The real causes of the economic crisis? They’re history, Washington Post (28 June 2011)

 

 

A gift with insight and words

 

Mr. Angelides goes on to demonstrate how powerful men and self-interested institutions (name by name) are rewriting history so as to benefit themselves.  Given his credentials, what he wrote would be worth reading in any event.

 

Given Angelides’ concise brilliance in saying what he says, please don’t miss taking a look.  His statement is here.

 

 

Conclusion — distorting history kills our chances for a better future

 

Angelides concludes:

 

Traveling down a road unfettered by facts will take us far from where we need to be: prosecuting financial wrongdoing to deter future malfeasance; vigorously enforcing financial reforms to rein in excessive risk; and rooting out Wall Street’s conflicts of interests, abysmal governance and badly flawed compensation incentives.

 

Worst of all, it will divert us from the urgent task of putting people back to work and creating real wealth for America’s future.

 

Over the past decade, we squandered trillions of dollars on rampant speculation rather than on making investments — in technology, infrastructure, clean energy and education — that increase our productivity and economic strength.

 

© 2011, Phil Angelides, The real causes of the economic crisis? They’re history, Washington Post (28 June 2011) (paragraph split)

 

Lying is a good route to national suicide.

 

“We the People” ought to hold deceivers’ feet to the fire.

 

Deception is killing our chances of achieving the American Dream.