KING of the UNITED STATES

I don’t mind occasional rain at all. And, there are going to be times in our lives when someone “takes a piss” on you. That’s life. BUT, there are very few things that get me furious like someone “taking a piss on you and telling you it’s raining”. It is the INSULT on top of the injury; that’s going too damn far…Just check out the recent words of Sen. “Aren’t I Great” Dodd (CHAIRMAN of the SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE)

October 16, 2008
 
DODD: “…Americans are reeling from the credit crisis. Sadly, in my view, this crisis was entirely preventable.

…Well, what makes this scandal different from others is the abject failure of regulators to adequately police the markets. Regulators exist to check the tendency to excess of the regulated. They are supposed to step in to maintain transparency, competition, and fairness in our economy. In this case, though, our nation’s financial regulators willfully ignored abuses taking place on their beat, choosing to embrace the same faulty assumptions that fueled the extensive risk-taking in the marketplace. Instead of checking the tendency to excess, they permitted and in some ways even encouraged it. They abandoned sensible and appropriate regulation and supervision.

No one can say that the nation’s financial regulators were not aware of the threats posed by reckless subprime lending to homeowners, communities, and indeed the entire country. That threat had already been recognized by Congress….

The evidence is overwhelming. This crisis is a direct consequence of years of regulatory failures by government officials. They (he means “we”) ignored the law, they ignored the risk to homeowners, they ignored the harm done to our economy. Despite this clear and unimpeachable evidence, there are still some who point fingers of blame at the discretion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Community Reinvestment Act. These critics are loud and they’re shrill. They’re also very wrong. It is no coincidence that they are some of the very same sources who were the greatest cheerleaders for the very deregulatory policies that created the financial crisis.

… At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s worth noting that at the height of the housing boom, the president and his supporters, in and out of government, did nothing to criticize or stop predatory lending. They did nothing to support, much less advance the legislation that some of us were working on to move in the Congress that would have cracked down on predatory lending.”

Right…After this startling accusation which should more appropriately be presented as a CONFESSION, some actual illuminating and often earnest testimony tries to unravel intensely complicated banking, lending, and trading complexity. What does NOT happen, is ANY self-reflection and mature assumption of responsibility in participation in the problematic processes. All who involve themselves present themselves as the CLEVER folks who tried ever so hard to stop it all (but BUSH admin wouldn’t let them, etc.). This is liberally peppered with MANY “thank you” nods for being such decent and wise leaders.

“SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really, really appreciate your holding this hearing today and the work you’ve done for much of the last year and a half.

SEN. CASEY:  There still is a long way to go, but I think we’ve seen a lot of effective leadership here in both parties, (what IS your definition of “effective”!!???!!!) and I think we need more of that. And Mr. Chairman you were among the leaders of that. We’re grateful for that. I don’t think anyone will fully appreciate that leadership until maybe many years from now. But we’re grateful.

SEN. DODD: … And I want to thank Barney Frank on the House front; and Roy Blunt, the Republican…”

“…MR. MORIAL: So Senator Dodd, I thank you for your leadership…”

“SEN. DODD: … and, again, I thank my colleagues here and I thank Barney Frank and his colleagues in the House, that after many years of debating and discussing what to do about the GSEs, we actually did it this year…” [TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH!]

“SEN. DODD: All right. Thank you, Mayor Morial.

SEN. : Thank you, Mayor.

SEN. DODD: Thank you very much. Thank you. Senator Brown.

SEN. BROWN: Thank you. And thank you, Mayor Morial, for your public service. Thank you, Mayor, very much…Okay, thank you. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

SEN. DODD: Thank you very much.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Thanks, Mr. Chairman.”

Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I couldn’t have said it better.