Dec 15 2009
The revolution will be on speakerphone
Check this out.
Putting Obama on Hold, in a Hint of Who’s Boss
President Obama didn’t exactly look thrilled as he stared at the Polycom speakerphone in front of him. “Well, I appreciate you guys calling in,” he began the meeting at the White House with Wall Street’s top brass on Monday.
He was, of course, referring to the three conspicuously absent attendees who were being piped in by telephone: Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; John J. Mack, chairman of Morgan Stanley; and Richard D. Parsons, chairman of Citigroup.
Their excuse? “Inclement weather,” according to the White House. More precisely, fog delayed flights into Reagan National Airport. (In the “no good deed goes unpunished” category, the absent bankers were at least self-aware enough to try to fly commercial.)
That awkward moment on speakerphone in the White House, for better or worse, spoke volumes about how the balance of power between Wall Street and Washington has shifted again, back in Wall Street’s favor.
I can’t even believe this. No wait, I can. They can get away with it, so they do. As they say, them who has the money makes the rules, and for the period of time where We The People had the money, we failed to make any rules at all. Wall Street is better at it than we are.
The rest of the article is a really good read. I recommend it.
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