The Speech Obama Should Have Given on Wall Street

Obama's Speech on Wall Street 22 April 2010

The full transcript is here

I would like to examine portions of the speech, paraphrasing to make it apply to what Obama and Congress should be addressing. They really need to clean up the messes they've created, instead of putting on the robes of the self-righteous and pointing their fingers at others. The excerpts are from the actual speech, while the italics is what I think should have been said, in order to present the truth.

Since I last spoke here two years ago, our country has been through a terrible trial. More than 8 million people have lost their jobs. Countless small businesses have had to shut their doors. Trillions of dollars in savings has been lost, forcing seniors to put off retirement, young people to postpone college, and entrepreneurs to give up on the dream of starting a company. And as a nation we were forced to take unprecedented steps to rescue the financial system and the broader economy.

Since I last spoke here two years ago, our country has been subjected to several transgressions, by our government. Actions taken by my administration and Congress, in the guise of intelligent intervention have, instead, created an atmosphere of uncertainty. A lack of consumer confidence, resulted in a drastic reduction in purchases of durable goods, thereby causing unemployment numbers to skyrocket. All of this, because we, your government, ignored you, the governed and failed to heed the warnings of leading economists. Why? Because being a bunch of lawyers, we have more knowledge and insight about everything, than you, mere mortals, could ever comprehend. Besides, the more we can screw up, and blame on others, the more you will need us to help you.

But we have more work to do. Until this progress is felt not just on Wall Street but Main Street we cannot be satisfied. Until the millions of our neighbors who are looking for work can find jobs, and wages are growing at a meaningful pace, we may be able to claim a recovery — but we will not have recovered. And even as we seek to revive this economy, it is incumbent on us to rebuild it stronger than before. That means addressing some of the underlying problems that led to this turmoil and devastation in the first place.

So, you see, we have only just begun. Until we have attained complete government control of Wall Street and Main Street, we can not be satisfied. Even if you regain confidence in the economy and resume purchasing durable goods, resulting in decreased unemployment and increased stock values, we will continue to spout doom and gloom. How else can we ensure our positions of power and dominance? We will, always, manufacture bogeymen and/or strawmen toward whom we can direct your ire, while declaring our fictitious concern for your best interests. So, we shall continue to enact new and increasingly ineffective regulations and laughably incompetent bureaucracies, which led to this turmoil and devastation, in the first place. And, to that end, I have demanded an increase in the budget of the SEC, by 6.8% to $1.027 billion. Even though, having been in existence since 1934, they have failed to prevent innumerable frauds and schemes, resulting in the loss of untold millions in investor funds, all the while, some employees were earning $120 per hour to surf internet porn.

As I said two years ago on this stage, I believe in the power of the free market. I believe in a strong financial sector that helps people to raise capital and get loans and invest their savings. But a free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business, or save for retirement. What happens here has real consequences across our country.

As I said, two years ago on this stage, I believe in the power of the free market. While many other times, I have given speeches before the salivating masses, demonizing this very audience. As recently as January of this year, I have castigated banks for benefiting from the safety net that taxpayers provided and the inappropriateness for them to turn around and use that cheap money to trade for profit. Notwithstanding, having presented the that being the purpose of the massive taxpayer bailouts, in the first place. When the people began to call out their government for taking free license to take whatever it can get, however it can get it, we had to throw capitalism and the free market to the lions, to attempt to satiate the thirst for blood. Unfortunately, it appears many have not taken the bait. So, it has become necessary to, also, establish that group as enemies of the lower class. We can not allow the truth to be known and will use whatever means necessary to maintain our place in the hierarchy of our making. And we have no qualms about unleashing the lions of the media upon one group of the citizenry, to gain favor with another. The alternative is real consequences, for politicians across our country.


P.S. If you will indulge me, I would like to practice my prognostication skills. I predict, before this thread attains page 2, the following statements/question will be made:
1) Where were you during the Bush era?
2) You are just a:
a. bigot
b. racist
c. stupid redneck
3)You Americans just don't know how lucky you are to have Obama.


[edit on 25-4-2010 by WTFover]