Main Street turns against Wall Street

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> Date: September 29, 2008 10:24:35 AM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Main Street turns against Wall Street
>
> Main Street turns against Wall Street
> A populist backlash is changing America's political climate.  
> Inflamed by the financial crisis and bailouts, a form of class  
> warfare could haunt business leaders for years to come.
> By Nina Easton, Washington bureau chief
> Last Updated: September 28, 2008: 11:03 AM ET
> <http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/26/news/economy/easton_backlash.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008092811 
> >
>
> NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In one frenzied month Treasury Secretary Henry  
> Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke remade Wall  
> Street. Along the way they may also have recast American politics. A  
> month of historic government interventions shows signs of triggering  
> a political version of climate change - unleashing a new era of  
> class fury that could hurt U.S. companies, business leaders, and  
> wealthy investors for years.
>
> "A potential calamity," predicts Democratic pollster Doug Schoen.  
> "If the reactions we're seeing hold, we could have real spasmodic  
> anger directed at businesses and corporations." And the timing will  
> have consequences, says financier and onetime GOP presidential  
> candidate Mitt Romney: "Unfortunately, politicians have seized on  
> the politics of envy," he told Fortune, "and they are stoking it  
> this election year like I've never seen in my lifetime."
>
> Compared to this, Enron was a warm-up exercise. For all the public  
> outrage over accounting scandals seven years ago, the result in  
> Washington was limited to a financial reporting rule that most  
> Americans have never heard of (though many in the business community  
> still consider Sarbanes-Oxley a destructive overreaction).
>
> By contrast, the implosion of Wall Street, followed by Paulson's  
> escalating series of multibillion-dollar rescues, has fired up  
> populist sentiments that were already building in American politics,  
> promising to reshape legislative battles over everything from tax  
> and trade policies to federal regulation. Union leaders like the AFL- 
> CIO's John Sweeney suddenly sound as if they're in the mainstream of  
> public opinion with statements like this: "One thing is certain. No  
> one - no politician, no investment banker, no television  
> commentator, no economist - should be able to say again with a  
> straight face that here in the United States we just let markets do  
> whatever markets do and everything works out for the best."
>
> Washington hath no fury like Middle America scorned - and there's  
> reason to think it will only get uglier. The government's massive  
> new financial commitments will severely tie the next President's  
> hands in addressing middle-class concerns.
>
> [snip]
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