Friday, December 18, 2009

Melissa Bean Discussed on Bill Moyers' Journal


1 comment:

IllinoisJim said...

Since nobody has commented on this important segment, and somebody has to, I guess it might as well be me. Corporate Democrat, Melissa Bean. Full disclosure. I voted for Ms Bean twice. As I understand it, Ms Bean would not have gotten in but for the support of moderate Republicans. I like moderate Republicans, (Hell, I was one once) especially as I compare them with the far right “New Republicans”. So, Ms Bean has a tough job keeping the lid on the 8th. She supported health care reform at the same time her delegation was taking steps to “shake down” Wall Street. Okey?

We must remember that to please Mr Madigan, Ms. Miriam Santos, Chicago City Treasurer, told Wall Street to “belly up”. This was not okay.

But Ms Bean needs to speak with Mr. Immelt, CEO of blue chip General Electric, who gave a speech a few days ago to West Point cadets. I am paraphrasing, dissembling, and spinning here, but he basically said, “Guys, we blew it. Under Reaganomics, we plundered America by going for fast, easy Wall Street profit instead of the slow, patient, enduring Main Street profit that comes from discovering and developing new technology into products for export. Over the years GE profit went from technology driven to GE Capital finance driven. And that is the reason our stock was scorching $40 just a few years ago and sank to damn near $6 last year.”

(This was the first time since Reagan that I read of one of the corporate elites speaking in this manner. When the elites are seeing things differently, the winds of change are forecasted.)

It’s okay for Ms Bean to play politics with Wall Street. She has the ability to swim with the sharks without getting eaten alive, to fly with the geese without getting proforma'd upon. It’s okay, just as long as she knows that those guys and “trickle down” got us into trouble in the first place and she is going to do something about it.