Now comes word that the official at the center of the fraud scandal at the Treasury Department has been allowed to quietly quit and retire from his job as a government regulator, despite allegations that he allowed a bank to falsify financial records (The federal government took over IndyMac back in July, after the bank's stock price plummeted to just pennies a share when it was revealed the bank had financial troubles due to defaulted mortgages and subprime loans, costing taxpayers over $9 billion. )
One becomes both dismayed and slightly amused when celebrated novelists bemoan the limitations of fiction. What their lament is meant to suggest is that there are realities specific to a particular time and place that demand authentic, unbiased reporting, that the conceit of universal truth is a 19th century pretense. One wonders where, if one accepts their premise, such an impartial observer might exist.
Just as the global financial meltdown continues to expose the glaring flaws in "free-market" capitalism, so have the recurrent tragedies of history shown that human stupidity, shortsightedness and greed know no cultural or geographical boundaries. For instance reading this : “If there is a single episode in this entire 18 months that has made me more angry, I can’t think of one other than AIG,” Bernanke said. “AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system, there was no oversight of the financial-products division, this was a hedge fund basically that was attached to a large and stable insurance company.” --one doesn't know whether to laugh and go stock up on gold or simply become a hermit. Does the Chairman of the Federal Reserve not read the newspaper?
I submit that not only did Mr. Bernanke know that the "regulatory system" was being abused, his predecessor enabled the criminals. It is a crisis that President Obama, having wisely foreseen has now inherited, but he would be advised to observe the upheavals taking place in the land of his father. He will be facing a powerful backlash if he turns into the lightning-rod for the American public's simmering rage.
January 17, 2008 Protests Bring New Violence in Kenya
Jeffrey Gettleman, NYTimes, NAIROBI:
Opposition protests resumed in Kenya on Wednesday, and as many people here feared, violence erupted across the country once again. [ ] Opposition leaders have vowed to carry on protests for two more days, and it seems that Kenya’s security forces, which have deemed all protests illegal, are cracking down harshly. On Wednesday afternoon, police officers in padded suits sealed off downtown Nairobi, the capital, and ordered everyone out...
In the near quarter century of Daniel Arap Moi's rule the Kenyan people saw their once hopeful future crushed by their ruler's apparent greed. According to a report by the "Kroll Risk Consultancy", Mr Moi and his sons used a web of front men to manage their secret deals and hide their money. It estimated that Gideon Moi was worth some £550 million as of 2002, while Philip was worth about £384 million. The report was prepared at the request of the new Kibaki administration which succeeded in replacing President Moi by promising to end state corruption.
In 1999 John Githongo founded the Kenyan chapter of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International. In line with his pledge to wipe out government corruption Kibaki appointed Githongo as his "anti-corruption czar". When Githongo revealed that an Anglo Leasing fraud had siphoned off $100 million from inflated government security contracts via a phantom company listed in Britain he was denounced by his fellow ministers and eventually forced to leave the country. Githongo has finally returned to Kenya but what he is finding does not inspire him with hope.
"In the past, the scandals that we had were of a scale that was mind-boggling to most people. Big sums, hundreds of millions of dollars! Those are many zeros and sometimes difficult to connect to your everyday circumstances," he said. "What is happening now is having a very direct impact on the poor."
Back to "Business as usual"
Despite President Kibaki's promises, Mr Moi and his sons remain highly influential, Gideon Moi is now an MP and former President Moi was recently named special envoy to Sudan's north-south peace process. Kenyans' great expectations that followed Kibaki's election have given way to despair as they watch the vultures both in and out of Kenya pick away their future through stealth and criminal deceit. As one reporter put it, "There was a feeling [in the new government]that pursuing corruption of the past was provoking corruption allegations in the present".That is the challenge facing President Obama ... as the SEC complicity clearly shows... the rot in Washington reaches clear to the head of the stinking fish. Now we learn that Obama's own White House Counsel Greg Craig represented Rove in his recent book deal, while Craig’s law partner, close associate and mentor, Emmet Flood, is representing Bush in executive privilege matters before the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, where Bush officials are charged with the political firings of U.S. attorneys for failing to act on orders to prosecute Democrats prior to elections.
One does not need to be a famous novelist to conjure all the dire consequences to a country that accepts this level of corruption.
Charles Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS
In his 'Great Expectations' Dickens takes on the corruption of the judicial system of his time. Dickens' masterful work was intended to propel those in power to institute reforms at a time when children, their parents having been forced into crime, were destined to share the same fate. Great Expectations contained the implicit warning that left unchecked, England would be guaranteed a future of violence, lawlessness and despair-- a fate that still gravely faces Kenya and our own USA.
Luckily, though we may not have a Dickensian novelist, we do have at least one incorruptible reporter who moonlights as a comedian:
2 comments:
This is disturbing indeed. Obama better clean house.
I would be very surprised (and disappointed) if Rachel M and/or Keith O didn't look into this and do something on air.
What are Obama's options vis-a-vis choosing another Wh. House counsel? Other than the temporary embarrassment of yet another of his administration choices not working out, it's pretty clear he (and we !!) would be much better served with someone other than this guy.
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