Blogswarm on Obama and the banks (excerpts with video)

"Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government" (Glenn Greenwald):

Just think about how this works. People like Rubin, Summers and Gensler shuffle back and forth from the public to the private sector and back again, repeatedly switching places with their GOP counterparts in this endless public/private sector looting. When in government, they ensure that the laws and regulations are written to redound directly to the benefit of a handful of Wall St. firms, literally abolishing all safeguards and allowing them to pillage and steal. Then, when out of government, they return to those very firms and collect millions upon millions of dollars, profits made possible by the laws and regulations they implemented when in government. Then, when their party returns to power, they return back to government, where they continue to use their influence to ensure that the oligarchical circle that rewards them so massively is protected and advanced. This corruption is so tawdry and transparent -- and it has fueled and continues to fuel a fraud so enormous and destructive as to be unprecedented in both size and audacity -- that it is mystifying that it is not provoking more mass public rage.

"Bankers Demand Huge Bonuses From Taxpayers; Obama Says Yes We Can!" (Jane Hamsher) with video (09:05):

There were three moments in the past 24 hours worthy of everyone's attention. One was Bill Black's appearance on Bill Moyers (video). The second was the article in the Wall Street Journal outlining how Larry Summers was paid millions by hedge funds and Wall Street banks last year. And the third piece, the one that really sews it all together, is the Washington Post's story on how the executive branch wants to sidestep Congress and pay out bonuses to bank executives.

"Treasury working overtime to undo Congressional restrictions" (David Waldman, front-paged on Kos):

WaPo reports that Treasury and other administration officials are actively seeking ways around Congressional restrictions on the use of TARP and other extraordinary assistance funds for executive bonuses. And once again, the excuse for going out of their way to make sure execs get our their money is that they're concerned that firms won't participate in the free money giveaways unless their executives are allowed to skim fat wads of it right off the top and pocket them.

Barack Obama