Cockroaches

Dear Mr. President,

The business section of the paper this week looks like the crime report: one banking scandal after another. As I read an article in yesterday’s New York Times, “As Libor Fault-Finding Grows, It Is Now Every Bank For Itself,” the image that came to mind was cockroaches, the way they scatter across the floor when the light is turned on, scurrying under counters and into dark crevices. This tight-knit banking community, which we now learn ripped off not just their own customers but the entire world through the manipulation of interest rates—that’s true Globalization! —are now turning on each other in their frantic attempts to escape scrutiny and criminal charges. What will come of all this? Probably nothing. It would be surprising if even one Bankster did time for any of these crimes. They are, after all, part of the 1%, protected by wealth and power and friends in high places. I watched an interview today with Cornel West and Paul Street who pointed out that you’ve always been conservative and that you surrounded yourself from Day 1 with Wall Street insiders like Geithner and Summers, (I would also add neocon holdovers like Gates and Tenet). West, perhaps in a fit of hyperbole, maybe not, stated that the only “alternate” opinions you listen to are on Fox News. Paul Street, who knew you before you became Mr. President, says he’s not surprised by your neoliberalism since you’ve always been very conservative and business-friendly (although from your campaign lies and false promises, who would have known?). But back to the Banksters, the guys you bailed out with taxpayer dollars who are doing really well again, business as usual for them, ripping people off (the latest expose on Wells Fargo Advisors is a doozy), gouging customers with exorbitant fees and charges, sort of like the airlines with their baggage fees, food fees, etc., and there’s a lot of resentment out here on the hustings. You may not see it from your bubble in D.C.-land, but it’s here. My brother called me today and told me that the bank being built across the street from his apartment was set on fire last night, burned to the ground. People are really pissed off, Mr. President, and with all you’ve done to help the Banksters vs. nothing for the rest of us, you might think about how people perceive you as the 1%’s friend and worry a bit about November 6^th. Maybe all the cockroaches will have found cover by then but you’re pretty much caught in the light with no place to hide.