Back when it would have made a difference, when TARP was being proposed by Bush, Paulson and Bernanke, I called Bernie's office and PLEADED WITH THEM to have him filibuster the bill.
Here was a time when the super-rich could have gotten a REAL HAIRCUT had some of those big banks been allowed to fail. The idea that Bernanke touted that commercial paper would dry up and a true depression would start was just "crying wolf" to scare Congress into acting. The moment TARP was passed, the FED started directly buying commercial paper which they could have done absent TARP as well. But Bernie was only willing to vote NO and not engage in a filibuster. This one is not bad for education -- I can see a film being made from his 8 hours on the floor -- it might be quite instructive --- but I wish he had had the gumption to filibuster TARP. [it's a sad, sorry, fact that the "right wing" was more attuned to the injustice and nonsense of TARP than the "progressives." Repubs voted against it in the House and when it went down to defeat, MORE DEMOCRATS switched votes to support TARP than Republicans ... the petition I signed against TARP came from right-wingers at the U. of Chicago ...]
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