Summers, Geithner and Iago

Like many disillusioned voters across the country, I voted for Obama. Looking back, I'm not sure what I expected of a man who had never managed a city, county or state. What I do know is that all my hopes were dashed when Obama ushered Larry Summers and Tim Geithner in to run his economic program.

In addition to saying that women can't do science, Summers had worked very hard to break up the wall Roosevelt had created between banks that take deposits and banks that are trading houses. With Geithner's help he was successful in eliminating one of the safeguards we had against abuse in our financial system.

It's clear now that Obama didn't understand economics. He was, in essence, a tabula rasa. But he had a high level  of  self-confidence and considered himself a quick study. He surrounded himself with a lot of academics who'd never had to face the real world.

Larry Summers wanted to take care of all his rich friends and bankers. Instead of helping Main Street the money went to Wall Street. He and Geithner saved a lot of fortunes created from running irresponsible banks. Some banks loaned out 30 times the amount of money they had in reserve. But none of them suffered. The guys who ran Citibank, Merrill Lynch, and others walked away with their golden parachutes, probably looking for a bank they could trust with their ill-gotten gains.

This was the time that Obama could have stood up for the powerless. He could have repeated what William Jennings Bryan said: "thou shalt not crucify mankind on a cross of gold." Instead he sat back and let Summers help his banker friends rape the American people. Othello believed everything that Iago said.

Why did you and I forget any analytical standards and vote in a man who didn't understand economics and clearly couldn't judge who is qualified to run any kind of populist economic program. Summers made sure that insightful people like Paul Volcker were not allowed in to share their opinions. The foxes were running the hen house

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 I'm no longer looking for the great new thing. I want a president who's run something and understands what qualities you should look for in your subordinates. If I have to hold my nose and live in a country run by Rick Perry, it's all Obama's fault.