On Sep 30, 2008, at 11:55 AM, Gar Lipow wrote:
> FDIC expansion,
> Nationalizing the Federal Reserve and turning it into a Bank of the
> United States that grants the kind of credit we need.
vs. Kuttner's:
>> The Democrats should write a bill that includes:
>
>> * An RFC-style agency to have the government take over or take
>> major equity positions in failing banks.
>> * Direct refinancing of threatened mortgages, on the model of
>> Roosevelt's Home Owners Loan Corporation.
>> * Extension of FDIC guarantees -- and standards -- to other
> financial institutions, with government takeover if they fail.
>> * A small transfer tax on financial trades to pay for a lot of
> the cost of recapitalizing Wall Street.
These are not the same things.
> But I guess this is unrealistic never-never land brain-dead
> anti-elitism that is way to far to the left for us to support. (And
> before Carrol snorts too hard at the phrase "The Democrats should",
> remember these are hard core partisan supporters of the Democratic
> party who raise money for it, who are wholly embedded within it. )
Kuttner & Co. are not the paymaster of the Democratic Party. I don't want to second Carrol's snorting, but Kuttner's Democratic Party is a product of fantasy, not the actually existing one.
Doug