Obama, Finance Reform, and Socialism

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you’ve probably heard about Goldman Sachs and the possibility of getting hit with fraud charges from the SEC.  Some (and I’m one) believe that this is an orchestrated attempt by the Obama administration to make the banking and finance industry look really bad in the eyes of the American people.  Why?  The timing, of course.  Obama is getting ready to hit the road to start peddling his version of financial reform.

Think about this: the five SEC commissioners are presidentially appointed although no more than three can belong to the same political party.  However, the SEC is not required to consult with the president.  In any case, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the Obama administration.  (Obama has repeatedly stated that he didn’t know the SEC was going to file charges against Goldman Sachs.  Yeh…right.)

It’s no secret that  Obama was “in bed” with Goldman Sachs.  GS contributed almost $1M to Obama’s campaign.  Now, with fraud charges being filed, wouldn’t the president want to distance himself as far as possible from GS?  And betcha by golly wow…he’s able to show the American people that we really do need finance reform!  I mean, look at those bad managers at GS that attempted to defraud investors.  They can’t be trusted!  Obama is now effectively able to kill two birds with one stone:  1) He’s using this to distance himself, and he’s using this to push his agenda which brings me to my main point.

The following is from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the DSA’s (Democratic Socialists of America) website ( http://www.dsausa.org/pdf/widemsoc.pdf ):

Q [Question] Doesn’t socialism mean that the government will own and run everything?

Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy.  But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either.  Rather, we believe that social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of people.  Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to meet human needs.  We believe that the workers and consumers who are affected by economic institutions should own and control them.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as much decentralization as possible.  While the large concentrations of capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run as cooperatives.

Democratic socialists have long rejected the belief that the whole economy should be centrally planned.  While we believe that democratic planning can shape major social investments like mass transit, housing, and energy, market mechanisms are needed to determine the demand for many consumer goods.

Further down the FAQ page, we see:

Q [Question] Private corporations seem to be a permanent fixture in the US, so why work towards socialism?

In the short term we can’t eliminate private corporations, but we can bring them under greater democratic control. The government could use regulations and tax incentives to encourage companies to act in the public interest and outlaw destructive activities such as exporting jobs to low-wage countries and polluting our environment.  Public pressure can also have a critical role to play in the struggle to hold corporations accountable. Most of all, socialists look to unions make private business more accountable.

Now, isn’t Obama from Chicago, and isn’t Chicago big on labor unions, and wasn’t a lot of backing that Obama got during the campaign from LABOR UNIONS?

I’m sorry…I know that I’m not as educated as the Harvard academia types, but I was instilled with good old common sense from an early age.  If it smells like BS, if it looks like BS, and if it feels like BS, then it’s probably BS.  Obama can repeatedly say that he’s not a socialist as many times as he wants.  His actions tell another story.

He tells us that we need finance reform.  This is going to be another push for more governmental regulation, and at the same time, he will attempt to further paint capitalistic institutions as demonic in the eyes of Americans.  Think about healthcare reform.  It was basically the same thing.  There was talk of even creating insurance cooperatives.

Obama isn’t wasting any time.  Just as Neil Armstrong took one big step for mankind on the moon, Obama is taking several big steps for socialism right here at home.

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