There is a “Must See” documentary on PBS tonight at 10:00 PM: Abacus. It will only reinforce your suspicions that virtually all politicians, of whatever party, are firmly ensconced in bed with Big Business, but more specifically, with the Big Banks. Now back in 2012, right after the election but before the second inauguration, I was invited to a White House briefing, along with other activists from across the country. Quite frankly, to this day, I have no idea why I made the list. We got some very impressive updates, including one from the then acting head of Obama’s Council on Economic Advisors (sorry, I can’t find my notes to get his name), after which he asked if there were any questions, and I raised my hand and was called. My question went something like this “thank you for the excellent briefing. Of course, all of us here are big supporters of the President and have worked hard in his campaign, however, I must say there is a perception that this Administration has been very weak in enforcing violation of banking laws passed to protect the economy. Can you tell me the names of one actual banker who has been prosecuted and sent to jail?” His answer was so inconsequential that I don’t remember it, but be assured it was lame. And, with this film we get an idea of just how even our President, who we were thrilled to see elected twice, apparently was taking his marching orders from the perpetrators. How sad. How cowardly.
www.pbs.org/…