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Don’t forget who’s responsible for this mess

Once again I disagree with Ron Reynolds.

First of all, the bill written by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd went into effect in July 2010, long after the damage was done by Wall Street speculators.

Part of the bill was mainly to protect people from the mortage companies that sold mortages to people who could not afford them, and included adjustable rate clauses and balloon payment clauses without telling the consumers.

This bill also seeks to regulate financial planners. Many retired persons were bilked out of thousand of dollars by unscruplous financial planners.

Ever since the real estate bubble burst, conservatives have been trying to lay the blame on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which provides affordable home loans for low and moderate income familes. At the same time, they ignore the billions sucked out of the economy by bad bets on complex securities based on worthless subprime mortgages.

Following the Great Depression, which was also triggered by Wall Street speculators, the federal government closely regulated the financial sector to avoid another disaster. Then, starting with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, the regulations were systematically weakened and removed by the Republicans (with a major assist from Bill Clinton) until Wall Street became a free-for-all of shady and down-right illegal activities.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is drawing the country’s attention to what has been going on the past 30 years. No, they don’t have a “mission statement.” They are holding daily meetings and brain storming until they come to a reasonable solution. A far cry from our present Congress which has not passed a single jobs bill this year. Nor do they intend to.

In fact, the Republicans’ “big accomplishment” in Congress last week was to pass an affirmation that “In God We Trust” is still our national motto. I’m sure that bill created a lot of jobs.

The more Republicans focus on nonsense like the national motto and ignore the vast majority of Americans whose futures seem bleaker with each passing day, the more Occupy Wall Street looks like a better deal. At least they are listening to the 99 percent of the population who are not millionaires. The people in the Occupy movement are exercising their First Admendment rights to gather and voice their grievances. Something that has been missing in this country for quite a while.

It’s funny that when the Tea Party was shouting down elected Democrats at town hall meetings last year, no one sicced the police on them. They even spit in a congressman’s face. He was gentleman enough to consider the source and walk off. But peaceful assembly and protest get tear gas, pepper spray in the eyes, and a projectile that fractured the skull of a former Marine from Wisconsin who served two tours of duty in Iraq.

The Occupy movement is not going to go away in a hurry. These are people from all walks of life who have just plain had it with a system that no longer works for most Americans.

By the way, Mr. Reynolds, the Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s empire, which is the same corporation that owns Fox News. So you are getting the same stuff from a different media.

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