If Wall Street gets its way, we will be working longer, harder and for less pay, if we are lucky enough to work at all

If a handful of anti-IMF Democrats throw in with House Republicans, it could be a whole new ballgame.

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger

Last week, the U.S. Senate rejected a plan that would have broken up the nation’s six largest banks firms into firms that could fail without wreaking havoc on the economy. Even though the defeat reinforces Wall Street’s political dominance, there is still room for a handful of other useful reforms, like banning banks from gambling with taxpayer money and protecting consumers from banker abuses. After looting our houses, banks are now pushing for the ability to bet on movie box-office receipts, and will keep trying to financialize anything they can unless Congress acts.

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against Goldman Sachs and underscored what most Americans have believed for some time: Wall Street has rigged the economy in its own favor, and will stop at nothing—not even outright theft—to boost its profits. What’s worse, Goldman’s scam could have been completely prevented by better regulations and law enforcement.

By Zach Carter, Media Consortium blogger

While the poor judgment of top-level officials at Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget frequently makes the news, there is another, unrecognized economic crew doing terrific work: Officials at the Department of Labor are restoring workers’ rights after nearly a decade of neglect.

To top it all off, President Barack Obama appears ready to make another set of strong, though less high-profile, economic appointments that will help rein in Wall Street excess.

On October 12, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial average hit an all-time high of 14,093. On March 6, 2009, it hit bottom (or so we hope), at 6,626, representing more than a fifty percent decline in a year and a half. Since then, it has risen to 10,800 and beyond over the course of one year. What happened in between represents one of the largest wealth redistribution events in our nation’s history, as millions upon millions of middle class Americans saw their savings decline by more than fifty percent, while the wealthy were there to buy up the stocks that no one else could afford at bargain basement prices. Executives of large Banks and Wall Street firms received huge bonuses along with Federal bailouts that allowed them to ride out the financial crisis in high style, while normal Americans were left worrying about their jobs, their homes, and their futures.

Fussing about whether U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s financial reform legislation contains an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency is like worrying about whether you’ll lose your tool shed as a conflagration consumes your home. Preserving the economy requires limiting, regulating and exposing derivative trading. That’s because derivatives – those credit default swaps – took down Wall Street — not consumer loans.

Republicans appear to have documents linking Ben Bernanke to a decision to give the backdoor bailouts at AIG despite staff recommendations. They are very specific about which documents show this and they want them made public. If they are made public before the confirmation vote, Bernanke is obviously in a lot of trouble. But there’s a much worse scenario.

One of the most vexing revelations to come from last night’s Senatorial contest in Massachusetts was the fact there were NO EXIT POLLS. NONE! Not a single news organization conducted exit polls to ascertain a “why?” for such a huge, significant upset.

The Wall Street Journal writes today about how the tea party movement might be turning on Wall Street. I don’t really believe it, but I’m excited by the possibility. Could the tea party guys actually be legitimate? Well, there is one way they can prove it.