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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Curtis Roosevelt: When We Can't Count on the Banks or Our Congress
When I was young -- or perhaps I should begin: Today, when the old community values no longer seem to exist...
Looking back, when I grew up, I absorbed from my family the notion that bankers and financial advisers were persons of integrity. One assumed they worked by professional standards. We firmly believed their clients' interests were paramount in their minds.
Widows like Granny, my great-grandmother Sara Delano Roosevelt, had implicit trust in the people who handled her financial affairs, in much the same way that she assumed integrity and professional standards in her doctor or lawyer.
Looking back again, I'm not at all sure that my grandfather, Franklin Roosevelt, swallowed his mother's idealistic notions. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy during eight years in Woodrow Wilson's administration, he had handled all the Navy's contracts and labor relations. He then observed during the Harding and Coolidge presidencies how business interests were given the highest priority, and then, even during the Great Depression, how President Hoover considered our capitalistic system sacrosanct, untouchable. Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, was a "leave it alone liquidationist" who concluded: "[Liquidation] will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, lead a more moral life."
Hoover didn't go along with all that meanness, but, as if he was driven by religious fervor, he did not want to interfere with "free enterprise." He felt strongly that capitalism should and could balance itself without government intervention. FDR could see that this wasn't working. The Great Depression was getting worse.
By 1933 any illusions even my dear great-grandmother might have had were shattered by a Congressional committee's exploration of the business and financial community's part in creating the Great Depression. The "Pecora Commission" as it became known, due to the inimitable skill and insight of the committee's counsel, Ferdinand Pecora, was actually initiated by the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck -- a name lost to history because of Pecora's extraordinary personality.
Although FDR was inaugurated six weeks after the Pecora Commission began its work, he defended the Pecora investigation against the charge that it was destroying the nation's confidence in bankers. He said the bankers "should have thought of that when they did the things that are being exposed now." The New Deal administration advised the Pecora commission: "The feeling is that if the people become convinced that the big violators are to be punished, it will be helpful in restoring confidence." The present administration, particularly the president's economic advisers, seems averse to seeing anything like that happen.
Alan Brinkley, in a recent edition of Vanity Fair, describes the Pecora Commission's investigation, concluding that it "had a lasting impact on the public's image of the financial world, and it helped make possible new laws and regulations aimed at preventing a depression-size calamity from befalling the country again."
He adds: "Congress has been remarkably decorous about investigating what went wrong." He writes that, in contrast to the Pecora Commission, today, "showboating and modestly informed members of Congress berate witnesses without eliciting any useful disclosures -- only self serving apologies." (Replies from the CEO of Goldman-Sachs come to mind.)
But to ask, "Where is our Ferdinand Pecora?" sidesteps the real questions: Where is the White House? Where is presidential leadership in our crises?
President Obama should note that President Roosevelt's slamming the bankers and financiers -- beginning with his inaugural address and right up through his campaign for a second term -- did not destroy the country's banking system.
Sixty million Americans listened and then responded to the president's advice after his radio fireside chat on March 12, 1933, just a week after his inauguration. Roosevelt concluded: "I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress."
The next day, the public lined up to return their money to the very banks they had withdrawn it from two weeks before. Why? Their president said that it was now safe to do so. FDR had explained what banking was all about without being condescending. As Will Rogers wryly said at the time: "He made everybody understand it, even the bankers."
The New York Stock Exchange, which had been closed for nearly two weeks, reopened and enjoyed a 15 percent increase the first day. (For more details see Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment, pages 267-271.)
We haven't been able to count on the banking community since my childhood, and we can't count on this Congress to give us the equivalent of the Pecora Commission. However, we should be able to count on our president.
There are many differences between those days and today, but presidential leadership should remain the same. Confidence in FDR won for the Democrats the 1934 mid-term election, and then provided Roosevelt with an overwhelming victory in 1936, electing him to a second term. Enough said.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-roosevelt/when-we-cant-count-on-the_b_869696.html
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Newly Engaged Kim Kardashian Pregnant?
Reality beauty Kim Kardashian is reportedly pregnant with her first child!
Kim Kardashian, who recently became engaged to basketball player Kris Humphries, is said to be expecting her first child.
An insider close to Kim, 30, reveals that the reality star has been in a hurry to have children and just recently found out she is already expecting.
Kardashian?s pal reveals, ?Kim always thought she?d have at least one or two kids by now, so she?s absolutely in a hurry. And Kris loves kids and doesn?t see any reason to wait. Her friends are even taking bets on whether it will be a boy or a girl?.
Kris Humphries recently proposed with a 20.5-carat diamond ring, which he had inscribed.
Humphries revealed, ?There?s one verse, Proverbs 31: 10-31, about the perfect godly woman. The other, 1 John 3:18, is about love. It took me a few days to pick them out and research the perfect ones.
Kim Kardashian recently said she was wanted to marry in two months, which seemed a huge rush to the altar.� But now it all makes sense?a shotgun wedding!
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Images: wenn.com
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/JCbB7qY758k/
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Jessica Simpson's Stylish LAX Departure
Keeping up with her crazy schedule, Jessica Simpson was spotted catching a flight at LAX International Airport yesterday (May 31).
Ms. Simpson looked to be in good spirits, sporting a summer hat, sunglasses, and a floral dress as she strolled through the terminal.
During a recent interview, Jessica shared that she?s really enjoying all that?s going on as of late, both personally and professionally.
?It?s the best year of my life,? she exclaimed. And when it comes to her wedding plans, ?I absolutely adore Kate Middleton?s dress. I thought she looked absolutely beautiful. There?s no bride that can top a royal wedding. I?m not going to be wearing the same kind of thing, but it will be beautiful in its own right.?
Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/jessica-simpson/jessica-simpsons-stylish-lax-departure-510321
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?Teen Mom? Couple Catelynn Lowell And Tyler Baltierra Enjoy New York City Together
Jun
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�INF Daily View the Gallery�/ 16 Photos � Teen Mom lovebirds Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra visited New York City this Memorial Day weekend together. PHOTOS: Teen Mom Troublemaker Jenelle Evans Sports A Bikini On May 18th, Baltierra tweeted about his daughter Carly, whom he and Lowell gave up for adoption on 16 And Pregnant.�� Read More ... 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inspirationally/CelebrityGossipNewsHeadlines/~3/xTk1KREROd8/
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Mark-Paul Gosselaar Finalizes Divorce
Bringing an end to their unsuccessful go at wedded bliss, Mark-Paul Gosselaar is officially divorced from Lisa Ann Russell.
The former "Saved By the Bell" star parted ways with his lady upon announcing the separation one year ago after having married in 1996.
According to court records, the final paperwork was submitted on May 27th, with the two having privately arranged custody and spousal support agreements before concluding their union.
Mark and Lisa's divorce comes as they share a son named Michael Charles Gosselaar (born January 31, 2004) and a daughter, Ava Lorenn Gosselaar (born May 7, 2006).
Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/mark-paul-gosselaar/mark-paul-gosselaar-finalizes-divorce-510279
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So True? So False? Is Patrick Dempsey Leaving Grey's Anatomy?!
Mamma mia!
Patrick Dempsey recently told Vanity Fair's Italian edition that the upcoming eighth season of Grey's Anatomy is "gonna be my last...I do not know what's going to happen to the other characters, but for me it's done."
We know tempestuous TV romances don't last forever, but please tell us something was lost in translation here!
Hang onto your pacemakers, Grey's fans, because this more-than-rumor is...
So not exactly true!
"He was referring to the fact that his contract is up at the end of next season and we have no idea what the future holds," Dempsey's rep tells E! News.
Ah, what would actors do without their translators?
So while there's still the possibility that Dempsey will hang up his stethoscope in 2012, especially if Ellen Pompeo packs it in, nothing is set in stone yet.
"No one has asked us to come back after season eight, so I couldn't presume that I'm coming back...if I haven't been invited," Pompeo told TVLine.com last week.
After the Grey in Grey's said last fall that she "probably would not" renew her contract past season eight (what, was the cast not willing to sign past the Mayan apocalypse?), Chyler Leigh?who, of course, plays little sis Lexie Grey?hinted that she would be willing to assume ownership of the titular Anatomy.
"I would totally take that on?if that were to be the case," Leigh said during a Fancast Q&A. "I don't know where Ellen is [on that subject], but that would seem like the logical next step."
Well, it didn't work for Scrubs, but a post- George Clooney ER certainly lived a long and healthy life. Stay tuned!
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