Predatory Lenders, George Bush and Eliot Spitzer

"When history tells the story of the subprime lending crisis and recounts its devastating effects on the lives of so many innocent homeowners, the Bush administration will not be judged favorably. The tale is still unfolding, but when the dust settles, it will be judged as a willing accomplice to the lenders who went to any lengths in their quest for profits. So willing, in fact, that it used the power of the federal government in an unprecedented assault on state legislatures, as well as on state attorneys general and anyone else on the side of consumers." -Eliot Spitzer, Washington Post column, Feb. 14, 2008

The big banks, credit card companies, and predatory lenders in general have all long been good friends of the Bush Regime, just like other corporate entities of questionable virtue, such as Enron and Big Oil. I recall that MBNA (the credit card monster) and Enron were the biggest contributors to Bush's first presidential campaign. Oh, the irony of that. Enron would soon go down as the biggest bankruptcy fraud case in history, shortly before MBNA and other credit card companies and banks got a very healthy return on their lobbying investment in Washington when Congress cowardly rewrote (i.e. gutted) our bankruptcy laws to favor these huge predatory lenders at the expense of consumers (oh, it's called "bankruptcy reform").

Now, with the recent fall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was trying to do something good for the consumer by challenging the Bush Regime's alliance with the predators (see Eliot Spitzer - Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime - washingtonpost.com) it is not at all surprising that the story of his fall, like the Clinton-Lewinsky-Kenneth Starr story, is more than simply a tale about a politician's stupid sexual indiscretions. There is more to this story than immediately meets the eye, certainly more than the superficial crap you will generally find in the mainstream media.

If you look around, you can find some intelligent commentators and real reporters who will help you to see that in fact this is a story that must include Spitzer's political enemies (hint: look on Wall Street), who are guilty of much greater sins. Their bigger sins are more easily covered up as a people's champion is exposed.

Vast right wing conspiracy? Well, Hillary Clinton had a point when she said that during the Lewinsky scandal. And so do the following commentators when they now look behind Wall Street's cheering of the fall of Eliot Spitzer to find more sinister, circumstantial evidence of the predatory devils' hands at work behind the scene:

*GREG PALAST: Eliot’s Mess

*ALAN DERSHOWITZ: The Entrapment of Eliot - WSJ.com

*STEVEN G. BRANT: Eliot Spitzer, George Bush, and Wall Street: Hey, NY Times: What's The Real "Breaking News" Story? - Politics on The Huffington Post

We should all be sorry that Spitzer was so stupid, and even more sorry that he was brought down. Or we could instead dutifully follow our Fox News demagogues in cheering his fall along with Wall Street, which is laughing all the way to its predatory banks.