Elizabeth Warren vs. Wall St.

[whell]

Originally Posted by Boreas

The Ignatius Op Ed doesn't really say anything, does it?

John

Seems to me that Ignatius is taking Warren to task for advancing some of the same rhetoric that I hear on this forum all the time. She's being taken to task by speaking out against a nomination that furthers the incestuous relationship between Wall Street and Washington.

She's currently PO'd about Weiss as Ignatius points out, but at least she's been consistent on the topic. For example:

So when former Congressman Anthony Weiner -- a Democrat from New York -- dismissed my concerns, it was business as usual. Identifying himself as a liberal, Weiner called my criticism of the revolving door culture "overblown" and "petty."

Let's start with some facts.

The Cantor move to Wall Street is not some isolated incident. Just look at the influence of one mega-bank -- Citigroup -- on our government. Starting with former Citigroup CEO Robert Rubin, three of the last four Treasury secretaries under Democratic presidents held high-paying jobs at Citigroup either before or after serving at Treasury -- and the fourth was offered, but declined, Citigroup's CEO position. Directors of the National Economic Council and Office of Management and Budget, the current Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. trade representative, also pulled in millions from Citigroup.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizab...b_5835682.html

Ignatius doesn't like Warren rhetoric because in the process he thinks she's dissing Obama's record:

Has Warren apologized for getting this wrong or conceded that the financial recovery program engineered by Geithner, Summers and then-Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke was a success? Not to my knowledge. But in the process, she disowns a Democratic president’s historic achievement.

He goes as far as suggesting that Warren is rhetoric is nothing more than neo-populism. That suggests that Ignatius regards Warren as someone who would, as a populist/political opportunist, trash sound economic policy for the sake of advancing her political career and agenda. Maybe that's what Finn's friend is concerned about as well.