By Don McNay, CNHI News
We're lost in a cloud, with too much rain
We're trapped in a world. That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man has the strength to dream, he can redeem his soul and fly
—Elvis Presley
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Another scandal is breaking on Wall Street. When AIG was bailed out by the taxpayers, it allegedly was told by Timothy Geithner's New York Federal Reserve to alter a Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure.
The Federal Reserve bureaucrats did not want Americans to know that AIG was funneling some of the bailout money to pay off debts at Goldman Sachs. At 100% on the dollar.
Geithner is now Secretary of the Treasury for the United States of America.
His friend and predecessor was Henry "Hank" Paulson, who left his job at Goldman Sachs to become Secretary of the Treasury.
There might be a connection here. A connection that cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.
The same week AIG was bailout out, Paulson let Goldman's rival Lehman Brothers go bankrupt. I guess Lehman didn't owe Goldman Sachs any money.
It looks like Paulson and Geithner took extra care, and apparently gave improper or illegal instructions, to make sure Goldman stockholders got the best of it.
In the era of Watergate, what AIG and the New York Federal Reserve did was called a cover-up. People went to jail. President Nixon was forced to resign.
It would seem like the AIG story could be bigger than Watergate. The amount of money involved is much larger.
Normally when a public company lies on an SEC filing, like Enron did, you would be expecting regulators to be hauling people off to jail.
If they were told to lie by government officials, the bureaucrats should be breaking rocks somewhere too.
We are not seeing that so far on the AIG front.
Inside Washington is blowing off the AIG story.
The paper that broke Watergate, The Washington Post, has the story buried on an inside page. Its lead story is whether or not Senator Harry Reid insulted President Obama two years ago.
Whatever Reid said or didn't' say, taxpayer billions are not involved.
The "watchdogs" in the Washington media and have gotten so jaded about insider "back scratching," that something like the AIG scandal doesn't get their interest.
When you read books like Andrew Ross Serkin's, Too Big Too Fail, it states something that some of us figured out long ago. Wall Street and Washington operate as an insider, "good old boys" club. The rest of America is not invited to the party but expected to pick up the tab.
Washington and Wall Street only think about Main Street when they fear that someone out might notice their actions.
That is why the AIG cover up was important. It was the type of outrage that might get Americans to march on Washington and demand change.
It takes a lot for the average American to get inspired into political action. Few people have the time. Most of us are busy earning a living, feeding our families and trying to figure out how to cope in a rapidly changing economy.
The Washington and Wall Street crowd has counted on us being distracted for decades. It has been able to pass legislation to help their insider pals, soak up campaign contributors and hope that we stay distracted with trivial issues and "gotcha" campaign ads.
I don't care if we can't find Obama's birth certificate. If they boot him, Biden takes over. I don't care what the father of Sarah Palin's grandchild has to say about anything. Both stories have had a lot more "inside the beltway" attention than the possible cover up at AIG and Federal Reserve board.
Distracting us with trivia worked for Washington and Wall Street for a long time. Then they pushed matters too far and let the economy go to hell.
Once people started losing their jobs, their houses and their retirement plans, they got interested in Washington and Wall Street.
They don't like what they are seeing.
Peggy Noonan wrote a brilliant column in the Wall Street Journal about how President Obama has squander his political capital on issues like health care reform and climate control instead of focusing on the economy.
Noonan, a Republican, notes that the Republicans have not been shining stars either. The GOP strategy has been to let Obama fail but not to offer alternative ideas.
Too much time is spent on gamesmanship. Not enough is spent on solutions.
Those of us on Main Street want to start hearing some answers. Or at least a glimmer that the inside dealings between Wall Street and Washington are slowing down.
Obama wants to blame the George W. Bush's administration. Bush wanted to blame Clinton. All are correct. Previous presidents screwed up big time.
It is time for someone to step up to the plate and start fixing the problems we have.
I'm not looking for leadership from the insiders in either the Democratic or Republican Party. Both have the same fat cat campaign contributors. Both have former staff members, friends and family members who serve as lobbyists.
Both have too much invested in the status quo.
There is an echo of hope coming from the outer fringes of both parties.
Most great movements start on the fringes of the political spectrum and eventually become mainstream.
Often time's movements boil under the surface and flash in an instance.
The civil rights movement sparked when a tired Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
A conservative grassroots movement sprung up when CNBC commentator Rick Santelli sparked the Tea party movement with some heart felt comments. I happened to be watching CNBC when Santelli made his remarks and the reaction was stunning. He hit a nerve.
Arianna Huffington is sparking a movement from the left side of the political spectrum. She is encouraging people to take all their money out of "too big to fail" banks and put them smaller banks in their communities.
Arianna is on to something. Martha Luther King organized a boycott of the buses in Montgomery after the Rosa Parks incident. He learned that when you smack a politician or business in the wallet, you get their attention.
I would like to participate in Arianna's movement but I am way ahead of her. Since age 16, I have always banked in community banks. My first was the Bank of Ludlow, Ky. The bank president was a family friend and taught us how to save and borrow. We knew the name of every person in the bank and they knew us.
Ever since, I have managed to find banks where I have a personal relationship with the local president or a high ranking officer. Customer service makes up for not having a branch in Hong Kong.
Community banks also don't have the ability to funnel tons of campaign money into Washington. As Arianna has pointed out, just getting the money out of the hands of Citigroup, Bank of America and other "too big to fail" banks gives the average Americans leverage.
The other thing that would give the average American clout is tearing up their credit cards. Almost all credit cards are directly or indirectly issued by the big banks.
I don't see why banks need government bailouts when they are making 36% in interest and charging huge fees. You will be doing yourself, and all of America, a favor when you tell the credit card companies to kiss off.
The Washington Post is telling us to not bother. A headline in the business section says, "Ordinary Americans Lack the Power to Hurt the Big Banks."
The gist of the article is that banks are "too big for Americans to hurt." We shouldn't even try.
If the banks are supposedly so strong, why did they need the American taxpayers to bail them out last year?
The article quoted a banking consultant and a guy who used to write for Portfolio Magazine. Not exactly objective sources.
I don't think the Post is going to be picking up another Pulitzer for exposes on the bailout or AIG scandals. Like the rest of Washington, they hope those of us on Main Street will quietly go away.
Something tells me it is not happening this time. Too many people are hurting. Washington and Wall Street keep ignoring Main Street to promote their own agendas and funnel money to their buddies.
It has to stop. We can elect new leaders, make some noise and move our money to banks who appreciate us.
Elvis Presley had it right. As long as people have the strength to dream they can redeem their souls and fly. They can dream of honest government where the concerns of the average American are being heard.
That dream comes by Americans voting at the ballot box, voting with their pocketbooks and voting by to move their money to banks that care.
Elvis came from a small town and changed the entertainment world.
If we are going to change the financial and political world, leadership needs to come from small towns too.
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Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is one of the world's leading authorities in helping people deal with "Big Money" issues.
