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KW writes: I am not a Spitzer fan, but these comments sure are interesting and enlightening.
(excerpt from) Capital New York
Spitzer wants a petition to dump Geithner…
Oct 12, 2011
[Former New York Governor] Eliot Spitzer told a crowded room he was a big supporter of the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place a mile and a half away in the Financial District.
Answering a question from the audience, Spitzer said he thought it was time for the U.S. Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, to go.
“You know what I would like to see?” Spitzer asked the crowd. “I’d like to see a petition with a hundred million signatures, submitted to the White House tomorrow morning, saying, ‘Give us a treasury secretary who understands reform.’ Bring Paul Volcker in. Bring in Joe Stiglitz. Bring in Paul Krugman. Bring in Robert Reich. People who understand what can be done and are willing to flex their muscles in a meaningful way.”…
“The reason I am intensely sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street folks,” he said, reiterating a position he’d put forth during a recent appearance on Keith Olbermann’s show, “even though when you look at them and listen to it, it sounds like a visceral scream of anger rather than an articulated policy prescription—that’s OK. Because at a certain point that visceral response saying, ‘We’ve had enough,’ is what is critically important.
“It’s not up to them to come up with a 10-point plan,” he said. “It’s up to them, those who have the courage to get out there and say, ‘We have finally had enough,’ to get the attention of the Geithners, and the Jamie Dimons, and the Lloyd Blankfeins, to say, ‘You’ve been bailed out and our mortgages haven’t. Our houses [are] in foreclosure, and we don’t have jobs, and you’re saying, “Moral hazard,” but where was moral hazard when we gave you your bonus?’ Something has got to be done.”…
…just before Spitzer disappeared into the night, another reporter asked him whether he had any plans to visit the Occupy Wall Street encampment.
“Possibly,” he said. “Probably.”
But there was a caveat.
“I think the nice thing about these protests, what’s been wonderful about them is that they have not been taken over, as it were, by politicians and notable figures,” he said. “This is citizen activism…So I like to see real people exercised enough to do what democracies are supposed to do, which is to be outside vocalizing their views.”…
Filed under: activism, economy, Eliot Spitzer, new york, New York State Politics, News, politics, progressive politics, social & economic justice, US Politics Tagged: | bank bailouts, big banks, corporate acountability, corporate welfare, Eliot Spitzer, ethics, Jamie Dimon, Joe Stiglitz, Joseph Stiglitz, Lloyd Blankfein, mortgage crisis, NY politics, NYC politics, Occupy Wall Street demands, paul krugman, Paul Volcker, robert reich, Tim Geithner, Treasury Secretary, US economy, US Politics, US Treasury
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