The term "bankster" (rhymes with gangster) has been part of the far-right lexicon for generations.
Only recently have liberals started using it, referring to the Wall Street types whose machinations are widely blamed for the current recession. Some have even used it against Tim Geithner, the long-time bank regulator charged with cleaning things up. (The charge is he's too cozy with them.)
The civil war at CNBC features the hiring of some liberal political types, notably Howard Dean, to line up against existing talent Dennis Kneale and Larry Kudlow, who offer nothing but right-wing kant which defends every action of the bankers and attacks every action of the government.
There is a good reason for CNBC's actions. On this issue the people are way ahead of their leaders. I didn't know how far ahead until I saw that Bank of America head Ken Lewis was stripped of his Chairman title by shareholders. The board responded by doing as little as they possibly could. They named one of their own the new Chairman while Lewis stays firmly in command.
All this does is strengthen the President's hand. It's one thing to demand new behavior using just the authority of your office. It's something else to demand it when the people are demanding you do more.
The problem right now is there is no one in the banking industry that the Obama Administration, or the opposition party at CNBC, can point to as a positive example. There is, as yet, no one in the industry willing to wear the hair shirt, acknowledge the industry's faults, accept the need for regulation, and live with whatever behavioral controls the people want to impose. This is what the Obama Administration desperately needs right now. Unless we're going to do a controlled bankruptcy (costing billions), wiping out the government's equity, we must have leaders at these institutions that voters will find politically acceptable. Somewhere within the ranks of Citibank, Bank of America and AIG such people exist.
Tim Geithner's top priority should be to find them.
