'The New Tammany Hall'

WSJ ^ | 11/26/11 | MATTHEW KAMINSKI

[dervish]

'What has the country so angry," says Fred Siegel, "is the sense that crony capitalism has produced a population that lives off the rest of us without contributing. They're right. It's not paranoid."

The economic historian of the American city has spent a lot of this autumn on Wall Street. He met many of the protesters who camped out at Zuccotti Park, before the city's finest cleared them out last week. He also knows the bankers and finds the theater of the Occupy movement ironic.

"They're on the same side of the street politically," he says. "They're both in favor of big government. The Wall Street people I talk to, they get it completely." What he means is that the Bush and Obama administrations bailed out the large banks, and that economic stimulus and near-zero interest rates kept them flush. "Obama's crony capitalism has been very good for New York's crony capitalism," he says. Over at Zuccotti Park, "there are a few people there who do get it, but very little of their animosity follows from this."

One can appreciate why the "we are the 99%" militants might resist Mr. Siegel's logic. He links the liberalism of the 1960s, not any excess of the free market, to today's crisis. The Great Society put the state on growth hormones. Less widely appreciated, the era gave birth to a powerful new political force, the public-sector union. For the first time in American history there was an interest dedicated wholly to lobbying for a larger government and the taxes and debt to pay for it.....

[dervish]

public sector unions = Tammany Hall corruption

[infowarrior]

public sector unions = Tammany Hall corruption

Public sector unions = Tammany Hall corruption on a combination of steroids, HGH, and crack...

the infowarrior

[Gail Wynand]

Excellent. Right on.

[goodnesswins]

I thought it would say the White Hut was the new Tammany Hall

[Uncle Ike]

” White Hut was the new Tammany Hall “

Without the class, grace, and style of the original....

[Netizen]

'What has the country so angry," says Fred Siegel, "is the sense that crony capitalism has produced a population that lives off the rest of us without contributing. They're right. It's not paranoid."

I'm not a fan of 'crony capitalism', but what does crony capitalism have to do with the people collecting welfare, unemployment for too long or ssi under false pretenses, that could or should be working instead of leeching off the rest of the population?

[whitedog57]

The point is that by giving away freebies, the mob won’t protest crony deals.

[Iron Munro]

Corrupt Big Government, Big Labor and Crony Capitalists have a perpetual motion partnership.

They screw taxpayers and support wealth redistribution (from the middle class only) to themselves and the moocher class.

The wealth redistribution buys the votes to keep the corrupt politicians in office and fuel the machine.

[dervish]

Political insight and NY ping

[dervish]

Both love big government, both get government handouts/welfare, both are anti-capitalist, and both are leeching off the middle class taxpayer who is not getting a break

[ronnie raygun]

Would love to see the white hut turn back into the whitehouse come 2012

[avenir]

A clear explanation of our vicious circle.

I like a line in Shakespeare’s TITUS ANDRONICUS:

Marcus: I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.
Titus: Will it consume me? Let me see it, then.

Maybe one day we’ll be so sick of threats of doom and gloom that, as a society, we will say “Show us the worst you’ve got! What we are living is a lie!”

Dreaming...but it must happen at least a few times in history.

[smokingfrog]

 

"Tammany is the ocean, reform the waves, and there is a lot of unofficial patronage to ride out the storms if you know the ropes. Why don't reformers last in politics? Because they are amateurs and you must be a pro. Politicians do not have to steal to make a living because a crook is a fool and a politician can become a millionaire through 'honest graft."

 

[Matchett-PI]

EXACTLY! bttt

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks dervish.

"Obama's crony capitalism has been very good for New York's crony capitalism," he says. Over at Zuccotti Park, "there are a few people there who do get it, but very little of their animosity follows from this." One can appreciate why the "we are the 99%" militants might resist Mr. Siegel's logic. He links the liberalism of the 1960s, not any excess of the free market, to today's crisis.

Cue the Ethel Merman!

[SunkenCiv]

Nice!

[dervish]

That’s why I don’t trust Newt.