Obama Has Broken His Promises

The “Occupy Wall Street” protest may not have the kind of influence that the Arab Spring or the recent riots in London have had — the latter two movements surged with the power of 10,000 horses, working quickly and with intensity. However, the sparks of discontent in New York have spread to Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Seattle, and speculations as to its next developments have attracted the whole world’s attention. “Occupy Wall Street” shows that Americans are strongly dissatisfied with income inequality, economic instability and high unemployment. Even though the police have arrested nearly 1,000 demonstrators, it seems that they will not stop anytime soon. Protesters have set up camp in several cities. College students who attend the demonstrations say, “The next step is to encourage the workers to join the protest.” America has an army of 14 million unemployed people who have been suffering for years; if they are incited to riot, this will certainly light a powder keg that would shock the world.

After Obama took office, he promised the unemployed that he would quickly create enough jobs for everyone. He even said it was his mission to clean up Wall Street. At the time, he told media agencies, “Part of what we are going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility.” The president indicated that otherwise the people would be angry at the financial world, which would cause serious consequences. In order to show it was serious about severely controlling finances, the White House ordered executive pay limits on Wall Street and wrote a financial reform plan in 2009 that was over 80 pages long. It hoped these measures would be a sufficient deterrent to executives on Wall Street. However, Obama’s promise has gone up in smoke, without a trace. Meanwhile, the executives of Wall Street continue to enjoy sunbathing on beaches and golfing. As a result of Obama’s broken promises, New York has taken to the streets and organized its own American Spring — the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.

The Empty Promise

In terms of the history of the American financial industry, Wall Street, a representative of financial interests, has had a deeper relationship with the Republican Party than with the Democratic Party. Obama is just a silver-tongued speaker. He is not very familiar with Wall Street’s history, its condition or its workings. After a financial plague hit America, Obama promised voters: “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.” He had two goals: to take money from the pockets of rich financial analysts and stick to his campaign slogans: “Yes, We Can” and “Change.” At that time, the plan was praised as a “sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression.” But today, he has failed to keep his promise; moreover, Wall Street does whatever it wants without heeding Washington’s policies. Signs of corruption are more and more dramatic, the gap between the rich and poor is stark, and the unemployment rate is still very high. This has caused the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which has shocked the world.

America’s current financial system, first established in 1930, is riddled with flaws. It is no longer able to meet the needs of modern society. In 1971, President Richard Nixon proposed reorganizing Wall Street to increase monitoring on banks and the investment industry; similarly, in 1984, President Ronald Reagan’s administration launched a program regulating financial institutions. After President Bill Clinton took office, he kept harping on the same tired arguments, calling for the establishment of strong institutions that would be able to effectively control and prevent shocks in the financial markets. In 2008, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson released a financial reform proposal that was over 205 pages long, vowing to conduct a thorough reform of the regulatory system. However, nothing came of these efforts. Obama’s rhetoric on cleaning up Wall Street shows that he does not understand the history, is not familiar with the workings of Wall Street and does not have deep background knowledge on the issue. Ultimately, he has nothing to show for his efforts, and he has not kept his promises.

Voters will abandon the Democratic Party

Many recent public opinion polls show that Americans are extremely dissatisfied with the current state of the nation, especially with weak economic growth and the unemployment rate. American media agencies have revealed that experts have given Obama the following warning: If he cannot restart the economy and work to reduce the unemployment rate, many voters will abandon the Democratic Party, despite the fact that Obama was lucky enough to kill Osama bin Laden. The unemployment rate has already caused Obama’s prospects in next year’s election to be less-than-rosy. According to polls, 55 percent of Americans believe that the Democratic Party will leave the White House next year. Over 85 percent of Republican supporters believe that Republicans will definitely take the Senate next year. Faced with a huge nosedive in approval ratings, Obama is forced to admit that his campaign slogans “Yes, We Can” and “Change” will not give him an advantage in the 2012 presidential election.

The American public has already seen that Obama’s way to get things done is to start with a storm, then let nature take its course and finally leave a matter unsettled. When he first took office, he strongly attacked former President Bush's economic policies and decision to go to Iraq. He promised that during his administration, he would develop the economy and use several different methods to create jobs. He also promised to get the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible. But ultimately, the check bounced, and he broke his promises. The executive bankers of Wall Street quickly saw through his plans to stop the excessive bonus payments on Wall Street, strengthen the powers of compensation committees in listed companies and set up supervisors who could control the salaries of executives of any company receiving federal aid. Thus, for every new policy, a workaround is created to undermine it, causing Obama’s visionary words to turn into nothing. Over 32,500 executives had an adjusted gross income of over $500,000 in 2009, which is the greatest irony of Obama’s policies.