An NBC report on the US Government’s decision to release a full redacted accounting of The Pentagon Papers:
Category: Reading
Finally after 40 years the US Government will publish The Pentagon Papers for the very first time.
The study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was officially titled: “United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense” and was a secret kept hidden from President Johnson. and American public for over 40 years.
The study traces US involvement in Vietnam beginning in 1945 just after World War II and ending in 1967 before the Tet Offensive. The report, a scathing self-examination of U.S.-Vietnamese relations and the Vietnam War, led to one of the largest and most significant court battles ever concerning government secrets vs. freedom of the press. Nixon’s demand to damage Ellsberg resulted in the Watergate scandal.
The Nixon Library has a copy in that was part of President Richard Nixon’s papers. It will be released at 9 a.m., June 13, 40 years to the day that leaked portions of the report were printed on the front page of The New York Times.
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Latest read: 13 Bankers
Reading 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown can be considered a good introduction to the country’s long relationship between Wall Street and Congress. A new reference for how our country began its relationship with Wall Street and the massive changes during the Reagan, Clinton, W. Bush and Obama Administrations reveal how well the financial elite have directed legislation in Congress.
To read about how our republics leaders’ viewed banking was a refresher. Of course it would be a great insight to hear their views of the 2007-2009 financial collapse and the new banking world we must struggle through.
Clearly Congress was pitched a bill of goods manipulated by Wall Street. That simply bit them in the ass. I was amused to see how they were asking for the government to bail them out when their house of cards folded in on them. And yet I’m amused to read and listen to “specialists” or “experts in the field” in the financial marketplace or even the vast field of TV “analysts” who say the government is socialist for ”buying” the banks.
TARP was issued under W. Bush? If the Treasury did not step in and bail out Wall Street we would be in the middle of a global revolution. Sure — ignore it all and watch our entire economy totally collapse.
I was impressed with the book’s level of detail surrounding the relationships between W. Bush and Obama’s senior leadership (who transitioned to the Democratic White House) and their twisted histories with the major banks on Wall Street. Its clear the amount of money funneling through Congress today provides Wall Street with a clear avenue to set policy — and even give away free money. Well its not exactly free…the money handed to Wall Street to protect their horrible investment decisions on terms they could bargain for collectively. And of course they all took it.
As Jamie Dimon from JPMorgan Chase stated, somehow during the financial collapse they managed to have the best year in the company’s history — and paid out billions in bonus compensation while most Americans who purchased their products lost everything: jobs, mortgages and ultimately their future as a result of the recession that followed.
As a new participant in the reading group at UWM’s Division of Student Affairs I found myself engaged in a book about Cedric Jennings. Having participated in reading groups both in and out of higher education I’m pretty impressed with this group. For the first time I’m engaging the book A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League directly onto campus and into the lives of the students we work with everyday.
Cedric Jennings is the focus of “A Hope in the Unseen” an incomplete story of a gifted high school student in the poor intercity of Washington DC during the height of the crack cocaine wars of the 90s. His story of overcoming all the odds to win a scholarship to an Ivy League college is just part of his story. And college was just beginning another struggle in his life. With other groups sometimes the title did not fit the organization, like Jon Krakauer‘s Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. That is one tough book for any club.
I have learned what some titles really do not make any sense for a university administrator. During a regular meeting with a former college’s senior leadership we went around the table speaking about a current book we were reading and how it fit into our job. I was reading about innovation yet was humored with one academic dean who shared her thoughts about her job and a murder mystery based in Chicago. Yikes!
This is the third book by Ron Suskind that I have read over the last year. Having been impressed with his previous works One Percent Doctrine and The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism it was no surprise I found his work again very enjoyable. What I did not realize prior to beginning this book was his Pulitzer Prize for writing a short story about Cedric Jennings while he attended Ballou High School were published in the Wall Street Journal.
Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves is clearly my favorite (for all the wrong reasons — you know economy on the brink of collapse) book in 2010.
Six month later Sorkin’s story of the financial meltdown and shocking background stories that stunned the world still resonate – due to news that Wall Street again is on shaky ground, especially with municipal bonds
Clearly the lack of oversight and Washington’s hands-off approach to Wall Street contributed, yet as Sorkin documents the big investment banks were playing with loose money, morals and an ego the size of Canis Majoris.
Its no wonder the rich get richer and the poor get poorer when you can lose the largest trade in the history of Wall Street and actually keep your job.
With companies like Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and AIG its no wonder George W. Bush was forced to step in and save the country from a nuclear meltdown. I believe Hank Paulson’s book On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System tells the tale of the Bush Administration and made it to my top five list too.
With HBO’s recent commitment to make a movie from Sorkin’s book it ensures many more will be reading this in 2011.
Author’s website
Tags: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Too Big to Fail, Bear Stearns, Wall Street, Morgan Stanley, Lehman, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, recession, AIG, trends