Andrew By God Jackson
Rich Hills at Prawfsblog hears in the House vote rejecting the Wall Street Bailout, echoing down the corridors of time, the ancient American political conflict between the Northeastern monied interests desiring federal control and manipulation of the economy in their service and the libertarianism of Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
In the wake of the House of Representative’s rejection of Paulson’s bailout measure, I cannot help but think that the spirit of Andrew Jackson lingers among America’s electorate. The rhetoric among members of Congress, op-eds, blogs, all sound suspiciously similar to Jackson’s message accompanying his veto of the renewal of the Bank of the United States’ charter. Henry Paulson seems to be our latter-day Nicholas Biddle. The investment banks now holding mortgage-backed securities play the role of the bank of the United States. One does even need to edit the current attacks on banks, eastern capital, government aid to private corporations to put these contemporary messages into the mouths of Jackson, Amos Kendall, and the other “hard money” Jacksonians who decried the “exclusive privileges” of the “rich and powerful” shareholders of the “monster bank.”
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