Stepping Up to Fill Wall Street's Plate

As we hover on the brink of giving to the thieves a supply of replacement cash equivalent to that which they have stolen, it is instructive to look at the not-so-subtle extortionary power that Wall Street has across the board. Can you imagine what kind of barrel we would be over if Bush had been successful in dumping Social Security into the laps of the Mammonites of Wall Street.

The move today by Wachovia gives ample warning to those vocal economists who once could feel safe offering their dissenting opinons from inside the ivy walls of the university. From the NYTimes:

In a move suggesting how the credit crisis could disrupt American higher education, Wachovia Bank has limited the access of nearly 1,000 colleges to $9.3 billion the bank has held for them in a short-term investment fund, raising worries on some campuses about meeting payrolls and other obligations.

Wachovia, the North Carolina bank that agreed this week to sell its banking operations to Citigroup, has held the money in its role as trustee for a fund used by colleges and universities and managed by a Connecticut nonprofit, Commonfund. . . .