US banking history, circa 1832
 

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.”
Andrew Jackson to a delegation of bankers - 1832

the more things change the more they stay the same

It is too bad that we don't have a president or potential president with this type of intestinal fortitude today.:mad:

People like that are around, but they will never make it onto the ballot.

We don't get quality people for the simple reason we don't demand them. And those who are really good people don't want to put themselves or families through what they need to deal with to run for public office. We get those who want to make a career out of looting our pockets. Penalize the working people and give to those who refuse to take care of themselves or their families. These people whom we elect line their pockets at our expense. They buy their way into their offices with freebies to those who don't want to contribute to society. They give themselves top notch benefits and inflated retirement packages while exempting themselves and their fellow government workers from having to contribute to social security. I suppose we get the government we deserve.