Bruce Springsteen is totally off track blaming just the Fat cats on Wall Street for the economic crisis that has occurred. First of all most of the people who work on Wall Street are just regular working stiffs who are trying to make a living like everyone else.  There are many who work on the street who do make a lot of money and even those people put in a lot of hours and bust their rear ends.  

The big reason for the economic crisis was greed and people living beyond their means and that blame can go around to a lot of people and at lot of businesses. The car companies got into trouble because the cost of the befits their Union employees received got too costly and the companies failed to make products that would sell during a gas and economic crisis. Their failure was their own doing and not the bankers on Wall Street.

The politicians also pressured financial institutions to create mortgage products so that “everyone” could own a home. That was the American dream. You can also point fingers at the people who purchased homes they could not afford. Why would anyone who was making twenty thousand a year purchase a home that was worth three or four hundred thousand dollars.

You had government agencies Fannie and Freddie Mae supporting the insanity in the housing markets and you had bankers and investors buying into the insanity. When the housing bubble burst the house of cards collapsed and everyone paid the price.

Yes there is a lot of greed on Wall Street and many people get paid salaries they do not deserve but that can be said of a lot of industries and a lot of people. Do the politicians that Bruce Springsteen supports deserve their salaries and benefits? Do athletes and entertainers deserve the money they make? Maybe Mr. Springsteen should walk a mile in the shoes of the people who work on Wall Street before he writes songs about things he does not know.

Although I admire some of Springsteen's music, I think he's missing the point:  it's not about Obama,not about Wall Street.  Sadly, greed wins out.  That's why we have only one political party, the Haves and one governing class, the Want More.  Let's keep our focus on the linkage between wealth and more wealth.  Class is no longer an operative word.  Politics no longer genuinely promotes the public good. But things will get better, once this empire collapses in upon itself.  It's already beginning to crumble in Europe and our time is coming. We will go through a long post-empire period, we will, hopefully, rethink things.

Out of the ashes, perhaps, a slightly better day.

Right now, we need to hang in there, to try to help others ride out this long collapse.  There are enough good people left in this once great nation.

Bruce Springsteen is an entertainer and there is no problem with that, however, he has been a highly successful and highly paid entertainer and for some reason he feels that gives him latitude to comment on all of the perceived ills of the world, and USA, in particular. His "act" is getting old. I doubt anyone on Wall St. would tell him how to write lyrics and music, since that may not be their training.

Bruce has NO formal economics or financial training. He never finished Ocean County Community College with even a basic General Ed. degree. Now he professes to understand complex financial transactions and economics principles??? Based on what background? He is selling his album and this gives him publicity. No solutions, no ideas, just "Wall St. is bad"?? Based on his gut?

I was once an avid fan of him and his music, but as other bloggers have pointed out, he has become a hypocrite(maybe always was?). He pays almost ZERO ($1) tax on large "Farm" property in Central Jersey, he makes millions, he gets huge tax breaks for giving to charities and he has worked out with and befriended several Wall St. brokers in the past. They probably manage his investments.

He seems to write albums based on the "Cause du Jour". First Nukes, then Vietnam, then politics (Repubs in particular) now the Occupy Wall Streeters. Even his concerts have been politicized and when he gets on his lectures at the concert, a lot of the crowd is badly turned off. He CANNOT relate to blue collar or working class people anymore and his rants have become irritating and irrelevant. Maybe time for him to fade into the sunset and count his money on a beach somewhere and read a book on economics. Maybe start with "The Ascent of Money"?? He is no John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie or even Bob Dylan, although he pretends or wishes to be. Sorry Bruce. I will NOT buy your latest album OR attend anymore concerts. You have become tiresome...

It amuses me how some are saying because Bruce is a entertainer therefore he shouldn't be allowed to speak his views. Really? Musicians have been singing about their political beliefs and views LONG beforhe Springsteen. Heard of Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger even Bob Dylan? I guess pro war anthems like the ones Toby Keith or Hank Williams Jr sing about are fine? Republicans are hypocrities. They always cry when someone on the Left speaks their mind on something. Now if Bruce was hyping Mitt Romney in this article the people bashing him would adore him for it. It simply amazes me how during the Bush years it was anti-American to question your president but in the Obama years it's not perfectly fine to attack Obama and make up some of the most absurd garabge I have heard.. Bruce votes, pays taxes, is an American citizen. Bruce worked for everything he got. He grew up pretty poor, had an abusive father. He didn't grow up with silver spoon in his mouth like racist white trash Hank Williams Jr or the men looking for your votes in the Republican race for president.

Bruce also unlike most employers pays his employees fairly. He pays his crew, staff, band equally. He doesn't take home all the pay and he has ALWAYS given back. For almost his entire career he has played various charities, benefits and involved local food banks on every stop of his tour. Oh yeah I forgot...those involve community organizers so they are EVIL. I 100% guaratnee Bruce has given back to his country than ANY of the people bashing him ever have. Unlike you guys, Bruce doesn't sit behind a computer like a coward spewing hate against someone they have no idea about.

So if you do not agree with his political views DONT LISTEN. It's as simple as that. I don't watch Faux News or listen to all the right wing hillbilly country singers but at the same time they are all Americans and have every right to talk politics all they want through their music, interviews etc just like you or I do. From the homeless man on the street to the Hollywood actor or big rock star, they all have the same rights to speak their minds.