elcopone

The Secret Paulson-Goldman Meeting

Agreed, we need to redo the entire political process. Get rid of all lobbists, trade groups and special interest groups. Eliminate campaign contributions from corporations. Put in term limits. Make it so that if you work for the government, you cannot then work for in the private sector for at least 5 years after you leave office.

That will fix this.


On Oct 21 08:56 AM jjed88 wrote:

> I think you got to the root of the problem. All this lobbying and
> political contributions is a disgrace. My state senator, Dodd, is
> the chairperson of the Banking committee. His received about $130k
> for political contributions last year from Goldman. I don't think
> he can be impartial if he had to make decisions affecting Goldman.
> He's kinda 'nowhere to be found' anyway so hopefully the next Banking
> Chairperson won't be owned.

A Bull Market That Few Are Buying

I agree with the analysis for the most part but I think the main point is being missed....

The issue is not Republican versus Democrat. It's not one parties agenda versus another. Or one President's agenda versus what another President would have done. If you think the the Republicans are any less bought off or curropt than the Democrats, I have a bridge to sell you.

The issue is that our entire political system is completely broken. Politicians on both sides have been and will continue to act in a manner that benefits no one (except them personally and their party) untill the system is fixed. Republicans are bribed by one set of special interests and Demecrats are bribed by another. Some special interest who have enough money just bribe both.

None of the problems facing the US will ever be truly solved untill the political system is fixed. Here is the simple fix that will never happen....

1. Make lobbing of any form illegal.
2. Institute term limits.
3. Eliminate fund raising of any sort. All campaigns would then be run with equal money funded by the government.
4. Institute a 10-year waiting period between the time an elected official leaves office to the time they can be hired in the private sector.
5. Create a third and equal "Moderate" party that represents the roughly 60% of the population that is either an Independant, Moderate-Dem, and Moderate-Repub.

Simple economics... People's behaviors are motivated by incentives. Fix the incentives, fix the behaviors.

Too Big to Fail, Or Too Dumb to Survive?

Agreed, the "too large to fail" argument is getting old. Th cost of inaction must be rivaling the cost of action at this point. And the sad thing is for all the bailout money already spent, no one even knows if it even worked. Had the government not bought Wall Streets egotistical "too large to fail" argument, they would be in Chapter 11 with a clearly defined plan to keep operating and emerge. As it is, you now have increased consumer distrust due to the lack transparency around the bailouts.

What does it say about our government when AIG execs are more scared of lawyers opinions and their own executive's potential lawsuits than they are about the governments wrath?

The biggest problem with the Wall Street bailout is that it's being run by Wall Street.