ResourceWise

Hands Off Goldman Bonuses

While ‘outlandish’ bonuses do generate indignation is vast quantities, they’re just a symptom of a massive problem with the global financial system - a system built on arbitrage and leverage that facilitates theft of wealth from earners and savers. Governments – who are supposed to represent the interests of all their citizens need to take a hard look at the activities that are conducted under the banner of financial services and determine which are useful to society and which are harmful. Outlaw harmful activities and prosecute those that indulge in them. By demanding arbitrary caps and punitive taxes on earnings, we only legitimise activities that are injurious to the financial health of society and perpetuate the weaknesses in the current system.

Unwinding the Goldman Sachs Myth

GS, like many others in the industry feed on a deeply flawed global financial system - which is essentially a giant casino where the savings of individuals are used by insiders to gamble. Win or lose the bill is paid by these savers and tax payers.

We need to give careful thought as to the purpose such institutions serve and the price at which they serve that purpose. Currently these folk get paid as if they have solved the problem of world hunger and developed a pill to cure cancer - in a sinlge dose!

Fear and Greed: Premise for Capitulation and Overreaction

The financial markets must serve society in a manner that minimizes the chances of an economic Chernobyl. In its current form the markets are a collection of camouflaged time bombs that can be triggered off by any intelligent fool that has access to it – including the hedge funds and private equity funds that aren’t regulated but can play in the market and destroy value to create wealth for themselves. Their licence to steal needs to be revoked. There is a huge ocean of debt (estimated by some at $7.5 Trillion!) whose toxicity is still unknown. Unfortunately the same players and entities that are center stage in the bailout are now being empowered by society to fix the problem. I think the rules of the game need to be re-written and brutally enforced so that greed can be tempered by fear, rather than feeding on it.

Stale Ideas Killed AIG, Lehman

When board members and CEOs fail to recognize problems facing their company - it is either hubris or laziness. If they understood their role as the trustees of shareholder wealth they would behave differently i.e. look at problems with open eyes and listen for solutions with open years. Employees at all levels within such organizations have ideas and solutions that never see the light of day - because most senior management live in a bubble, which when it bursts releases them to float away on their golden parachutes.