schminkie

Merrill Lynch Bonuses: A Watershed Moment

to argue economic systems, capitalism or otherwise is to miss the point. the problem is corruption not economy; moral bankruptcy and some twisted impossible form of caveat emptor. all the king's horses and men can yell at, pontificate about and ride their high horses criticizing and posturing about the wall st scoundrels; scoundrels who could care less because when the smoke clears and the shouting subsides, they'll have the money and we won't.

the cigarette industry used 30-40 years of 'studies' and commissions to delay the obvious truth, that their product is harmful. now wall st. is using similar tactics to delay the obvious, that the system did not break [passive tense] but was broken [transitive] by people intent on doing so consequences be damned.

as the great economic expert bob dylan said, ' you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.' i think maybe the chinese courts have it right this time.

How to Spend $700B and Actually Solve the Problem

paulson/bernanke characterize solutions using a specious strawman argument to manipulate debate and to narrow 'choices' to theirs or theirs. there are other choices. 'we the people' are characterized by the whole gov't. and media as helpless victims. 'we're helpless please fix it daddy [washington and wall st.] we're scared. only you experts can save america.'

one thing we do know for certain. neither the gov't nor the conventional wisdom of wall st. can save us. they cannot even save themselves. maybe we'd better go another way. subsidizing them is like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

it is rare that the gov't. is so willing and even eager to spend huge amounts of money. perhaps that money, our money, would be better spent as capital investment in america. fyi: america includes wall st. wall st. fails to include america.

stop throwing our money down the rabbit hole. let free market capitalism work. put that capital to work building industry and jobs, reviving the bank industry and increasing the resultant tax base.

How to Spend $700B and Actually Solve the Problem

paulson/bernanke characterize solutions using a specious strawman argument to manipulate debate and to narrow 'choices' to theirs or theirs. there are other choices. 'we the people' are characterized by the whole gov't. and media as helpless victims. 'we're helpless please fix it daddy [washington and wall st.] we're scared. only you experts can save america.'

one thing we do know for certain. neither the gov't nor the conventional wisdom of wall st. can save us. they cannot even save themselves. maybe we'd better go another way. subsidizing them is like rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

it is rare that the gov't. is so willing and even eager to spend huge amounts of money. perhaps that money, our money, would be better spent as capital investment in america. fyi: america includes wall st. wall st. fails to include america.

stop throwing our money down the rabbit hole. let free market capitalism work. put that capital to work building industry and jobs, reviving the bank industry and increasing the resultant tax base.


. , etc. not cash being dumped into the rabbit hole of wall st. finance and its fellow-travelers.


all this serves to steamroll the paul and bernie plan which may not work and which may cost well over 700,000,000.00.

if the gov't is of a mind to spend let's put money to work for the people not for wall st.'s failures. make room for better finance houses etc.

rather than some form of gov't guarantees on toxic paper have gov't guaranteed loans; capital. revive in who have driven themselves to bankruptcy ; put people to work, build and repair infrastructure, reactivate industry, the service industries will grow, the tax base will grow, let the capitalist free market do its darwinian winnowingthe greed and incompetence of wall st. would be replaced in darwinian fashionand give a a leg up on acttually send rfps out for necessary work on infrastructure. what results is an economic stimulus in private sector: industry, finance and services. i'm too tired to

Could Lehman's Failure Cause a Systemic Meltdown?

i certainly have no qualms about seeing a failing mismanaged business fail unrescued by government props, etc. unfortunately lehman bros. investments for better or worse are tied into economies world wide. wall st. is easily shaken, often rising and falling on rumors, unfounded aphorisms, sentiment or plain lies. such has overwhelmed reality as the street interprets it. witness the precipitous fall of united air due to a false report mistakenly printed.

concur or not, sometimes the safety of the lehmans of the world is a priority if for no other reason than keeping it afloat keeps us all floating; the so-called big picture. it may serve and even amuse the merrills of the world to see one of its competitors die but it may not serve the efficient and profitable running of the economy. lest the other
finance-titans lose touch, basking in the cozy warmth of their schadenfreude, someone may rudely remind them that they may be next.