nytimes.com:
A year ago, century-old Lehman Brothers lapsed into bankruptcy, completely spooking the oligarchy that runs our nation's financial sector.
The oligarchs had fully expected to see Lehman bailed out by the federal government that serves them, especially after the government had dutifully bailed out Bear Stearns earlier in the year. When Lehman was not so served, panic set in, unleashing global economic turmoil and pain.
Robert Kuttner: A Virtuous Tax
A little bit of populist retribution is overdue against the people who brought down the system -- and will bring it down again if the hegemony of the traders is not constrained.
Les Leopold: One Year After Lehman: Another Crash Coming?
Given the failure to enact serious reforms, it wouldn't take much to push the economy off the cliff again: a severe pandemic flu, a terrorist attack or a major weather event could set off a major economic relapse.
Perhaps one of the most telling statistics is the number of stand-alone pieces of financial reform legislation passed, one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers: zero.
Lehman Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lessons from Lehman: Turf woes | The Economist
How JPMorgan Tried To Steal $7 Billion Worth Of Lehman Bros. From Barclays
"Too Big Too Fail": Obama's Reforms Don't Address Lessons From "Lehman Monday"
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Democrats, Republicans, Greenspam et al are all responsible for creating the conditions that enabled a few inside Lehman to bet the bank and fail. Paulson pulled the trigger.
Joseph Tibman. Author Murder of Lehman Brothers
The overturn of Glass-Steagall by Clinton, Rubin, Gramm, and other bipartisan sellouts in 1999 is the major reason for the current depression. The other reasons have to do with the gradual deconstruction of Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. Most of that was done by Democrats unfortunately:
Depository Institution Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 - Carter
Riegle–Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 - Clinton
Gramm-Leach-Bliley (Financial Services Modernization Act) 1999 - Clinton
Commodity Futures Modernization Act, 2000 - Clinton
Do you really expect Obama to do better?
The only way to cover all Americans without causing deficits to rise is to
require that the wealthiest Americans pay a bit extra. The wealthy can
afford to make sure all Americans are healthy.
The top 1 percent of earners now take home 23 percent of total national
income, the highest percentage since 1928.
Their tax burden is not
excessive.
Even as income and wealth have become more concentrated than at
any time in the past 80 years, those at the top are now taxed at lower rates
than rich Americans have been taxed since before the start of World War II.
Managers of hedge funds, private-equity partners, and
investment bankers -- including those who have been bailed out by taxpayers
over the last year -- are paying 15 percent of their income in taxes because
their earnings are, absurdly, treated as capital gains.
We should eliminate
this loophole as well, and use it to guarantee the health of all.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/142429/3_things_obama_must_demand_from_congress_on_health_care/
oligarchy-what is this,i dont know what this word means
Oligarchy is government by a small group of elites. An oligarchy is often a state controlled by politically powerful families whose children are heirs to the power of the oligarchy.
In the United Kingdom and most of Europe, it took the form of hereditary aristocracy, rule by kings and aristocrats. In the United States the elites are the wealthy and those chosen to control of multi-national corporations. It's still hereditary rule in everything but name.
The former usually provides an introduction into the world of the latter, and the latter assures membership in the former.
Oligarchy doesn't mean rule by the wealthy, it means rule by a privileged group. The privileged group may be wealth (modern day U.S.), or aristocracy (UK & Europe), or caste (India) or race (South Africa after the Boer war or Antebellum U.S. south).
The term for rule by the wealthy is "Plutocracy". Technically, what we have in the United States is a "Plutarchy", an oligarchy of Plutocrats.
We supposedly have a democracy, but under past Supreme Court rulings
money == free speech - that is, money talks, and its voice is louder than the voice of the "demos" (Greek for "people").
One has only to look at the recent make up of Congress. Very few who were not already independently wealthy have been elected it to Congress in the last 30 years or so, and of those who were not already, fewer still were not by the time they retired.
what a twisted piece of reasoning. people are bailed out by .gov all the time. the corporate structure is a form of people bailout so bailing the banks out is just another form of bailout because of the harm the failure of the banks would have wreaked upon people. WHAT ABSOLUTE NONSENSE!
if the money thrown down the well because the top 1% of wealth owners in the world wailed from its bottom were instead given to the middle class of the world and spent where the middle class sees fit the economic disaster would likely be completely over by now with many fewer really, really wealthy people.
so, using your logic, it was better to bail out these few thousand, maybe a million people, than it was to bail out the millions who are suffering because of them.
We bail out banks and not families because banks have lobbyists, families do not.
The banks own the government, we the people in ALL countries do not.
The same day that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid announced that they "would support any provision that increases competition and accessibility for health insurance - whether or not it is the public option favored by most Democrats" a chief lobbyist for UnitedHealth, Steve Elmendorf, sent an email blast inviting people to a $5,000/PAC or $2400/individual fundraiser in his home for Nancy Pelosi.
http://www.openleft.com/diary/15066/unitedhealth-lobbyist-announces-big-fundraiser-for-pelosi-as-she-backs-off-public-option
The exploitation of the worker, for the sole excesses of the few, has created this wide birth between the two. We are beginning to see the coming of the seeds of our own destruction.
Is it a wonder, that the elites within our society, complain about anything which might take some economic power and resources away from themselves and their corporate masters? The old trick of selling to the masses that they too can one day be rich and powerful, so they would do best to vote against their best interests. They are conned into believing that it is best for them to listen blindly to those with power, so they one day might play pro ball with the big boys & girls.
It is one big scam, which will NEVER occur for 95 percent of the masses, but WILL happen for the majority of the children of those that are already in power. Why do you think the elites of society refer to the rest of us as "eaters".
Trickle down does not work, never has and never will at least not very well! Knowing this or actually owning up to this suggests that money should have gone to help the families. Trickle up has proven to work time and time again until now. If people had money to spend in the markets businesses would not have started massive lay offs which only escalated the dire situation. People must spend money to survive, but when companies such as Utilities and food raise their prices as drastically as they did, there is little money to spend elsewhere. That is an area that should have been regulated. Basic cost of living has increased dramatically! An example is our normal $250.00 electric bill increased to $415.00 not in usage but rather in fee increases. That is simply one example and an worthy of mention this increase was over a two year period. That's right, while the economy was hurting the most these companies stepped up to take every penny they could squeeze from consumers. Hence we enter this circular battle of there is no money flowing because people aren't spending and people aren't spending because they have nothing extra to spend. All the while the select businesses are posting record profits and paying outrageous bonuses proving that trickle down doesn't work. Select businesses have usurped any potential spending that would go to other companies...preventing trickle up from working. What an utter mess!
White-collar crimes cost the United States more than $300 billion annually according to the FBI.
White-collar crimes are fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery. The tools of the trade are paperwork or through the computer. performed by using paperwork or computers .
White collar crimes go largely undetected.
We bail out banks because our society worships a sick system that makesWARon all but the rich. it's called capitalism. it has lots of unemployment built in so those who employ many people can keep their wages depressed.
corporations are one Supreme Court decision away from overturning Obama and all Democrats. You better start worrying about the Supreme Court that is just about to let Corporations run all elections in this country. You want to see a classwar?
Next thing you know corporations will be allowed to cast a ballot! The bridge between constituent and representative has never been so wide and the expansion was paid for courtesy of corporations. Unfortunately, like Congress, business will not regulate itself and it appears that the guardians of the constitution will fail us. Look on the bright side, if these corporations are successful in their quest for "individual rights" it will make it harder for them to absolve themselves from liability. Oh yeah, that is what congress is for. People I think we've been scr*wed!
They do cast ballots... through our politicians. Lobbyists leave them a trail of money (and sex) to follow and then tell them how to vote.
What happened between Reagan and TODAY?
1. MOST MASSIVE TRANSFER of Wealth from Middle-Class&P00R to R1CH in History!
2. FED Reserve manipulation of Interest Rates to help in Harvest by the R1CH!
3. Deregulati on+additio n of Derivatives+Credit Default Swap!
4. The conversion of a Near Democracy to a Complete EL1TE OL1GARCHY!
5. Top Tax Rate dropped from 70% in 1982 to 35%!
6. VAMP1RE Capitalism by WALL STREET/Ins urance/Fin ance who add noting to ECONOMY but suck out the Life BL00D of others!
__________ __________
CONDITIONS BANKRUPTING AMERICA:
1. Banksters Skimming $Hundreds of Billions in Profits into their+employee Pockets at LOW TAX Rates - Leaving Zombie Institutions NO PROFITS OR FUNDS!
2. Corporations PAY NEAR ZERO TAXES (G0LDMAN paid 1%) USING LOOPHOLES for R1CH!
3. FED Reserve Prints $TRILLIONS in DEBT causing each American to SUFFER Devaluation of Dollar-HIDDEN TAX! Devalued retirements, high 01L/Commodity prices, Devalued Housing, Excessive Speculatio n&DEBT&Abs olute Corruption &Automated Cheating on WallSt!
4. Deficit GROWS as too FEW TAX DOLLARS COLLECTED last 40 years+EXPLOITATION by BANKSTERS with $23.7Trillion in WallSt Bankser Welfare!
Answers to these PROBLEMS
NECESSARY AUDITING OF FED?
CURE for FDIC, GREED, V0TE BUYING, HEALTH CARE, and DEFICIT: New Top Tax Bracket of 63% to 94% for all GROSS Incomes over $3,000,000!
Placing 63% of everything over $3,000,000 into paying OFF OUR DEFICIT!
Then Executives pay $100,000,000 Bonuses with $63,000,000 going toward BUDGET&DEFICIT!
It's almost like their gearing up for something big and I think the rest of us are in big trouble. Whenever huge gaps in wealth and class occur, world wars are soon to follow. It's a game of chess and we're the pawns.
Mr. Taylor: Yes, I agree with your points. And, all of this is supported by a complicit government; all three branches, it seems, thus far!
Is there any hope for Main St.?
BLUE C0LLAR CR1ME = PR0SECUTE WITH0UT MERCY!
WH1TE C0LLAR CR1ME = F0RGIVE and F0RGET!
______________________
BLANKFE1N WANTS NO GOVERNMENT ENFORCED INCOME LIMITS ON EXECUTIVES!
B1ankfe!n said “bonuses are important to attracting and retaining top talent, but ...can also encourage excess." Perhaps the way to increase the number of such TALENTED BANKSTERS is to BUILD a Special University that teaches Stea1ing and Theft without Ethics as they clearly are NOT getting enough people without scruples! I forgot we have a lot of those covered with 1VY!
Perhaps Blankfe!n would prefer a return to 63% to 94% Top Tax Rates like we had for 50 years before Reagan! A 70% Top Tax Rate on Gross Personal Income over $3 Million would STOP MUCH OF THE SKIMMING when the payouts go mostly to the Government Budget and reducing the Deficit!
Blankfein also admitted overly complex financial products destabilized the financial system. He did NOT admit to "Misrepresentation in SALE of High Risk Products as "AAA" Low Risk Products and he did NOT admit to "Manufactured Insider Trading" or Automated Theft."
Thank You! I would fan 2x if possible. This is exactly correct. If you take far more from the well for yourself, then the well can sustain, it becomes time to put some of that water back.
The exploitation of the worker, for the sole excesses of the few, has created this wide birth between the two. We are beginning to see the coming of the seeds of our own destruction.
Is it a wonder, that the elites within our society, complain about anything which might take some economic power and resources away from themselves and their corporate masters? The old trick of selling to the masses that they too can one day be rich and powerful, so they would do best to vote against their best interests. They are conned into believing that it is best for them to listen blindly to those with power, so they one day might play pro ball with the big boys & girls.
It is one big scam, which will NEVER occur for 95 percent of the masses, but WILL happen for the majority of the children of those that are already in power. Why do you think the elites of society refer to the rest of us as "eaters".
If a trader doubles return to investors after payment of his bonus, would you call that stealing?
I disagree with outrageous executive salaries while front-end people take home minimum wages, but it's not black and white.
If the government can control executive salaries; it can control yours.
Theft is in progressive taxation. Why should an entrepreneur who has taken a huge personal risk to create a successful business have to pay more taxes than the people he/she employs?
Time for flat-rate taxes. Everyone pays the same percentage of earnings. The rich pay more; the poor pay less. No loopholes. No three-inch-thick tax codes. No tax lawyers. No civil servants adding to the code. IRS dramatically diminished.
As for that trader: Perhaps his (few women withstand the pressure of trading) commission should hold in all markets. Bonus w/profits; deductions w/losses. No trader would agree; market risk is beyond his control.
Portfolio managers who have CFA's -- most of them do -- have a fiduciary duty to maximize return for clients. Perhaps that should cut out bonuses.
Too many Democrats are bitter about success, even when it spills over to everyone else. Main Street depends on Wall Street. Obama understands that.
Traders work under pressures that most of us will never experience. There has to be reward for that.
Continue demonizing Wall Street and have only yourselves to blame when Obama heads home to Chicago in 2012. I, for one, don't want to see that happen.
flat-rate taxes
Never said I had a problem with that. That was the only thing I liked about Forbes when he ran.
Traders work under pressures that most of us will never experience. There has to be reward for that.
Really? There is only one model for stress? Wrong thing to say. That, my friend, is an attempt to legitimate the pay of those that make money by moving money. Like any industry, no one is above another.
Pouring molten steal. You think the stress of making a mistake on a multi-million dollar pour is different?
See what I mean?
Wall street is not a demon, but an unwatched and uncontrolled greedy child.
I actually have respect for those guys in Japan that, after having been caught stealing or what have you, and bad economic things happen as an effect, commit suicide. That, at least, is honor.
They are suppose to bail us... however, they are bailing CEOs and Executives...
by providing huge bonuses from taxpayers...
That is a MORAL CRIME!!!
Not if they are immoral! They wouldn't be able to recognize it!
I see the corporate media is still at it. Must be the advertiser dollars flowing in. Nifty headline, hope you get some unsuspecting readers to justify your shilling.
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First Posted: 09-11-09 04:37 PM | Updated: 09-11-09 04:43 PM