For my political leaders I look for integrity-of-conscience and good-character. Who, God-willing, will stand up to those whose rampant pride, greed and hatred might do harm to others -- and, who will work with like-spirited people to promote social harm to others.
Here a few applicable quotes:
"Despite the striking progress in the fields of science and technology, there has actually been a deterioration in morals and social behavior -- partly because of the growth of selfishness . . . People are spending too much money for their own pleasure and are multiplying desires without limit. They are not content with having what they need for essential purposes . . . One should be spending for the relief of the poor and the needy."
"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need -- but not for man's greed."
"It is not the 'standard of living' that is important -- but the manner of living."
"Man is a spark of the Divine and he must learn to manifest this in his every activity."
"People are born to share, to serve, to give . . . not to grab."
"When there is no 'ego', or at least less ego, cooperation and love flourish."
"It is character that is of utmost importance. It is virtues that lend greatness to any person. If everyone develops good character, the whole country will become good>"
"Mankind should strive for the ideal of human unity by recognizing the Divinity that is present in every human
McCain and Obama: What to Do About Wall Street's Addiction to Risk
Buzz this article up.
What should we do about Wall Street's speculators who, stoned on risk and greed, have triggered a financial crisis that Alan Greenspan calls the worst since the Great Depression. In back to back speeches, John McCain and Barack Obama laid out their remedies last week. The contrast could not be more stark. Obama prescribed a withdrawal program. McCain suggested slipping the risk addicts more drugs.
Of course, that's not how it was covered. The press largely fell for McCain's faux "straight talk" -- his pledge he would not "bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." (As is frequently the case, the straight talk had an asterisk. McCain meant no bail outs for big banks, unless they are deemed "too big to fail," like Bear Stearns. In fact, McCain actually supports the half trillion or so that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have used to bail out the banks and investment houses. He just doesn't want help for homeowners).
What the press didn't focus on was the two clear reform ideas in McCain's speech. Since banks facing insolvency need more capital, McCain urged "removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital." In a collapse triggered by the unregulated shadow banking system, McCain recommends less regulation.
And since capital reserves are being wiped out by the collapsing markets for exotic mortgage backed securities and other instruments, McCain urged convening a meeting of accountants to review "mark to market" accounting requirements. With bankers frozen because they don't know the worth of what they are holding, much less what others are holding, McCain's solution is to help them hide their losses. That surely will inspire confidence.
This isn't straight talk. It is -- to put it mildly -- goofy.
In contrast, Obama called for putting the cop back on the beat. He stated the basic principle: if investment houses are too big to fail, they must be closely regulated -- with requirements for capital reserves, limits on leverage and "excessive complexity," and close review of balance sheets. He even opened, however gingerly, the question of the outsized bankers pay packages that reward them for taking greater and greater risks with other people's money:
There is something wrong when... senior managers don't understand the implications of the risks assumed by their own institutions. It's time to realign incentives and the compensation packages so that both high-level executives and employees better serve the interests of shareholders.
What should we do when the risk addicts of Wall Street threaten to bring down the house? Peddle them more drugs or call in the cops? The choice will be ours.
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Wall Street's addiction to "risk"?
"Risk"?
Well, ain't that a helluva note. If I acted like Wall Street, they'd call it fraud, bid-rigging, price-fixing, bait and switch...but "risk"?
We have economic risk everywhere, not just the stock market. We generally have the choice where our 401k money is put and which has less risk. We make more with greater risk, of course but, when does the risk overcome the need? We already know that social security ain't going to work for much longer, Our politicians have opted out for a safer plan that guarantees a better return. Six months ago i said things will get worse before it gets better, well, wheres the better? Congress has stopped the reform that could have helped those in trouble with their home mortgages,by doing what it does best, political posturing,and bullshit, We need to Return America to a direction that will end all the bullshit, and bribes, lobbyists are a big part of the problem, lets remove them from the cure!
Eddie Murphy said it best in 'Trading Places': "The best way to hurt rich people is to take their money away." Give the decision-makers personal liability and I can guarantee you will see the most conservative, non-risk-taking bunch of fuckers you've ever seen in your life. It's because they know they ultimately play with other people's money that makes them so cavalier.
Wall Street practices Godzilla Capitalzim. Of course they should be closely regulated. Moderation is key to a humane culture and economic system. What we need is the middle way between Capital's interests and the peoples' interests. You know... like most of the humane countries in the world. I see this current crisis as the inevitable result of the fall of the Soviet Union. We were fatally wounded by our all-in commitment to the military industrial complex at that time. We have witnessed the long, face forward fall ever since. They told us we "won". Ha. At that point, unregulated, Godzilla capitalizm began to march rampant through the land. Look at the northern European countries if you want to see a great place to be a human being. Some things are too important to our national interests to let profit run them. Like? Energy and health care, for instance.
The Great Thing Is!
gee . . . . . anybody can be an Economic Genius . . . . NOT!
To the theme of the beach boys "T-bird"
And we'l have SPIN SPIN SPIN, till Mcain takes my country away...
America only has ONE choice.
Obama 08
To everything, SPIN, SPIN, SPIN,
There is a season, SPIN, SPIN, SPIN,
And a time to every dollar under Wall Street.
Stocks are risks. Before you buy a stock you are told that in writing.
What we ( congress etc. ) need to do is tell Wall Street in clear terms that the US will not bail out any firms as a result of failures. They knew the risk, they told the investors there are risks. If they proceed the risk is on them.
Need to bail someone out? Bail out individual families facing foreclosure. That will have the effect of bailing out sectors of wall street heavily invested in buying mortgages while at the same time, helping an average American family survive. Fix the bankruptcy laws to help people rather than the wealthy big business owners.
I'm tired on Congress bailing out the wealthy while leaving the rest of us to swing in the wind.
We need a new Congress not bought and paid for by corporate money. http://www.reelectnoone.com
"Mark to market Accounting"??? Christ, hasn't anybody studied the Enron collapse? Maybe we should appoint Andy Fastow as Chairman of the Fed. Is he out of prison yet?
They did come close one time when they appointed Joe Kennedy (JFK's father, the rum runner) as the first head of the SEC!
Um... this wouldn't help much now, but for the future - howzabout requiring basic economics to be taught in middle school? Perhaps if people were taught at a rather early age that one must have money in the account in order to buy stuff, and that one shouldn't buy something just because it looks pretty (maybe we need to require basic marketing, too), we might have a population that doesn't take out loans when they have no income. Teaching 2 words of Latin - "caveat emptor" - might also allow us to have investors who insist that whatever they're investing in can be explained in English, not just in financial-ese with no translators in existence.
A course in basic ethics might be nice, too, since the religious upbringing of the loan officers who lent the money (and the employers at the banks that they work at) obviously didn't do any good in the thou-shalt-not-steal department.
Oh, never mind. We have to spend our education dollars teaching about self-esteem and religiosity, not math and logic. Ain't got no room in there. Guess we'll just have to let those kids find out about addiction for themselves - first on the streets, then on Wall Street.
Yep, Yep, Yep... and the crazy part is that our fellow Americans vote time and time again against their own economic interests. We've allowed the wolves to watch the flock. OH the humanity!
Yes, I agree - they are not addicted to risks - just to making lots of money for themselves by any means. The taxpayers are being stuck with the risk, but they don't seem to be winning any of the upside benefits in this process. Not sure why someone on minimum wage has to pay for the crazy gambling of a bunch of millionaires....
Millionaires???
NO
BILLIONAIRES
What a wonderful world and moment in time to enter the WH. Faced with a tanked economy, an out-of-control occupation/war, a dark environmental picture, an obscene, morbidly obese military-industrial complex.... gee whiz, who wouldn't want to charge in and fix it all?
Whoever takes over the ruination the Republicans have created will ultimately take the blame, the stink for not making it all work again. Unless it's one of their own, their little Mighty Mite McCain, who would be excused for not correcting the mess. After all, he's one of them at last, part of the true power elite.
Populism is the cure for the cancer of corporatism.
Everything else is secondary to this one true thing.
Populism is the cure for the cancer of corporatism.
We can only HOPE that Obama brings CHANGE!
After the disaster of Bush and the incompetent, mean spirited years of the Republican congress; I REALLY WANT TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT.
But everytime I listen in on Air America or read left leaning blogs, all I find is useless emotion, unsupported by basic knowledge of the way the economy works; "IT'S A CONSPIRACY AGAINST US!"
By reading what you have to "offer", it's clear most people are just clueless on even the basic mechanics of the forces that impact their lives. Hint: It's not a bunch guys making decisions in smoke filled rooms.
This board is strewn with factually inaccurate statements. I'm not talking about subjective interpretations of how public policy should be implemented, I'm pointing to just dead wrong comments on how economic inputs work.
As an independent, both sides are depressing.
I am a banker and I don't know of any regulations that restrict the raising of capital. On the contrary regulations encourage the raising of capital.
Regulations restrict dangerous practices, protect the clients and promote openness (which mitigates against financial panic).
McCain just wants to reward his friends in the finance industry in return for campaign contributions.
I absolutely agree! Let's not forget, it's us, the taxpayers who will be paying the bail out guarantee! We have a right to a very formal closely scrutinized accounting on a very regular and very public basis. It should be demanded as a condition. Gracious, it's the average citizen who really stands to lose. And when they screw up so badly they break themselves and us in the process, we have to pay they for doing it to us! To encourage the greed to metastisize ala McCain's cure smells like a set up like a set up to me.
I posted earlier but want to re-state my feelings about bail outs. NONE to Wall Street. They created the problem and they understood the risks so let them live with it.
Instead, since much of their "risk" was in mortgages that went south, bail out the families who stand to lose their homes. That will have the same effect for Wall Street but also help an actual American family keep their homes.
A bail out at the top only assures the risk knowingly taken by wealthy investors is not really a risk. A bail out is a bail out for the wealthy at the expense/risk of the average tax payer.
If necessary use the money to create a federal mortgage company, let these families re-finance under terms they can accept, even subsidize their payment to some extent rather than handing it to the richest people.
After all we give away free money for rent already. Better to have it invested in real estate for someone who is working and struggling to make ends meet.
Wall Street doesn't risk anything because they always get Big Mummy Gummit to bail them out of their jams courtesy of US Taxpayers.
The executives at Sterns should be fined till they a left with minimum wage for their last few years of bad choices.
Typical American values: To get a small raise in the minimum wage requires an act of Congress; to bail out speculative financiers requires a 20-minute meeting of bankers who regulate bankers.
People on Wall Street spend money like the idiots in the White House do. The US has to get its budget under control, just as much as the banks do.
As Harold Meyerson points out in today's Washington Post, McCain's chief economic advisor is Phil Gramm who might well be the Godfather of the current economic crisis due to his repeal of Glass-Steagall.
"McCain actually supports the half trillion or so that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have used to bail out the banks and investment houses"
This is exaggeration on your part. The bail credit for Bear approximates $30 billion. The liquidity pumped into the system is clearly a government aid (making fools of free market republicans) but it is not a loss or a bail. I am not aware of any banks that have been bailed(Bear being an investment bank). The FDIC states that their insurance fund is adequate to effect any and all bank closures in sight (i.e. problem bank list).
The liguidy pump as you call it leads to further devaluation of the dollars, we all hold... so yes there is a cost to it and we all are paying.
Regards
Wall Street doesn't *take* risks - it offoads risk to others. (Why they are compensated for other people's risks is a whole other question.)
Oooo, I was gonna say that! Privatization of profit, socialization of risk.
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Posted April 1, 2008 | 06:58 PM (EST)