If George W. Bush had read The Pet Goat to his Economic Club of New York audience on Friday, his speech would have been no less infantile. If the first 9/11 was caused by a massive failure of intelligence about terrorism, the second 9/11 -- the slow-motion collapse of the American, and maybe the global, economy -- has been caused by a catastrophic failure of intelligence about Wall Street rapacity. If the now five-year-old Iraq war was the inevitable, tragic consequence of the neoconservatives' Project for the New American Century, then the subprime mortgage quagmire, the Bear Stearns bailout, and the foreclosure fiasco are the foreordained outcome of the Republican ideology which holds that regulation of corporate financial behavior is the domestic equivalent of Islamofascism.
The economic meltdown is the new 9/11, and it's George W. Bush's fault -- his, and the fundamentalist free-marketeers who have been living high on the hog, feeding at the public trough, intimidating Democrats, and getting away with capitalist murder ever since Ronald Reagan made "government" a dirty word.
"An interesting time," Bush called it at the Economic Club. That's the financial version of Rumsfeld's "stuff happens" analysis when rioting and looting engulfed Baghdad. (Will the media celebrate that five-year anniversary, too?) Every cocky corporate titan who has been caught in flagrante delicto has been written off by Republicans as an isolated exception. Every ingenious, computer-assisted Ponzi scheme has turned out, Milton Freedman be praised, to be legal. Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling? A couple of bad apples. Pump and dump? In the eye of the beholder. Slice-and-dice derivatives? As patriotic as a flag lapel pin.
"Moral hazard" is a term given currency by today's subprime mortgage crisis. It means that people will take a stupid risk if they believe they won't have to pay a price if things go sour. Years ago, during the savings and loan crisis, the principle of moral hazard was front and center; gamblers like Neil Bush, of Silverado Savings and Loan, flourished because buccaneers of his ilk were protected from the downside of their speculation by no-fault taxpayer-funded insurance. (No doubt that's what his brother the President meant in his first inaugural about ushering in an era of personal responsibility.) Today, the Fed's rescue of Bear Sterns -- the poster child of Wall Street greed and recklessness -- has brought "moral hazard" back to the fore. Bear Stearns says these guiding principles are the blueprint for how it does business: "respect, integrity, meritocracy, innovation and a commitment to philanthropy." In the wake of the bailout, maybe they should switch their motto to Alfred E. Newman's: "What, Me Worry?"
"Moral hazard" is how we got into Iraq. Colin Powell's Pottery Barn rule -- "you break it, you own it" -- is wrong. Bush broke Iraq, but we own it. Just as we, the taxpayers, are being forced to pay for the crockery broken by the Bush Party on Wall Street, we -- the taxpayers, the soldiers, their families, and America's reputation in the world -- are being forced to pay the price for the hubris of the neocon "freedom agenda." Is it too farfetched to compare Bush's pardon of Scooter Libby with Ben Bernanke's pardon of Bear Stearns? If you want to see why the insane risks of invading Iraq seemed so tolerable to the White House, look no farther than the unitary executive, the signing statements, and an opposition that would take impeachment off the table.
Toxic dumps are required to have warning signs on them. It would be fitting if schoolchildren saw a mandatory DANGER: MORAL HAZARD notice when, on a day that can't come too soon, they enter the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
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Still, what needs to be done to raise the value of the Dollar and put things back to rights?
Robber Barons,
Conservative=corporatist=fascist=GOP=BushCo=McCain=Bankruptcy.
Bankrupt morally, intellectually, politically.
Bankrupt financially unless you are one of the few chosen cronies.
The Permanent republican fascist majority is still moving forward toward a Hoover depression, so they can further dominate the peasants and avoid prosecution.
We have created a culture of greed. The rapacity of Wall Street is nothing more than a result of the promotion of greed. You get what the system you put in place is designed to produce. The prevailing ideology of the post Reagan Revolution political system aims at the creation of an economy based on greed. And because greed is now at the heart of our economic thinking the solution to our economic problems may have to be far more radical than most Americans are willing to accept. At least until greed has done its destructive work.
Mission accomplished!
As a result, the affluent look at a downturn in the economy as a chance to do something different to make money... buy gold, sell short, become slum landlords... whatever it takes.
Meanwhile, the poor sucker on the bottom of the heap becomes the recipient of the "trickle down"... which is basically what happens to cow crap if you happen to be under the leaky barn floor.
Taking back our country is beginning to look like it is going to take a lot more than just voting the scoundrels out... we may have to start a whole new underground economy that shuts out the big guys!
1. High tax rates on Americans
2. Less free trade (i.e. more tariffs and restrictions)
3. More business regulation and government interference
Obama and Hillary want to do all three.
Where do you think that rebate check you got a couple of years went? If the government cuts your taxes then your boss can justifiably not give you a raise or benefits. Hey, you got a tax cut. Meanwhile, the services that you expected from the government will also be cut eventually. It's a race to the bottom. I wonder if there will be another company starting up for those people who can no longer afford to shop at Wal-Mart.
Republicans believe in small government. Meaning a government exclusively for the 1% richest. (Known in political science as 'feudalism.') I don't know why people keep being surprised - they actually come out and say it.
Can't agree more. Said it a few times myself. What they want and why they are so mad, is a return to the good old days. 1200 AD is about right. When the men who were BORN to rule, ruled with no questions asked, by divine right. The darn middle class rose up and ruined it and now they are taking it back. Welcome to the Dark Ages.
This proves that our form of economy only works when there are rules to prevent this type of immoral and down right thievery. These guys are worse than the people who go in and rob a bank, and they get $10,000. The FBI goes nuts over that, when these guys did it in $2,000 suits, got paid BILLIONS, and flew around on private jets. They cost the nation its' economic stability, and may well have finished off, with Bush's assistance, what was once a world power. We have become a third world country with a huge military, and nothing else.
It's hard for me to even imagine what would be a great way to screw people and make a lot of money. But, I'm sure there are people out there right now working on it. Where do you go to learn that stuff or are you born with it? (Bush/Cheney families)
Long before Bush took office this country's credit card debt was becoming massive, people were living outside their means and housing prices were inflated. The bubble was going to pop no matter who was there. Bush's fault lies with allowing government spending to become out of control. Beyond that people have no one to blame but themselves.
Personal responsibility is important, but on the backdrop of disinformation flowing from the government on the state and direction of the economy for thirty years, miscalculation of one's prospects is quite understandable.
When republicans say 'cut taxes and let people manage their own money' I'm pretty skeptical about the wisdom of the America public. The public that has no savings, is maxed out on credit cards and home equity loans to buy plasma TVs and SUVs or whatever. The greed of the guys on Wall Street is perfectly matched by the stupidity of the public. A marriage made in debtor's prison.
The COMPLETE LACK of definitive regulation allowed the sub prime mortgage mess. This is a function of the bush MOB.
Endorse the lenders and the HELL with the home buyers.
If it is TOO good to be true, it will fail in the long term.
The profits are gone and so are the home buyers from their homes.
THANKX BUSH
..l
People took stupid loans and signed their name to them, can't fault the government for that. People should read what they are signing prior to signing it.
It's important to remember that 'what you can get away with' determines the behavior of every player in a market. If Lehman Brothers is propping up their numbers with absurdly risky loans, then we must too or our numbers will be lower and it will look like Lehman is outperforming us.
It is entirely appropriate and necessary to set the limits on acceptable behavior for entire markets. Every player complains about regulations strangling their competitive behavior; but they all breathe a secret sigh of relief when prudent regulation keeps them from engaging in the type of behavior that could destroy their entire business. For too long, we have been force-fed this unregulated, free-market propaganda; that when acted upon, leads to Bear Stearns, etc.
I know that the corporations who own all our media outlets (loyal Bushies and other GOPers) are doing their best to keep America stupid but there are these things called libraries, and they have books and other informative resources so people can learn the truth about what's going on. Or go online and search for the truth -it's out there!
Your comment reminded me of the late great Bill Hicks.
I so wish he were still alive. He would be having the rant of all rants right about now. He'd be superfly TNT.