Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
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Privatize Gains, Socialize Losses
[Read the article: Nightmare on Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Economists fighting economists...I like that. What happened to all that 'objectivity' and cold 'scientific' analysis supposedly at the heart of economics?
What we have here is a failure of the capitalist system. The securitization of mortgages is the financial version of Iraq. So, to bail or not to bail?
Well, what will the public get out of this? Stopping a collapse of the banking system, (bad...too big to fail?) or preserving one of the banks in the banking system. (bad for only the investors and the employees.)
The problem with government bailouts is that the people paying for it are ALWAYS the taxpayers and the people reaping the immediate benefits are ALWAYS the private owning class. If the government instead took over these assets for a fair price, or no price at all, and managed it for the interests of the taxpayers, then it could make sense.
Instead, the people recently screaming for the 'free market' change their minds when they run companies or a whole economy into the toilet. Then all of a sudden, 'government' has to ride to the rescue. Which is it folks? The key link is, they privatize the gains, and socialize the losses. It ALWAYS benefits, immediately, the owning class. And this will continue as long as capitalism continues. I think instead we should socialize the profits and socialize the losses.
Should the government prop up Bear Stearns? I am not so sure the whole economy will collapse if Bear Stearns goes under. Again, the 'taxpayer' has to get his money worth, he has to drive a very hard bargain, otherwise this is just more 'class warfare' brought to us by our 'own' government. Oh, wait, it is not really our government...
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Bubbles
[Read the article: George Bush's reality distortion field]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yes, they put in regulations after the fact, and then the money goes elsewhere, then they chase that money and then they put in regulations, then the money goes elsewhere, then they ...
And sometimes, like Glass-Steegal, they remove perfectly good regulations because the money wants it so, then investment 'banks' collapse, and then ... maybe they have to put the regulations back in place that they'd removed.
Do you see the pattern?
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"Small fascism?"
[Read the article: Nightmare on Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Looks like they don't teach risk managers and economists history anymore. Fascism is such a 'maleable' term.
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Mr. Risk Manager and Economist,
[Read the article: Nightmare on Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is always interesting when someone financially and emotionally invested in corporate America stands up and tells us that who sucks is not the con artists who swindle people, but the gullible sheep, not the people who make investments out of nothing, but the sorry fuckers that bought a line of hooey that every mortgage company was selling.
Ayn Rand, late of Greenspan fame, argued that con artists are just part of capitalism, and that 'buyer beware' is the only rule you need.
So, from this logic, con artistry should actually be made legal. Vulnerable poor and old people should be unprotected. Three card monte should be legalized. And all the mortgage brokers and investment houses should be held up as examples capitalism 'smarts.'
But at the end of the day, you have the choice of fucking corpoate America or being fucked. Mr. Bee likes the latter. I'll take the former, as the latter is a little too familar. But hey, Mr. Bee will hold you down while JP Morgan does the rest, and gets a cheap asset to boot!
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Economics 1001
[Read the article: The crash in Republican economics ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see,
Oil prices rising due to peak oil, increased use in 2nd world and fall of dollar.
Fall of dollar due to increase in U.S. government debt.
Recent massive increase in U.S. debt due to unending cycle of government and consumer debt and stock market failure.
Stock market failure due to securitization of mortgages.
Securitization of mortgages with Triple AAA ratings due to fraudulent pitching of mortgages, real estate value bubble and especially lack of regulation.
Lack of regulation due to ... Greenspan, the Republican Party and the majority of Democrats believing the myth of the market...and also 'believing' in the very real financial interests of most of the richest people in the country. Asleep at the wheel for a purpose.
Richest people in the U.S. - largest beneficiaries of this situation, until perhaps recently.
Question is, do we want this situation to always continue? Your choice.
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More than 4,000
[Read the article: War? What war?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are more than 4,000 Americans killed in Iraq.
Both service personnel that later die in the U.S. from injuries of some type, or part of the army of contractors from the U.S. They should be included in the total too.
1001 contractors have been killed as of 6/30/2007, according to Iraq Casulties.org. Not all of them are U.S. citizens however, but perhaps more than half.
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I used to be an optimist ...
[Read the article: Five years of Iraq lies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I used to believe the problem with this country resided mostly in the power structure.
That is still true.
However, the willingness to believe, or ignore, or be unaware of something is ingrained in probably the majority of Americans. It is a human failing, made even easier in the U.S. by our partial wealth.
Oppression oppresses. And these weaknesses of gullibility surely issue out of it, just as a rat will escape from a hole.
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My Mother ...
[Read the article: Thinking weaselish thoughts at Eastertide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My mother used to go to church and enjoy the music, and the stained glass, and the neighbors. Made a bit of an occasion on a Sunday morning for an old woman.
But, she didn't believe a 'word' of it. Not after her husband died. And that had been years earlier.
Garrison, after all his dreadful singing in the choir, and hosannas to his puritan upbringing, is only stating the obvious. Good for him, for a change.
Too bad church is the only socialization offered in some neighborhoods. I imagine if society had a richer social life, and churchs were not tax emempt, we'd be seeing them slowly turned into art museums, music halls, union halls and lecture halls, like they should be.