Letters to the Editor
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@Alkaline
"That suggests that capitalism cannot work if the big players have too much influence over their government."
Yes, that is right. The more involved the government is in rigging the economy, the more advantage that big players can seek through government influence.
Remove the government meddling in the economy, and the big players will not have an advantage to obtain through their undue influence.
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@ ChillyDogg
> Fascist much?
Do you know what that word means? Just for the record:
"Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole."
Yeah, I guess I'm a real nutjob for thinking the American government exists to serve the American people. Have you ever read the preamble of the constitution? It starts out "We the people...", they even wrote those words in extra large letters.
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The Big Players Will Rig The System
I think the fatal flaw of those who preach unfettered capitalism and free markets is that they somehow think that entrenched players will not protect their interests. I'm a big believer in capitalism and free markets, but I also recognize that the Government has important role to play to make sure that those in positions of power do not abuse that power to retain that power. Without government intervention, most industries would be monopolies. While I have yet to make up mind if the Bear Stearns bailout is warranted or not, the Government has a role to play to stabilize the financial markets for the benefit of society. Yes, there are lesson to be learned, but as Keynes said "in the long run we're dead." Banks are not like other companies, and especially big ones. They are too closely linked to the Fed in the creation of money.
I know there those who would argue for the elimination of the Fed and the role of money creation from the Government entirely. Who would fill that void? A private bank? And there we once again run into a problem where one big player is likely dominate and exercise market power.
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Socialism, it 's here.
If they regulate the investment banks as they do the commercial banks the big investment banks will be in London, the Channel Islands, the Carribean islands Ireland,Switzerland and Lichtenstein yes even Russia and China. New York will then become less of a financial center.
Essentially Frank's idea will simply hasten B.Hussein Obama's plan to develop a socialist country.
In a capitalist system there is risk,the flower children and their children don't want risk, they want guarantees.
Barney and the rest of the unemployables will take care of that.
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hunthorse
In a capitalist system there is risk,the flower children and their children don't want risk, they want guarantees.
The profits you take for yourselves. The risks you offload to the rest of us.
You're arguing that somehow this system is fair. And we're not just talking about risk. We're talking about catastrophic failure. Not for financiers, but for the society at large which it professes to serve.
Financiers haven't bothered much with risk the last few unregulated years. Instead they hide the risks in complex debt instruments designed for that purpose, pretend there are no risks, suck up the excess profits, and get themselves bailouts when it turns out they're a load of screw-ups. Not much risk there for the greedheads, but guess who's footing your bills?
Sure, regulation reduces the profits of the financial system, but those regulations had been in place to protect the rest of us from the stupid things greedheads do. And we have always been able to count on them absolutely to do extremely stupid things.
Financiers get bailed out at the expense of the rest of us who do not get bailed out, so obviously they're less of a danger to themselves than to the rest of us. Which why they do it.
If finance predators are going to bring the rest of us down while they, the perpetrators of disaster, are sitting pretty, we're going to need to have a big say in how they operate.
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hunthorse
Essentially Frank's idea will simply hasten B.Hussein Obama's plan to develop a socialist country.
Meanwhile, Bernanke and company are limiting their socialist activities to bailing out the top of the investing class. Socialism isn't good enough for the rest of us.
Capitalists say they like 'free markets' and don't like 'socialism', until their greed gets away from them. Then they like 'socialism' just fine and take all the welfare for the wealthy they can grab with both hands, and hand the bill to the poor and middle class.
It's a great scam, but you have to be really rich to get in on it.
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calcareous
Yeah, I guess I'm a real nutjob for thinking the American government exists to serve the American people.
That "of the people, by the people, for the people" thing is just too much like 'socialism' to suit the tastes of power-hungry greedheads, so they threw it out.
"Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
Thomas Jefferson
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."
Abraham Lincoln
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hunthorse
In a capitalist system there is risk,the flower children and their children don't want risk, they want guarantees.
We're in the middle of a credit crunch, meaning the lenders are very resistant to doing any lending. The banks don't trust other banks and don't even trust themselves, which is wise, in view of the latest massive screw-up they came up with.
In a capitalist system there is risk, and the banks and their wealthy investors don't want risk, they want guarantees.