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Sure It’s Legal… But Is It RIGHT?
I’d
like to ask your indulgence today.
Typically we
reserve these pages for in-depth analysis of the stock market and economy. But
I’ve grown FED UP with the complete lack of coverage that one area of the
current crisis has received.
Ever since
the Financial system started imploding in July 2007, I’ve heard countless folks
talk about liquidity, bull markets, bear markets, the dollar, bailouts, etc.
But there’s one thing I’ve heard virtually NO ONE talk about. That is:
MORALITY or
ETHICS.
Everyone’s
analysis of this financial crisis is far too complicated. The simple facts are
that it was created by complete and utter greed on the part of various
regulators and financiers.
In simple
terms, the banks (investment and otherwise) lobbied Congress, the SEC, and
other regulators to let them engage in business practices that were neither
sensible nor responsible (excess leverage, financial wizardry that turned junk
subprime assets into “AAA” rated entities, and more). They did this under the
pretence that these practices would be good for the market and US economy as a
whole.
The reality
is that these practices allowed the banks to make ENORMOUS profits: between 1970
and 2003, financial stocks’ earnings as a percentage of the S&P 500’s total
earnings rose from less than 10% to 31%. Put another way, by 2003, financials
accounted for nearly 1/3 of ALL profits made by publicly traded companies.
Now, THE
largest expense for any financial company is SALARIES. So when banks and
financial companies lobbied to have their leverage limits increased (or any
number of other changes that were made in the ‘90s and ‘00s), they did it for
one reason: to collect HUGE payouts.
These folks
were driven by greed and nothing more. They didn’t want more people to own
homes. They didn’t care if folks lost money buying the AAA rated garbage they
pawned off on pension funds and the like. They didn’t care if their OWN balance
sheets were cesspools of crap loans no one would ever pay back. Heck, they
weren’t even looking after their shareholders (leverage of 50-to-1 makes it
extremely likely you’ll end up wiping out ALL equity sooner rather than later).
No, they
wanted one thing and one thing only: to make as much money as they possible
could.
And boy did
they.
In 2007, the
average Goldman Sachs pay was $661,000. For Morgan Stanley it was $340,000.
Again, these guys were after one thing: BIG PAYOUTS.
So now we
fast forward to the financial crisis.
Ever since
this Crisis began, the guys behind the bailouts and other “solutions” have used
the law or legal precedent to justify their actions. Bernanke, for example, has
cited all kinds of laws that give him the right to throw tax-payer money
around, monetize debt, and all the other financial hocus pocus he’s engaged in.
Same goes for Hank Paulson (who somehow managed to convince the government that
he was an impartial figure despite making $500 million+ at Goldman Sachs).
But no one
has EVER used the phrases “this was the right thing to do” or “this was a good,
moral action.”
Perhaps I’m
a naïve fool who belongs in a Disney movie or a Charles Dickens novel (where
good and bad distinctions are always clear), but I don’t see the ethics or “moral
right” of any of the stuff going on in our financial system today.
I don’t see
how it’s “right” for the US central bank to destroy our currency so that
Goldman Sachs can pay itself 2007 level bonuses again.
I don’t see
how the same folks who created this mess (Hank Paulson, Bernanke, etc) should
be allowed to try and fix it.
I don’t see
how it’s “morally correct” to funnel tax-payer money to Wall Street BUT not to
small businesses and the like (if we’re going to bail people out or help them,
why not focus on the 17 million small businesses instead of the 10 biggest
banks?)
I don’t see
how it’s “ethical” to allow Goldman Sachs and other High Frequency Trading
Program operators to “front-run” me and everyone else who participates in the
financial markets (Goldman’s traders only lost money two days last quarter…
that is statistically impossible unless you’re cheating).
Bottomline: I don’t see ANY actions that
are truly aimed at helping MOST of us (the RIGHT thing to do). All I see are
huge sums of money (my, yours, our children’s and our grandchildrens’) being
thrown at guys who:
1) Made
a ton of money pursuing reckless business practices, screwed up, and should go
broke or be fired
2) Have
shown ZERO responsibility for the actions they pursued that caused this Crisis
3) Have
yet to offer any real solutions (or changes to their business practices) to
help SOLVE the Crisis
Basically,
we have a very small minority of Americans who believe they deserve a FREE
LUNCH. These folks are Wall Street and the banks (the alleged pillars of
capitalism).
The irony
here is that the basic tenant of capitalism (and MORALITY) is responsibility
for one’s actions. If you pursue reckless business practices in the name of
greed and those practices turn against you, you SHOULD GO BROKE. You don’t get
to keep everything, keep calling the shots, AND get other peoples’ money as a
reward for your mistakes.
Never-mind
the legality of this issue… it’s simply NOT RIGHT. End of story.
Let’s put
this whole issue into perspective. Imagine two salesmen working at the same
firm: Bob and Frank. Bob lies to his clients, embezzles money, and generally
engages in business practices that could damage his firm. Frank, on the other
hand, never lies, doesn’t cheat his clients, and always watches out for the
firm’s best interests.
Now, what
sane business owner would give Franks’ salary and commissions to Bob?
NO ONE.
And yet,
this is exactly the “solution” Ben Bernanke and others have been pursuing in
dealing with this Crisis. They are giving OUR money to people who created a
MESS. Again, forget about whether or not this is legal. It’s not right. Never
has been. Never will be.
And I don’t
think I’m totally misguided here.
The ENTIRE
financial system runs on trust (credit and debt are issued based on your trust
you will be paid back). If you want to fix the financial system, you need to
restore trust.
Ben Bernanke
is working overtime to make the banks trust each other again… but he’s
sacrificing an even more important “trust” relationship to do this. That is the
trust Americans have for Wall Street/ the banks/ regulators/ etc.
It may have
gotten Ben Bernanke re-elected… but it’s going to destroy Americans’
retirement, incomes, and prosperity.
And that
simply is not right.
Good
Investing!
Graham
Summers
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There are many villains that need to be dealt with. Almost all the bad guys from drug cartels to bank cartels to poor people cartels to corporate America cartels are well funded and have entrenched decades of power.
Breaking the “structure”, as in take it down, means lack of food and water and maybe rocks, or brick bats or bullets whizzing about. Changing the structure quickly enough to save us from total financial meltdown and possible chaos is not easy or likely.
To paraphrase my most detested person, Maxine Waters, I don’t have a solution but I have questions and if we continue to ask questions maybe we can arrive at solutions.
Maxine should have had solutions; that is what she is paid to do. We also need solutions, but first we need to isolate, define, and prioritize problems. Dauntiong at best, in that it appears to be unobtainium. however
The financial coup that has taken over our country must be unseated. That is my suggestion of a first priority. Uncorrupting the legal/judicial/enforcement system within and “outside” of the Courts may be the top of the list of Priority One so that portion of the coup can be removed.
Good Post.
Fine starting point.
Morality and Ethics is the ONLY answer, the only response that the vast majority of citizens will be united behind.
The only response that the people who run this Nation will be unable to overcome and what they most fear.
What we are witnessing and living in the USA is simply: WRONG, Unfair, destructive to the Common Good and morally without justification.
Those values alone are enough to fertilize and begin a mass movement that can non-violently STOP this destruction we are witnessing.
Perhaps ZH is the place where this Response will begin to take root.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/16/revolution_u?print=yes&hidecomments=yes&page=full
and
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf
In reading the "Comments" here it is clear there is a cynicism and disbelief in making a difference or beginning a path to real change----understandable.
Takes years of abuse before a group or a generation can mobilize and organize a non-violent response to Oligarchy.
Look at the Middle East...one now hears things like "Why did it take so long....for these people to rise up?"
Well, because it does.
Never doubt that the power of ideas and words such as : "This is just WRONG, UNJUST and destructive of the rest of us!".
These ideas can and eventually will unite enough of us to overcome the implied Consent we offer these scoundrels and that withdrawal of Consent will eventually topple this current form of crooked, treacherous Oligarchy.
Has the USA, with its military empire around the oil patch, and its ramified implications in this imbalanced globalization engineered over two decades on fast track by its elites, reached its peak level as a complex system now beyond point of positive return on cost of complexity? Looks like it. What has been the USA's competitive advantage in previous positive return growth phase : it's economies of scale through it's continental size, has now become impediment. As exacerbated expectations amongst different social/ideological segments of this great continent have made a common game strategy impossible. Especially under the pressure of the centrifugal, tangential, uncontrollable momentum generated by the 2001-2008 financial crises; as Ben's 'QE quick fix' is now pouring inflammable oil on the rising flames. We're making the negative impact of complexity worse with every passing day.
Read Peak Civilization by Ugo Bardi, very informative on this subject.
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/ugo-bardi/peak-civilization
We have a values problem. We see the lifestyles of the super rich and we think, perhaps, that if we work hard, we can achieve this "success." We should be protesting the looting of our Treasury, the looting of our blood in war, the looting of the blood, oil, and minerals in other countries, but we are greedy. Our country manufactures weapons. I don't believe the Military Industrial Complex would hesitate to turn those weapons on us.
This is a quote from some movie, uhhh, I can't quite remember which one. ;)
One of the ways that it all starts is with the idea that the only obligation that a company has is to make money - for its shareholders or owners. Let's look at some of the problems with this point of view:
1) Does the company have an obligation to the customer? Do they owe them a quality product in exchange for their currency? In the past - most people would say "yes". Nowadays - it is "it's a good enough product or the product that they are willing to buy at this price point".
2) Does the company have an obligation to the employees that provide the labor - physical or mental that enables a good to be produced or a service offered? In the past - most people would have said "yes". Nowadays it is acceptable to say "we offer competitive wages and benefits (using China/India/Korea as benchmarks) and that is all that we owe them.
3) Does the company have an obligation to the nation that spawned it and protects it through laws and other means? Again, in the old days the answer would have been "yes". Nowadays, we have companies that will sell off technology to enemy states - developed with taxpayer dollars (at a profit mind you) and expect to be applauded.
The companies that mobilized production for WWII made money - no doubt about it. Some even profited from both sides - royalties and such will complicate things at times - but most of those "corporate titans" knew better than to say "we only owe ourselves and our shareholders".
In my opinion, we have reached bankruptcy as a nation - in morality and ethics. The minute that we accept the "greed is good" mentality - we are just a bunch of money whores. "Honor, duty, loyalty, honesty, obligation, service to the community and your fellow man - that's for suckers".
Now this is just my opinion, but the fellows on Wall St. and in the boardrooms are bankrupt as human beings. Their lives of excess are always just a cover to hide what they already know - they are shit. The lowliest worker putting forth his best effort in order to take care of his family and helping in church/community - is a far better human being than the materially wealthy but compromised individuals.
I happen to think that these unheralded and unappreciated concepts are what actually make life worth living. It is a sad time in America - and most likely in the rest of the world as well. (Shining city on the hill my ass)
Legal? Who said anything about legal? So many laws have been broken it's a sea of corruption. Ever hear of the Constitution?
The practice of politics is compromised morality.
The practice of law is rationalized immorality.
"Basically, we have a very small minority of Americans who believe they deserve a FREE LUNCH."
Small minority?!?! Seroiously?!?! We have an overwhelming MAJORITY who want this and a power structure designed to PROMISE it. As long as that incentive structure remains it rots the actions of all around it.
Woohoo! I got junked! YES!
I'd junk myself, but I don't think it's proper playing with my junk in public.
There!
I tugged your junk for you when no one was looking.
By the way I read a great article about "fall of the roman empire as seen as a complex system" by Ugo Bardi. Lecture of jan. 2011. Good fooooood for thought.
Thanks for pointing me at this, one of the better reads in a long time.
sunny
Then you replace the polite corrupt politician with a mafioso who doesn't mind saying : "assole, I'm making u an offer you can't refuse; cough up or it's adios!" You end up in the gutter one cold night.Or the iRS sends you to prison like Al Caponi, the spaghetti.
Sorry, but you only give them power if you let them use YOUR money.
Take it out of the bank and put is in an honest one or gold and silver etc. Pay your taxes late and give your locla MP s**t, and tell him you are not voting for him next election.
In short remove their power, and make every government payment as late as possible.
America is like the mad king who tore out the eyes of his subjects because they protested at what they saw. Then he blamed them for being blind, saying they were out of their mind to ask for things they couldn't even find.
I love Ben Bernanke and his corporate plutocratic lobby who don't understand why plebian USA is so angry. The Patriotic Act must be ratcheted up to include blind US mice who bitch about losing jobs as potential 'terrorists' who defy the sacred institutions of USA as personified by Mustapha Mond, Lenina Crown and Ben, the clown.
Not sure where you live, but people around here criticize the greedy pigs frequently.
Good article, I think the author is wrong when he says, its legal, most of what the banks have done certainly isn't legal.
firstly, american corporations are immoral. and have been for years.
and citing ibm as an exemplar of morality is an astonishing stretch.
perhaps you are unawares of ed black's masterly examination of ibm and the holocaust.
is this site comprised of amoralists?
In the old days, lets say IBM in the 50's or 60's , corporations believed they had MULTIPLE RESPONSIBILITIES, to the local community, the employees and their families, the country (to represent us proudly with exceptional products and services), the customers, and humanity in general.
Since 1982, when 401K's and other retirement plans came into being and then required/ suggested pensioners invest their money in the stock and bond markets, everything changed, the corporations now had, a captive flow of money ' on a regular basis, come into their companies........and its been downhill ever since. If you want to correct the situation of abuse, we need to cut-off these funds. These companies claim they are looking out for the "SHAREHOLDERS" is laughable, with their control over the voting interests they write themselves a blank check.
If you think democracy is gone from politics in America, the politics of the BoardRoom makes politics in America "open and fair".
We have a lot of problems in this country, not the least of which is our own idea of ourselves and what our society represents. In some ways, we are much like the European Union, in that even though we are a common country with a common currency, we are broken up into states with their own rules, and even municipalities within those states with "home rule." And, there is a fiscal difference in states - bond ratings, average incomes, GSP and Federal aid. This, to some degree, negates the advantages of a common currency. We have rivalries between states - in some aspects, hates between states and regions. We are made up of people from all over the world, many of whom, in some respects, still carry with us the mores of our ancestral lands and regions and tribes and communities. That is a good thing in that it makes us diverse and in some respects vital and creative, but it also makes us suspicious and isolated...i.e., gated communities, high local tax rates, and community bonding based on race, religion or ethnicity. From this cornucopia of human condition, stems our morality. We do not have a common theme of morality in this country, only a Judaic system of laws that hem in morality to an operating field in which we can live without fear of fine or jail. But, laws are ever evolving, and are not created in a vacuum nor legislated by those uninterested in their own particular mores, morals, or indeed, special interest. So laws do not necessarily reflect morality. Religion is another basis of morality, but being a people so diverse in our systems of worship, we have no common anchor for a national morality based on a common religion. Morality that many of us think existed in the early days of our national existence, actually, did not. We have always had crime, manipulation, murder, rape, alcoholism, drug abuse, incest and about anything else you can imagine, but our collective "morality" hid it from itself and from our national conscience.
Morality in this modern age is a thing that is pasted into our brains on an hourly basis....watch the news, read a magazine. Things that in the past never saw the light of day, is now a form of perverted entertainment. In the US, being free, making money, owning things and gaining prestige has always been a thing idolized in common culture. So, we considered ourselves moral, but we built a system where the fruits of a zero sum game is to be lauded and the successful participants lionized. We also created a system where we saw ourselves as the savior of the world, the benefactor of poor peoples and countries, yet we built a massive destructive machine to reduce them to rubble if they defied us or questioned our right to buy their oil at our own prices. That is the odd and evil duality of this country...the United States of America. in some ways, we are like a wrinkled and ancient prostitute who still considers herself a virgin because her suitors may have taken her body, but not her soul.
And now, we have a problem with bankers, CEO's and politicians...and well we should have. Not only have they stripped the limits of any reasonable person's idea of morality, it seems they have also broken - in many cases - the written law. We hate them for good reason. But, we should also understand that we have been complicit in creating a system that allows their existence, and cheers (when it does not obviously screw us) their ability to make fortunes. Now, we are hurting from the actions of a lot of rich people (and hurting from our own actions in trying to emulate them). So, we all seem to have come up with a common morality that has not existed of late - especially during the go-go times. But what we fail to realize is, we are suffering the vestiges of a system that we ourselves have been complicit in. This is not to excuse the criminals - both moral and legal - in this meltdown. No, many people who will not, should go to jail. But, they will not because our system of laws does not take into account extra-legal morality, and even when it does, the law is so structured that lawyers and connections and money can achieve things that a poor man's apology cannot. Let us now just face the fact that the Constitution of this country was written by relatively rich men, who although did want to shuck the yoke of imperial rule, did not want rabble to determine that fate of their new country. Our version of morality - at least in law - was set right there.
Since there is no common morality - in detail - in this country, we must work from a basis of common sense. Almost all religions and nationalities have some basic-sense moral attributes in common. These things are not always evident in people with power and/or money...it was convenient to forget them, in the race to the top. So, as CD suggested, people in power cannot be allowed to maintain their control, as their version of morality will rule. I am not smart enough to know all the answers of how to get around this thing, but I know there are a lot of people here who have good - and bad - ideas of how to do it. All ideas are valid, even the bad ones may start a train of thought down a road that leads to something good. Maybe an open post for people to vomit out their ideas of how to break this moral/legal/operational chain could be beneficial. I know this happens all the time in broken-up comments on various posts, but it is almost impossible to search it all and bring it together. No matter what happens in this country, every individual, and therefor the collective, is driven to action by their own morals. In places like Egypt, that trumped law.
that is why many of us trust precious metals over the whims and avarice of men of power and wealth.
Precious metals, like stocks and bonds and real estate, are bought by those who can afford them.
The paradigm shift that is happening is so transformational and is happening so quickly that it is truly mind boggling. I fell face first down the rabbit hole about 9 months ago when a good friend challenged me to question everything I believed. Without getting into great detail, I was a card-carrying rah-rah "patriot" Republican. I can't begin to tell explain how emotional was the rollercoaster... Depression, anger, rage, frustration. When everything you believe is upended all at once, it's overwhelming.
And then tonight listening to a presentation about sustainable communities it struck me: The entire concept of the nation state and the traditional top-down power structures are on their last gasp. The concept of "open source" took on a brand new meaning. Just as the agrarian revolution gave way to the industrial revolution, a new revolution is taking place and we are in the midst of it.
Imagine for instance if your neighborhood decided to combine every backyard on the block into a local garden to grow its own food? Imagine if this was done on a town level or a city level? Ask yourself this: Why does the FDA send armed federal officers into whole food businesses to arrest and threaten shoppers and owners. Is it because the food is dangerous, or is it because the new "system" represents a threat to the existing order? To me it's obvious. Local decision-making, the sanctity of the "sovereign", community, individualism, localism -- this is the threat TPTB can't countenance.
Food is but one example..."Open source" knowledge is the biggest threat to the existing paradigm in history. It is quite simply, a different morality and ethics. For the first time in months, I can now see the end game. CD is right... Disconnect from the system. Become self-sufficient and create your own community systems.
Socialism, capitalism, Democrat, Republican, Progressive, Libertarian. The labels are increasingly meaningless. The new labels, the new systems are just now being invented, debated and discussed.
Ethical deprivation:
As Gonzalo Lira so clearly points out, democracies (dumb-ocrazys?) self destruct with no exceptions; same as fiat "munney" systems. Any "system" which ultimately depends upon its' ability to steal (plunder, loot, rip-off) the people based on forcing them with guns to give up the things belonging to them (pay, property, etc. etc.) is doomed from the start. The end is not forcastable as to the exact date of extinction, but it will expire due to its' internal contradictions.
The end is now in sight as anyone with eyes open can see the cesspool the "government & financial system has morphed into. Or does one think a system where the "management" blows up the biggest buildings in its' biggest city in order to pretend that "enemies over there" force it to become a police state; thereby removing the last vestiges of civil liberties.
No. It is over. Finito. Kaput. Unfixable, even in theory. The entire fabricated structure will now implode. We don't know how it will do so in exact detail, but just watch it disintegrate.
Societies, in the view of a collective government, is something that supports that entity's survival. A government that truly represents and supports the people is by definition, impossible. Ultimately, governments become leeches on the resources of its society to exist, since to exist, it must expand. As a government expands, it requires more revenues to exist, and more laws to insure its survival. Governments, despite their original aims as a system for order and for good, become evil.
I hate to be a broken record on this, but here is the way it should go:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xi...
That is from 1891 and discusses the rights and duties of capital and labor - and anyone who thinks about things for a moment realises that what is most missing from both capital and labor these days is a consciousness of "duties". In other words, what the good author of this piece discusses - what is the right thing to do?
We can fix this, but only if we show the courage necessary to demand that everyone live up to their obligations - the employer towards the employee; the employee towards the employer; the banker in his fiduciary responsibility, the politician carrying out his job of ensuring equal justice under law. Profit there must be - it is how every man from highest to lowest provides for his future - but profit, in and of itself, isn't the point of the economic exercise...the point is to provide for the current needs of people, with provision for their future needs.
Everyone who can work, must work; the obtaining of property must be possible for each person who works. Taxation must be to provide necessary revenues, not to engage in grand, social schemes. Regulations must not prevent a man from entering in to the market place how and when he chooses. Anything which tends to limit the amount of work a man can do, or the amount of goods he may produce, is a horrendous negation of what the economy is for. Any system which allows gigantic profits in mere money manipulation is hateful to the highest degree.
Will we do it? I think we will - I think that at long last, people have had quite enough of both socialists and crony capitalists skewing the natural order of the economy.
Great post. I asked myself all the time what's happened to morality and ethics?
IMHO the system will eventually collapse because of it.
To the article writer:excellent article!I think you have it spot on....the elephant in the room is how evil the current behavior is.Consider how magnificent the triumph of the evildoers is when the victimized can't even articulate what the crime committed is.
Thieves and liars who set out to defraud the entire planet....are rewarded with zero percent money and bailouts.FAIL,EPIC.
There is zero moral interest by the criminals.The only concern is whether they will be punished in a meaningful way for their obviously evil acts.They spend lots of money to ensure they get off scot free.
But Evil they remain.
Oh yes.
It would be a good thing if folks stopped worshiping the wealthy and the well connected - just because they are wealthy and well-connected. When you look at a wealthy person - the first question to ask yourself might be - "What did they have to do in order to possess their wealth? How many of their fellow citizens did they have to trample upon? How many times did they have to lie and cheat? Who's boots did they have to lick? How many times did they have to do something that they knew - knew was wrong?"
Y'know - I don't know the answer(s) to these questions. And yes, there are folks who just earned it the old fashioned way. But, I would still rather be little old me - than one of them.
Judaism is not a religion that encourages questions of morality.
It is a religion of laws. Compliance with the laws is sufficient. Whether the actions are moral or ethical are near irrelevant epecially when the victims are goyim.
synagogue of satan was the way christ put it.
http://www.iamthewitness.com/
i'd rather live honestly in a shack than to have swindled & stolen my way into a mansion in a gated community.
Which is an excellent motto. But, this country is complicated, so don't forget the people who stole their way into shacks.
Don't anyone here even dare bring up the topic of ethics and morality as it relates to business, finance, markets, trading or politics with Leo Quislingasskiss --- he will have absolutely NONE of it! For him, the game is strictly about profits at any ethical price, conformity at any moral cost, submission to corruption and fraud at any sacrifice of self-respect, and hatred and rage at those with a shred of integrity, courage or hope of change at any expense of honesty, decency and dignity.
Why Leo, this raving shill for everything wrong and corrupt with the financial and monetary status-quo, is still permitted to post his vile filth on this website is beyond my comprehension. But if anyone doubts his loathing of everything else that ZeroHedge has come to stand for --- honesty, transparency, and justice in the political and economic realms --- I submit for you the following kernels of wisdom from the last third of the following concurrent thread, ""When is the market going to reverse?", in which he clearly expresses his contempt for those of us who still believe that honesty, integrity, freedom and openness are not just desirable, but even obtainable:
You're not going to get rid of either A) sin* or B) poverty.
I'm paraphrasing Jesus, trust me.
(*) There are a lot of these.
Perhaps.
But I will settle for having Leo depart, and taking his moral and intellectual depravity elsewhere.
We live in a capitalist god is dead system. Money=God. Therefore the more money you have the greater and better you are. Morals be damned, that has nothing to do with capitalism last time I checked.
Of course societies in general have done a fine job of fucking up in Gods name in so many ways too.
Absolutely correct: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That IS the road to heaven on earth. Simple enough...
Absolutely correct: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Strictly Incorrect. Everyone doesn't want precisely the same things done to them.
<WHIFF>
Strike 1!
Yah want morality and ethics......where are the handcuffs for these assholes............30 year with Bernie M. should convince many potential predators to reconsider their actions. As I have said for over 30 years...something I learned from brokerage and floor trading...Bank(sters) are idiots...
From the goons that tackled McGovern to the people collecting a paycheck from the IRS, we are a nation of people running on faulty logic.
.......... this isn't the way i was brought up. when i was growing up (1950's) my dad was a truck driver (local route) & proud of himself, proud of his thrifty & prudent Dutch heritage & if a cashier gave him the wrong change, he would give it back ....... it was all about honesty with my father. my dad would roll over in his grave if he knew the state of affairs here in the U.S., criminal bankers trying to take over the world. he saved all his change (silver) ; every night he would take it out of his work pants & drop it in an old coffee can (with tape around it, so my mom wouldn't take it out ! ) no one gave him anything. he worked for everything, would never accept any charity. he did an honest days work for an honest paycheck. Dad would be so ashamed right now to see the current state of affairs .
BERNANKE, OBAMA & GEITNER, RUBIN , CLINTON, BUSH, BUSH, PAULSON ........... they just might succeed in ruining what little remains of this country. We are now living under a CRIMINAL BANKING OCCUPATION .......... REVOLUTION IS COMING.
Morality and ethics are important to TPTB. They need as many sheep as possible to adhere to the societal norms in order to have room to pillage. Nietzsche told us this ages ago. The moral/ethical structure is what creates the opportunity for plunder. TPTB privately raise their glasses and mock your ethics, religion and morality and use your willingness to turn the other cheek to steal vast amounts of lucre. They also distract with bright shiny objects, like flat screens, American Idol, Wisconsin union-busting, lapel-flag-patriotism, Sarah Palin, and appeals for tax cuts for things that do not affect the intersts of the oligarchs. Laughing all the way to the TBTF bank. We're cooked. Only a revolution will free us from all of this, and we collectively don't have the balls. It's been game over for a while as near as I can tell.
I agree with you Ned. It will take a spontaneous combustion revolution to lance the boil on the ass of civilization.
But: Like most of us individually, we learn the hard way.
The powerful and greedy will keep grabbing more and more and the concentration of wealth and power will grow and grow and consolidate while...
It will get harder and harder for more and more of us til the breaking point finally comes.
It has been like this throughout history. And then it starts all over again, because at least until now, that is human nature.
What does it say about our society when a "bust out" financial move appears to be the only sane choice left??
Bust out: sign up for as many credit cards as you possibly can and max them out in a very very short time (like at a PM dealer's shop)
In terms of that kind of mind delivered to the masses by a talented/gifted orator signed on to the payroll - But, you know, economics is really all so complex that unless you have been to Harvard or Cambridge then in essence it comes down to I can thieve from you because you are really innocent or stupid or both, but by the time I am finished robbing you blind, and loving the pleasure of taking it all thank you very much, nonetheless in the end you will feel grateful for what I have returned to you in kind.
the only 'balls' we need is to sign an online Petition to end Govt once and for all. End the parasitical ponzi scheme that it is and bring about a free self-governing peaceful wealthy healthy society. A few types on the keyboard job done (we all want to change the world with our keyboard, here's our chance!). Can we manage it?
Not even an hour ago I shared my opinion with a friend that the entire concept of "no-government-at-all" is a false-meme which is intentionally being promoted.
The premise is intentionally framed in meaningless black-and-white terms.
How ideal to find this post promoting that very idea, by a person with a screen-name of ZeroGovt.
I stand by my position. I call bullshit -- IOW, ZG I don't think you don't actual believe what you are promoting.