Barack Obama is heading to New York today (to the famous Cooper Union College--where Obama's totemic spirit president Abe Lincoln gave the speech that catapulted him into the 1860 Presidential race) to give a speech on reform in the financial industry today. I look forward to the speech for several reasons, not the least of which is to see yet another example of the folly of campaign finance reform in play.
News this week was that Goldman Sachs senior execs ponied up for nearly $1M in contributions to then candidate Obama's presidential campaign. Has this money bought them ANY relent from the abuse of the President? Has it bought them a vote on the SEC which would have waylaid the suit brought this week against them for fraud? Nope.
I have a sweet sense of schadenfreude as I watch Wall Street get hoisted on its own petard at the hands of the Obama Administration. You guys--you fatcats for whom pocketbook issues long ago ceased to be a reality--you guys for whom things like taxes and budgets are things of the past--you guys, who have the liberty and luxury to care about great, weighty social issues because your own everyday problems are attended to by your money or one of your household staff--you who freely gave of your own money to this neo-socialist "reformer"--oh yes, he'll reform now. He'll reform you and the rest of us into the long, slow decline that is just over the horizon.
Wall Street needs reform--and Conservatives need to shape up and realize that. What Liberals don't realize though is the shape that reform should take--and that is, any reform MUST make the markets MORE free. Our financial system nearly collapsed under the weight of the dual evils of a legitimate regulatory structure that was not implemented, and the collective "thumbs on the scale" of government, policymakers, and big banks--any reform that does not address the advantage gained by these latter players in what is supposed to be a "free market" does not comprise reform worth having.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
(places tinfoil hat on)I'm not convinced GS isn't in on the con. The SEC's complaint, from what I've read, doesn't seem particularly strong. The timing of it smells, especially coming on the heels of Dodd's finance "reform" bill and Obama's push for action. He needed a foil, and GS is a willing patsy - they'll get spanked a bit with a fine, but that's about it. A cover charge, if you will, for opportunity to custom design the jail that will eventually house them. (takes tinfoil hat off)
Big Biz + Big Labor + Big Govt. = a new middle class colorectal cavity produced with a dull knife.
The problem is we've got to cut the balls off the NY-Washington power structure. It's already happening. We rubes and hicks in the hinterland are rising up against the establishment's using of America like we're cattle (the Tea Parties).
Let's make a commitment right now. Let us not vote for anyone who went to an "establishment school". By that I mean Ivy League (especially), the Seven Sisters, Stanford, Duke etc.; we all know who they are. These people have come to believe they are an aristocracy and entitled. Let's kick their asses out!
Also, invest locally. Don't buy mutual funds unless it's an index fund with no management. Starve the investment bankers. Make your own decisions. Invest in what you know. If you like Black & Decker tools and think they'll make money, invest. If you like more adventurous tools (CW?), Adam & Eve is waiting. Go to one of the "pay for play" online brokerages (I like BuyandHold).
The point is government and Wall Street have failed us. They've become inbred and corrupt. It's time to break up the party and show 'em who runs the place.
And, as it happens, a perfect illustration of my point (all they're good at is stealing).
"Apple's blow-out quarter: The bloggers called it. The Street blew
it."
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/04/20/apples-blow-out-quarter-the-bloggers-called-it-the-street-blew-it/
Unbelievable....I agree with "The Hammer".
Post a Comment