Give Goldman Sachs the Sack

Originally posted by FMF
Vacuous personal abuse? What a surprise!

vapid unresponsive claptrap? how typical of you

Originally posted by FMF
Vacuous personal abuse? What a surprise!

personal abuse?!?

I thought that was one of your favorite tactics! remember "liar", "dishonest", etc.

hypocrite...

The root cause of my concern over Goldman Sachs? They are the top of the pyramid on Wall St and here in Washington. So what?

Here's what: read this pared down, edited version of a recent column by Arianna Huffington, with which I agree:

"The insider consensus seems to be that the worst of the hard times is behind us and that the economy is back on track. Or at least on track to be back on track.
...
[Huffington] recommend[s] ... A Short History of Financial Euphoria by John Kenneth Galbraith, ... Written in response to the stock market crash of 1987, the book is an examination of how economic bubbles start and why we never seem to learn the right lessons when they burst. Starting with the tulip mania in the 17th century and going up to 1987, Galbraith explores the psychology behind the boom/bust cycle and how "the extreme brevity of the financial memory," combined with an ignorance of history, leads to the same reckless mistakes being made again and again and again. Often soon after the last boom/bust go round.

"`Financial disaster is quickly forgotten,' writes Galbraith. `When the same or closely similar circumstances occur again, sometimes in only a few years, they are hailed by a new, often youthful, and always supremely self-confident generation as a brilliantly innovative discovery.'

"Sound familiar? Credit default swaps, anyone?
...
"One of the problems with this happy talk is that it contributes to running out the clock on the narrow -- and narrowing -- window for reform.
...
"Bank bailouts move forward at warp speed while regulatory reform sputters along in the slow lane. Which is just the way Wall Street wants it. Its motto is: if it's broke (but you keep bailing us out), why fix it?

"That's where Galbraith's warnings about the ignorance of history come into play. The last thing Wall Street wants is for Congress to take to heart a history lesson ... "FDR's economic team ... put in place reforms like the Glass-Steagall Act, and the creation of the FDIC and the SEC. ...

"[The recent] push for deregulation ... gave us the S&L crisis, then Enron/WorldCom/Global Crossing, and now the current economic meltdown ... real systemic change is not going to happen without at least one person on the senior economic team who will single-mindedly make that a priority.

"Instead we get Larry Summers (one of the architects of the dismantling of Glass-Steagall) and Tim Geithner, who actually talks the talk of a reformer, but walks the walk of a Wall Street true believer.
...
"Back in March, Geithner told Congress that the financial system had failed "in fundamental ways" and that fixing it would be accomplished not by "modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game."

"But where is the urgency to push through these new rules? Where is the evidence that Geithner and company are willing to go toe-to-toe with those who see regulation as their mortal enemy?
...
"Wall Street has seen that it can count on enough Democratic Blue Dogs to scuttle even modest, utterly sensible reform. And that the administration won't put up much of a fight to save it.
...
"The other problem with "the pathological weakness of the financial memory" is that it causes us to forget, along with the Trojan War and the last economic crisis, all the things we could have done with the massive amounts of money we spent bailing out the banks -- things like foreclosure relief, job creation, infrastructure repair, health care reform, and improving education.

"It's time to stop pretending that the Wall Street economy is the same as the real economy. The Wall Street economy may be showing signs of life -- thanks to the hundreds of billions we have poured into it -- but the real economy isn't.

"There aren't going to be reasons for optimism -- or cause for celebration -- unless "the new rules of the game" Geithner promised are moved from the realm of rhetoric to the arena of action. The window for reform is closing."

For full article, see
http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/12/wall_street_dc_and_the_new_financial_euphoria_96456.html