Sunday, October 19, 2008

Hey Wall St: Give back Your Bubble Bonuses

The Fast Money crew brings up some excellent points here. Why should Wall St. be allowed to keep hundreds of millions in bonuses that were made off of this fraudulent housing bubble?

Why is the taxpayer being forced to pay for this mess? I hope the MSM starts to run with this story. Its time for the pigmen give back the bonuses that they made during this ponzi scheme to help pay for this mess. The fact that they kept all of this money is deplorable.





On a political note

I have been a lifelong Republican, but I must admit the financial crisis is starting to sway me over to the left. I am still unsure as to how I will vote this year.

Here is a great commentary from the Baltimore Sun. Perhaps Reagan's trickle down economics was more trickle up as suggested below:

"Maintaining a tradition that has been around since at least the Reagan Revolution, John McCain the other night ridiculed the idea of "spreading the wealth" and accused Barack Obama of playing "class warfare.

"This is the tired Republican knee-jerk that occurs whenever someone in the room - Democrat or independent, academic researcher or nonpartisan think-tank thinker - raises the unsettling issue of income disparity in the United States. Republicans throw the "class warfare" flag whenever somebody gets too close to the story of America in the nearly 30 years since Ronald Reagan brought us trickle-down economics.

And the story is this: Most of the money in this nation during that time has trickled up, not down, and the disparity between the wealthiest 5 percent of citizens and the poorest 5 percent has never been wider. People in the middle haven't done much better than those just below them.

There are two prime reasons for the anger among Americans over the Wall Street meltdown and the ensuing federal bailout: Government at all levels allowed the free markets to build a time bomb of complex and grossly expensive problems that taxpayers are now on the hook to fix, and a million men in suits made fortunes off the smoke-and-mirrors promise of easy credit and ever-rising asset values."

Bottom Line

I am still undecided, but commentary such as this really makes me think twice.

5 comments:

ZMonet said...

I must say that I find myself more and more disgusted by politics. While I fully recognize that the financial chaos problem needs to be dealt with and that the "blame game" will do nothing to resolve the debt plague that is hitting us as a nation, I am angry that this was allowed to happen. Many across the US, on blogs, books and even through the MSM, portended long ago that this would happen. To now act like this is an issue of first impression is disingenuous at the least. What about our history? What about the history of other countries?

As for voting in this upcoming election, I don't think, if you do, you are truly voting for a Republican in John McCain. Some of his policies seem far to the left of Obama. I would have no problem with this except that McCain doesn't really seem to have a cohesive plan other than to "step across the aisle." Really? Is that all you got?

Jeff said...

Zmon

I am disgusted too. I share your anger.

McCain seems lost to me when it comes to our economic problems. He wants to continue to cut taxes for the rich and I just can't condone this anymore.

There is no way this can be done given the massive debt we have ran up.

I am not really an O'bama fan either. I think he is a big phony.

The first one of these candidates that speaks the truth and says "Look folks, we need to raise taxes and become fiscally responsible" gets my vote.

I would rather be told the truth even if it is something that I don't want to hear.

We all know taxes have to go up to pay for the bailouts. Just give it to me straight. Don't lie to me and then raise taxes. That bothers the hell out of me.

TRUST is something that is badly needed in politics and our economy!

ZMonet said...

I agree with you Jeff. All of the posturing and outright lying turns me off as it only adds layers of complexity to problems that are already difficult enough. Unfortunately, politicians, lawyers, et al. are not known for telling the American people something in clear English...and to be fair, I'm not sure most Americans are ready to hear it. If McCain says, "I'll cut your taxes" and Obama says, "We need to tighten our belts because we've been wasting our money and living off the hard work of our children's children for too long" I have little doubt how that would play out. Democracy, or whatever we call it these days, is wonderful, but there are still plenty of problems to work through.

Jeff said...

Zmon

I agree

We aren't ready to hear it. Unfortunately it needs to be heard and addressed before our country defaults on itself.

This denial stage must end soon or our country is heading straight for a depression.

If we don't shape up within the next few months I believe it will be unavoidable.

The government response so far of dropping $$$ out of helicopters.

It appears we plan on trying to delay our "day or reckoning" via bailouts versus attempting yo fix the problemvia prudent spending and policies that focus on helping the people versus our bailing out our corrupt bankers.

Its a disgusting policy IMO.

W

johndaniels said...

im out. out of the system. the strongest thing right now is physical fiat currency, i.e. cash under the bed. you can always buy "digital credits"...but you cant always get fiat notes from digital! Its all so transparently owned by the Financial Elitist Dictatorship (FED) that our system is a joke; its a corrupted aristocracy. I will vote nader instead of surrendering to the notion he doesnt have a chance or im wasting my vote.