“Our financial catastrophe, like Bernard Madoff’s pyramid scheme, required all sorts of important, plugged-in people to sacrifice our collective long-term interests for short-term gain,” author Michael Lewis and David Einhorn, a hedge fund president, wrote in a commentary. These people, companies and agencies are supposed to apply pressure from outside the market to consider the longer term. But that’s the problem, they wrote: “The tyranny of the short term has extended itself with frightening ease into the entities that were meant to, one way or another, discipline Wall Street, and force it to consider its enlightened self-interest.”
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Monkeyhawk on Let immigrants run
- Chrisfrommactown on Let immigrants run
- BlueJay on Let immigrants run
- Monkeyhawk on Too many exemptions
- JWink on Too many exemptions
- LonnythePlumber on Jail consultants straining patience
- BlueJay on Open thread 11/22
- Regular on Open thread 11/22
- Regular on Open thread 11/22
- Rage on Open thread 11/22
19 Comments
People are so easily corrupted when it comes to money..greed destroys the perpetrator and everyone associated with them.
Most people go to work hoping to collect a paycheck in two weeks. People go to gambling casinos to bet they can win more than they put in … on the very short term. People pay taxes on the outside hope that they might receive some benefit.
The difference is: honesty vs dishonesty.
Channeled greed is not a bad thing.
Ayn Rand talked about “The virtue of selfishness,” as a key part of her conservative philosophy.
There’s no excuse for the Admin. agencies forsaking their duties. Incompetence or abandonment of performing the functions they were chartered to do, hold them accountable.
Human nature will always push the envelope, only question is, will society/govt. push back or allow it?
More self-serving BS from the people who brought you this near-economic depression: we’re just victims of investors who want quick returns.
BULL CLAP and more BULL CLAP.
You were “victims” of your own religious belief–that the free market is godlike and government regulations are the devil.
Stop worshiping at the altar of the Church of the Holy Marketplace and see how the economy really works–it works best with close government oversight by elected officials who must answer to the people.
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning” – Warren Buffet
My hope is there is a mass movement of financial empire heads to the local fed pen near them. Can you say, “Hello, Bubba!”
When the government gave our money making rights to a few private bankers (The Fed Board) we lost all hope.
Your stupid idea of government control has already been under way. It’s where we are.
A refresher:
The 10 PLANKS stated in the Communist Manifesto and some of their American counterparts are…
1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.
Americans do these with actions such as the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management (Zoning laws are the first step to government property ownership)
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Americans know this as misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State “income” taxes. We call it “paying your fair share”.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Americans call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
Americans call it government seizures, tax liens, Public “law” 99-570 (1986); Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of “terrorists” and those who speak out or write against the “government” (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process. Asset forfeiture laws are used by DEA, IRS, ATF etc…).
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
Americans call it the Federal Reserve which is a privately-owned credit/debt system allowed by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) another privately-owned corporation. The Federal Reserve Banks issue Fiat Paper Money and practice economically destructive fractional reserve banking.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.
Americans call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver’s licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
Americans call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture… Thus read “controlled or subsidized” rather than “owned”… This is easily seen in these as well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
Americans call it Minimum Wage and slave labor like dealing with our Most Favored Nation trade partner; i.e. Communist China. We see it in practice via the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two “income” family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920’s, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Federal Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.
Americans call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public “law” 89-136. These provide for forced relocations and forced sterilization programs, like in China.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
Americans are being taxed to support what we call ‘public’ schools, but are actually “government force-tax-funded schools ” Even private schools are government regulated. The purpose is to train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based “Education” . These are used so that all children can be indoctrinated and inculcated with the government propaganda, like “majority rules”, and “pay your fair share”. WHERE are the words “fair share” in the Constitution, Bill of Rights or the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26)?? NO WHERE is “fair share” even suggested !! The philosophical concept of “fair share” comes from the Communist maxim, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need! This concept is pure socialism. … America was made the greatest society by its private initiative WORK ETHIC … Teaching ourselves and others how to “fish” to be self sufficient and produce plenty of EXTRA commodities to if so desired could be shared with others who might be “needy”… Americans have always voluntarily been the MOST generous and charitable society on the planet.
Wow. Actual wisdom from hedge fund managers. Talk about irony. But I guess they had a front-row seat to the foolishness.
I’ve been saying for some time that the “first-quarter” mentality has to end. We have a circumstance in the country wherein the stock price and short-term profits became the only metric of success. Customers? They don’t matter at all, so long as we can keep the investors happy Quality? Same thing. Offshore, outsource, and cut costs any way you can, work your employees to death with crappy resources in a dismal environment, because it’s all about a good quarterly report, and nothing else. The tail was wagging the dog. Notice how the crooks that needed bailed out the worst were in the financial and insurance industries–money-driven businesses that produce nothing?
And now all of us get to pay the price.
To understand the true, root causes of the financial crisis, we must first ask what drives the desire for short term gain.
Your first thought may be ‘greed.’ That is right and wrong. Greed is the excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs. All humans are greedy, it is subjective based on ones definitions of excessive and need. If we take the subjective ‘excessive’ and ‘more than one needs’ out of greed, we are left with it being the desire to acquire or possess. In other words, at its most basic form, it is wanting to get something. This is what drives all human action.
Mutual and hedge fund managers make buy-sell decisions based on the short term because that is how they are paid. If their funds perform well quarter over quarter, more investors put money with them (you and I review our 401(k), IRA, etc investments to see which funds had the best return last year or last quarter then move our money from one fund to another based on that.) More assets invested with a fund manager means more fee income.
Are theses managers evil, deserving of ill-will, prison or physical punishment? Certainly not. At least not in the case of those who did nothing illegal or fraudulent. The desire for gains is what drove you and I to move our investments from one fund to another, and it is what drove the retiree to move all of her life savings into one of Madoff’s funds. Why is it OK for us to make decisions based on the desire for gain, but when those holding our investments or in charge of something similar do so it is wrong and they are the ‘greedy’ ones?
Because we trusted them with our futures?
Shouldn’t we hold ourselves as accountable for our futures? A key tenet of capitalism is individual responsibility and accountability. We must take care of ourselves. At some point we must admit that our separate, individual desires for ever larger and larger gains, higher returns on our investments, and more personal wealth are what caused our financial crisis. Our greed blinded us to the reality that investing is risky. Returns are not guaranteed, assets appreciation, whether of an investment, a business, or your home, is not assured.
We must realize that if we are going to enjoy the fruits of free market capitalism we have to accept the risks. The market will go up, but it has to come down sometimes. That cannot be mitigated, that cannot be avoided. Sometimes a business will do well, but sometimes market conditions will change and that business will have to close its doors (like the Detroit auto industry). As a society, we have to be prepared to accept these things if we are going to continue to grow and thrive in a capitalistic economy.
Looks like madoff claims another victim:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090106/bs_nm/us_merckle_6
Brian Nuevo, I sure hope you put all of your money in stocks. Every red cent.
I really hope you put all you can into the market. Please.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4125947/Willem-Buiter-warns-of-massive-dollar-collapse.html
“Pleefer
Posted January 6, 2009 at 4:26 pm | Permalink
Brian Nuevo, I sure hope you put all of your money in stocks. Every red cent.”
Why?
Why?
So you can make lots more money. You just seem like you understand the market and I believe that maybe you will be lucky if you do.
And I think that GMC and roach would do well this year too.
I do not put all my eggs in one basket. When I do make investments, I value each one individually and determine if it is an asset likely to appreciate.
Overall, now is a good time to buy stocks for a long-term investor. But one should not invest money they may need in the next 3 or 4 years.
Federal Investigator: “All right Mr. Madoff, where did you get the crazy idea of paying early investors with money from late investors?”
Mr. Madoff: “From the Federal Government and the Social Security System…..that’s where!”
I’d venture to say a person will be much better off investing in the stock markets at the beginnig of Obama’s terms, than at the beginning of bush’s!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is bad. Greed is wrong, greed hurts. Greed accumulates to itself, cuts through, and kills the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the downward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, is killing the USA. Thank you very much.
I’m wondering why I am supposed to make sacrifices for those who were unwise with their money. Screw the people that made their own messes.