Was there something about privatizing the profit and socializing the debt you didn’t understand?
The difference between government and private bankers at the top end of town is a very fine distinction. In some cases, there is no distinction, such as Treasury Secretaries Paulson, Rubin and Baker. Of all these, I find Baker the most troubling. I think he is maybe one of the most dubious characters in America. He, probably more than any other figure, is responsible for the global financial crisis. Seems a bit left field, I know, but it’s just my opinion of the relationship between banks and government and how to siphon money off the masses.
I think the problem is we’ve all learned to understand how they’ve privatized the profit and socialized the debt that hard way, by getting it stuck up our hindquarters. Alright, I’m gettin’ my shotgun, or in this case, my feral cat killing pellet gun I lent to this freak next door claimed he was a pastor or some such…
Actually all this mess calls for creation of financial audit arm of EU (it is been talked about)
At least Brussel’s bureaucratic expertise would come handy in throwing red tape at Morgan Stanleys of this world.
Any time some EU country government cuts shady deals like Greeks they should be publicized to expose them before their constituents and threatened being kicked out of EU.
[quote]José Sócrates, Portugal’s prime minister, on Thursday announced tough new austerity measures, including a “crisis tax” on wages and big companies, designed to more than halve the country’s gaping budget deficit in less than two years.
[…]
Describing the measures as essential to defend Portugal’s credibility in international financial markets, Mr Sócrates announced a one percentage point increase in value-added tax to 21 per cent and increases of up to 1.5 per cent in income tax. The increases, which are being called a “crisis tax”, include a 2.5 percentage point rise in corporate tax to 27.5 per cent on annual profits above €2m.[/quote]
The NYT published a graphic that shows the money each country owes, and is owed. Europe’s Web of Debt
Surely the big problem in all of this is that the Germans, for whatever reason, are committed to this idea of “Europe”. The mistake, which seems pretty obvious to me, and should have seemed pretty obvious years ago, was that the Germans thought that everyone was like them, or close enough. In whose wildest fantasies would southern Europe have ever been like northern Europe? I’d say Greece should be kicked out of the European Union, but probably even the average member of the African Union would have its shit together better than Greece and wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole. I mean seriously, could no one actually see that Greece has been a fucking corrupt, backward shithole for what…since just about forever?
As for speculation, I’m actually with Two Tongues on this one (though not on all the nonsense about regulation). Don’t just take my word for it. Benjamin Graham, wrote pretty much the same thing about speculation. I personally don’t care if people want to gamble as that’s more opportunity for those of us who aren’t so reckless, and it’s less stressful too. Some people get all hung up on this idea of efficient markets and others want to legislate against human folly. I say let people have their silly ideas.
As for why some people are rich and some people are poor, I’d say it has a lot less to do with either luck or income than many people think. It’s to do with people’s lack of financial literacy, coupled with the fact that money burns a hole in their pockets. Most people, over the courses of their lives, earn a considerable amount, but they fritter it away based on silly schemes and poor impulse control.
