TruthSavvy. - Plutocracy

Illegitimacy Of Wall Street Profits Exposed By Financial Reform Bill

Dr. B. — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:06:18 +0000

The emerging bank reform legislation might be viewed in a singularly positive light if the reforms were not the byproduct of a skewed capital system that made several million Americans undeservedly powerful and rich while Congress slept. One could feel downright hopeful about the future of American banking if moral hazard had not contaminated the land. But too much polluted water has gone under the bridge. The good in the reforms is counteracted by the poisons that produced the need for remedial interventions.

marketwatch.com article: "Big banks face 'jarring shake-up' from new regulations", by Alistair Barr

Financial Experts Have Let Us Down; It's Time For Ethical Rebirth

Dr. B. — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:50:33 +0000

If experts are ruining the world, to whom do we turn? Plutocrats? Special interests and their politicians? The uneducated masses? Organized religion run amuck? Ancient philosophers? Or something else? It’s time for America and the world to get serious about the foundations of good governance. Change is coming like a locomotive. We need to understand good governance before the momentum of confusion railroads us to disaster.

marketwatch.com article: "The Invisible Sledgehammer", by Rex Nutting

What Would The Founders Think Of Warren Buffett And Goldman Sachs?

Dr. B. — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:20:39 +0000

David Weidner provides a valuable public service in his insightful fictional account of Warren Buffett’s creeping (moral) blindness. Making billions — tick, tick, tick — by sleeping with the enemy is no American ideal. Seeking to prosper justly in ways constructive to the nation’s sustainable well-being and economic independence is a laudable ideal — an ideal that Buffett, perhaps, is forgetting as he tries to explain away some of Wall Street’s sins.

marketwatch.com article: "Buffett on Madoff, Greece and other 'defective systems', by David Weidner

Reasons For Optimism In The Face Of A Future Economic Crisis

Dr. B. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dr. B. Responds to Paul Farrell's Marketwatch.com article titled "America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable" by not only analyzing the likelihood of Farrell's claims, but also sharing real reasons for discerning readers to be optimistic about the future that follows.

Has America lost its soul? Is America too immoral and shortsighted to allow prudent capitalism to work properly? (Yes.) Is the Canadian hedge fund manager, Erick Sprott correct that the U.S. government is now a “dead man walking,” with central bank intervention the main dynamic that allows the U.S. Treasury to roll over government debt at low interest rates? (Marketwatch, Oct. 20, 2009).

marketwatch.com article: "America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable", by Paul Farrell

Could U.S. Government Mishandling of Economy Fuel International Conflict?

Dr. B. — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Dr. B. comments on Paul Farrell's Marketwatch.com article about the potential for new international enemies, fueled by adversarial U.S. economic policies.

All right, not everything in today’s Farrell commentary is erudite or even proportional. Nevertheless, he does make some valuable points. It is apparent that America is setting up various disgruntled interests in the world to make war with us. The U.S. decision to monetize debts in the face of a deepening recession is problematic. Quantitative easing (as it is called) will expose our international friends, competitors and enemies to economic complications as our U.S.

marketwatch.com article: "Axis of upheaval poses unseen threat", by Paul Farrell

Mortgage Stimulus Rewards Irresponsibility as Financial Integrity Declines

Dr. B. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Dr. B. urges Americans to 'take the high road', even in a culture of Madoffs, Stanfords, and government 'stimulus' programs that reward irresponsibility. He shows where the current policies will lead, and why we should be optimistic that a better day will come.

Who, if anyone, is surprised that Mr. Stanford’s chapter unfolds in Madoff-ite fashion, politics and all? Who, if anyone, does not expect bailouts and partisan subsidies to continue, with justice thrown to the wind as evidenced in the expanding mortgage subsidy affair?

marketwatch.com article: "FBI locates Stanford in Virginia", by Simon Kennedy & Alistair Barr

Should Obama Take Advice From Economists Or Aesop?

Dr. B. — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:00:00 +0000

In response to Marketwatch.com economist Irwin Kellner's assertion that Obama should have announced huge cash giveaways during his inaugural address, Dr. B. shows why we would be better off listening to more tried-and-true sources of wisdom.

The American economy could operate more safely by looking to the essentials in Aesop’s Fables than by following Irwin Kellner. Mr. Kellner’s spending advice might pump up the stock market for a short time — long enough to allow elites to dump unwanted holdings at better prices — but would serve to weaken the U.S. relative to other nations like China. Furthermore, added borrowing will increase the national calamity once there is insufficient demand for Treasuries to support the public debt.

marketwatch.com article: "Obama should encourage spending in speech", by Irwin Kellner

How Many Government Bailouts Will It Take To Satisfy The Banking Beast?

Dr. B. — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:00:00 +0000

One war is over. Another one begins. The war to save America from plutocracy was lost this week as the federal government capitulated to financial sector demands for fresh capital and more bailout guarantees. Naturally, the Bush and Obama administrations don’t see themselves as losing the financial war. But they’re two of a kind when it comes to Wall Street. Just consider Obama’s willingness to work the phones to U.S. Senators to secure more money for financial elites.

marketwatch.com article: "Government giving $20 billion to Bank of America.", by Steve Goldstein

Are We Better Off With or Without The TARP?

Dr. B. — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Some market observers opine that we ought to be thankful for the fiscal stimulus provided by Paulson’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). They argue that the U.S. economy would be in a deep hole without TARP. Probably. But that deep hole might be a better spot than the deeper pit of lost governmental legitimacy we now find ourselves in as TARP socializes the investment errors of wealthy speculators. It may be that the Secretary of the Treasury’s radical action will help us skirt a severe recession and even partially re-inflate capital assets in the near term.

marketwatch.com article: "Don't buy Wall Street's latest con", by Paul Farrell

We Want Our Money -- And Our Country -- Back!

Dr. B. — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In this passionate response to a Marketwatch.com article, Dr. B. shows why Americans should be angry with Wall Street for putting our whole world at risk because of their reckless greed.

David Weidner says that the 2008 crash has Americans wanting to loot Wall Street castles since Wall Street looted their homes. The good news is that Weidner counts himself among those who are angry with Wall Street. The bad news that he reads too much “revenge” into the public mind and not enough respect for the sanctity of real justice.

marketwatch.com article: "Prosecutors and the public smell blood on Wall Street" by David Weidner