The real reason our financial crisis has happened. Runaway Greed

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during The Depression to restore a sense of trust to Wall Street and to instill investor confidence. That confidence has been dashed once again. The S.E.C. was like an aging third string quarterback trying to sit on the sidelines the rest of his career without getting dirty, all the while this crisis brewed and history repeats itself once again.

We used to have a regulation call “the net Capital Rule”, and what this did was to require investment banks to have a responsible cash reserve on hand for the companies to weather downturns in the market and to prevent excessive debt loads.

Well back in 2004 when the Republicans where in all their glory all the major Wall Street players led by Henry Paulson, then the Goldman Sachs CEO and now the current Treasury Secretary, put the squeeze on their buddies at the Securities and Exchange Commission aka S.E.C. to grant an exemption of this rule so they could take advantage of the sub prime mortgage market, with all their unregulated mortgage backed securities that promised to make everyone rich. Then with the unanimous vote of all five S.E.C. members granted this exemption of the rule to the investment banks of Wall Street. Unleash the pit bulls Igor, there ain’t no lipstick here.

Do I hear a WTF???

So what did they do with their safety net? They went to a crap shoot and laid it down on the sub prime mortgaged backed securities market, putting their shareholders and the entire stability of the market at great risk.

The commissioners ignored the lessons of the Savings & Loan disaster of the 80’s, when deregulating that industry led to enormous abuses, the point is boys, Foghorn Leghorn said so eloquently, pay attention when I’m talking to ya, you can’t allow the foxes to guard the hen house.

Then the Coup de grâce came when Bush appointed Christopher Cox as the S.E.C. chairman in 2005 and the first thing he did was to gut the effectiveness of the seven member oversight committee established to watch out for abuses of the securities market. Now Wall Street could do as they wished without any meaningful review.

Back in March 2008 Cox said “we have a good deal of comfort about the capital cushions at these firms at the moment” even though some in the S.E.C. warned about excessive debt and dangerous practices within the investment banks. Then a few days later Bear Stearns crashed and burned and was gobled up by JP Morgan Chase, using taxpayer money to the tune of 29 million dollars.

Then the dominoes started to tumble because of the emense bad debt the S.E.C. exemption allowed the investor banks to accumulate. Chairman Cox, running with his tail between his legs has said sheepishly “the last six months have made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work.”

Duh..!!!

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

The Real America for Lipstick Wearing Pitbulls

You know what gets me angry? Is watching Sarah Palin talk about how she is a real American. By her definition myself and more than half of the country must be fake Americans.


She runs around this great nation in her new 150 thousand dollar wardrobe and with that shrill nasal toned voice of hers talking incessantly about how small town, moose shootin, hockey moms like her are the real Americans. God help us if McCain gets elected and doesn’t live to finish his term and that piece of work Mrs. Palin becomes the president.


Well Mrs. Palin, I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, N.Y. I came up through public schools, I drive a Chevy one that was actually made in America, I drink beer, I pay taxes, and I work 2 jobs in order to barely squeak through each month, I have actually read the Constitution.


So don’t tell me I am not a real American, don’t call my friends who served their country and shed their blood in Viet Nam, that are Democrats are not real Americans. Don’t call my activist friends who watch and report when all you crooked politicians take money from corporate lobbyists. Your campaign of half truths and outright lies, I hope will come back to show you what the real Americans think of you.


My friends are white, black, Christian, Muslim, liberal, conservative, pro-choicer, and community organizers and free thinkers and that Mrs. Palin in your world is Anti-American.

Apparently in your view the only real Americans are the ones who show up for your rallies.


What is really un-American Mrs. Palin are people like you who are would divide us and enrich your war profiteering pals, practice policies that have bankrupted this country and involved us in foreign occupations while letting the plotters of 9/11 escape into Pakistan.


It is you Mrs. Palin and your so called maverick running mate who don’t under stand what makes this country great. It is the wonderful diversity of our people and the realization that no one group is more American than the next.


What unifies real Americans Mrs. Palin is our belief in that American values should work for the common good of all Americans, and those who would try to separate us from that unifying bond are the real enemies of America. So Mrs. Palin it is you and your maverick running mate who need to get real.


Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.