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The problem isn't Wall Street greed. The problem is that the government rescued the banks with public bailouts, at a time when a true capitalist system would h

The problem isn't Wall Street greed. The problem is that the government rescued the banks with public bailouts, at a time when a true capitalist system would have put them out of business.

samstave 15y ago
You are seeing a delineation between wall street/banks/government which is not there. The problem IS [wall street/banks/government] GREED All of Obama's top advisers are GS and banking cartel. Thus we transfer all our wealth to them. Just like when all of Bush/Cheney's cabinet (including Cheney) were all from the MIC cartel - we transferred all our wealth to them. This is 30 minutes worth your time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KDeUsWsUhKU http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K...
- eru 15y ago
  Just call it regulatory capture, and principal agent problems.
- lukifer 15y ago
  David Icke? The guy who thinks the world is run by alien reptiles? Really? I'm the biggest conspiracy theorist there is (Conspiracy 0: hijacking the term "conspiracy"), but this guy flips my bozo bit. That said, his description of fractional reserve banking is mostly accurate; it just seems an odd source when there are so many good video and text diatribes on the subject.
  - samstave 15y ago
    True - but there is not a single thing I can find wrong with this statement. This is one of the best arguments against what is going on right now that I have seen.
russell 15y ago
There was a time, before the Federal Reserve, when banks were not rescued, but failed. In the 19th century banks failed and there were panics and depressions every decade or two. What we have now is way better. The problem now is that banks can reliably depend on being rescued every decade or so. In the 70's it was loans to SA dictators, in the 80's it was the savings and loan crisis. the it was devaluation of the ruble which took out Long Term Capital Management, then the current mess of housing mortgages and derivatives. At one time there were $60 trillion of worthless paper sailing through the system. The problem in the rescue this time is that the TARP money went to rescue the banks, not to the middle class that needed it. The "too big to fail" banks got bigger. Glass-Stegall was not restored. The Republicans stonewalled any meaningful regulation. And of course Congress was bought and sold. Capitalism is the economic engine of our society, but it cannot be allowed to complete freedom without being regulated to conform to the economic and social needs.
- megablast 15y ago
  Lots of banks fail, a couple every week over the last few years. They are small banks though. The problem is when banks get too big, and there failing would have a huge effect on the economy. That is why banks should not be allowed to get that big, but for some reason no one is interested in changing the laws.
anamax 15y ago
> The problem is that the government rescued the banks with public bailouts, at a time when a true capitalist system would have put them out of business. Umm, the bank bailouts aren't the big problem. They turned a profit, and since the subprime crisis was mostly due to govt action.... The big problem is the other bailouts and subsidies. They're never going to pay off.
- Sato 15y ago
  Those who think the bank bailouts aren't the big problem may want to read this famous article, "The Great American Bubble Machine"[1]. [1] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american...
  - anamax 15y ago
    That article doesn't argue that bank bailouts were the big problem. It argues that bank influence, specifically Goldman Sachs, is the big problem. There is a difference. As I wrote, the bank bailouts weren't a huge money-suck and the subprime crisis wouldn't have happened without govt intervention. (We can argue about why govt intervened, but that doesn't change the fact that it did.) You can't say either about the other govt bailouts. Note, I'm excluding the GSE's (like Fannie Mae) bailout from "made money" - that is still losing money.
rayiner 15y ago
No True Scottsman, huh?

The problem isn't Wall Street greed. The problem is that the government rescued the banks with public bailouts, at a time when a true capitalist system would have put them out of business.

samstave 15y ago

You are seeing a delineation between wall street/banks/government which is not there. The problem IS [wall street/banks/government] GREED All of Obama's top advisers are GS and banking cartel. Thus we transfer all our wealth to them. Just like when all of Bush/Cheney's cabinet (including Cheney) were all from the MIC cartel - we transferred all our wealth to them. This is 30 minutes worth your time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KDeUsWsUhKU http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K...

eru 15y ago
Just call it regulatory capture, and principal agent problems.
lukifer 15y ago
David Icke? The guy who thinks the world is run by alien reptiles? Really? I'm the biggest conspiracy theorist there is (Conspiracy 0: hijacking the term "conspiracy"), but this guy flips my bozo bit. That said, his description of fractional reserve banking is mostly accurate; it just seems an odd source when there are so many good video and text diatribes on the subject.
- samstave 15y ago
  True - but there is not a single thing I can find wrong with this statement. This is one of the best arguments against what is going on right now that I have seen.

russell 15y ago

There was a time, before the Federal Reserve, when banks were not rescued, but failed. In the 19th century banks failed and there were panics and depressions every decade or two. What we have now is way better. The problem now is that banks can reliably depend on being rescued every decade or so. In the 70's it was loans to SA dictators, in the 80's it was the savings and loan crisis. the it was devaluation of the ruble which took out Long Term Capital Management, then the current mess of housing mortgages and derivatives. At one time there were $60 trillion of worthless paper sailing through the system. The problem in the rescue this time is that the TARP money went to rescue the banks, not to the middle class that needed it. The "too big to fail" banks got bigger. Glass-Stegall was not restored. The Republicans stonewalled any meaningful regulation. And of course Congress was bought and sold. Capitalism is the economic engine of our society, but it cannot be allowed to complete freedom without being regulated to conform to the economic and social needs.

megablast 15y ago
Lots of banks fail, a couple every week over the last few years. They are small banks though. The problem is when banks get too big, and there failing would have a huge effect on the economy. That is why banks should not be allowed to get that big, but for some reason no one is interested in changing the laws.

anamax 15y ago

> The problem is that the government rescued the banks with public bailouts, at a time when a true capitalist system would have put them out of business. Umm, the bank bailouts aren't the big problem. They turned a profit, and since the subprime crisis was mostly due to govt action.... The big problem is the other bailouts and subsidies. They're never going to pay off.

Sato 15y ago
Those who think the bank bailouts aren't the big problem may want to read this famous article, "The Great American Bubble Machine"[1]. [1] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american...
- anamax 15y ago
  That article doesn't argue that bank bailouts were the big problem. It argues that bank influence, specifically Goldman Sachs, is the big problem. There is a difference. As I wrote, the bank bailouts weren't a huge money-suck and the subprime crisis wouldn't have happened without govt intervention. (We can argue about why govt intervened, but that doesn't change the fact that it did.) You can't say either about the other govt bailouts. Note, I'm excluding the GSE's (like Fannie Mae) bailout from "made money" - that is still losing money.

rayiner 15y ago

No True Scottsman, huh?