As people, we have lost touch with what’s really important - each other. I am 55-years-old and have seen so much already. I can remember when Americans were happy with just a modest home, one car, and spending time with family. (Nothing - even malls were not open on Sundays when my husband and I raised our two daughters). But because of “Corporate Greed”, the entire country changed and along with it went our culture, virtues, and sanity. It wan’t enough for the president of a company to give a good days work and “really care” about the people who were making that company successful. It became an “all about ME” attitude. He/She needed to have not 1 corporate jet, but 3; needed to have 4 homes (which were empty half of the time), not just 1; needed to have, have, and have. But, by doing that, they were “draining the life” out of the company. While people who were making the company successful working each and everyday, harder and harder, having benefits taken away from them each year, wondered and couldn’t figure out why they just couldn’t seem to get ahead, the people at the top were dipping into the “kitty” each and everyday. Then, along came corporate mergers - the employees were either laid off, had cuts in pay, benefits stripped again, and the employees who survived the merger hoped for some consistency and security for a few more years with a new company They then worked, and worked, and worked until another merger came along - and the whole process started all over again. But, who was getting “richer and richer” all of the time. These CEOs who do absolutely NOTHING for their company. They have lavish vacations which they call “business trips” while the “little people” who work under them keep being more “productive” so that these executives can spend, spend, spend. I am SO GLAD that the government is finally waking up to all of this. They are our only hope to regulate these greedy people. There should be a stringent cap on these salaries - just like there is on the employees. They shouldn’t get more than a 2% raise like the rest of use each year, and they should be getting a review all of the time. They should have the SAME benefits as the rest of us - two weeks vacation a year if we’re lucky, have their health benefits go up each year with bigger deductibles and co-pays, they should have no sick pay like the rest of us - if they’re out sick - so what, we won’t miss them. And, they should ALWAYS be worried about their jobs - like the rest of us. When they do a lousy job - which most of them do - they should be given a cardboard box and told to pack up and walked out the back door with their last paycheck. If all of this were done, there would be plenty of money to go around in all companies - a cap of $500,000 should be IT. If they can’t live on that, then there’s something wrong with THEM. Just think about all of the millions that would trickle down to the company if that’s all they made. And, if they can’t learn to live on $500,000 a year, then we could teach them a lesson in frugality. My feeling is that the economy has changed now because behavior has changed in the middle class. The middle class is very angry with all of this that I have just documented. But, we are a funny crowd - we don’t forget. So, we will learn to save our money now, throw out those 10 requests a day that we get in the mail from the banks asking that we sign up for $20,000 of more debt with a new credit card, we will drive “used cars” now, and we will send our kids to community colleges (because there are no middle class jobs that pay anyways - so why would be burden our children with student loans), and we will cut back on our food costs, buy less, vacation less (we already do that), and one day the middle class will be the richest one in the country. We will go back to living in a modest ranch style home, drive one car, live on a modest income, spend time with our friends in the middle class, and enjoy our Sundays with family again instead of spending “family time” at the malls and making the RICH CEO’s richer. And, the RICH people in the this country will be wondering what happened to all of those people that we used to take advantage of and abuse. And, you know, they’ll learn to be jealous of OUR lifestyle.

Thank you for you investigative reporting. As so many of us try to get by less than $50,000 a year, when you read this you realize that these people have hearts of stone. How can you be so wealthy and ignore the people after a hurricane that have no home? How can you ignore those with no food? Hearts stone and hopefully a soon to be extinct branch of our species. They could have bought module homes for many homeless people without ever missing the money. Take a million from your purse or pocket! Give up swandering wealth. Grow up. Evolve in to a better person!

Work hard? Play hard? Get real! I was a teacher for over 30 years. Now who works hard? How about firemen/women, police, rescue squads, doctors, construction workers and more? They make it all sound like the patricians and plebians of Ancient Rome. Yes, I do hope they fiddled like Nero and that their Rome is burning down around them! Enough! If they can’t share their undeserved bounty send them back to preschool where sharing to taught!

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be emulating anyone. And it won’t be a perfect world until we cease to try. In today’s world, everyone seems to be emulating Paris Hilton and her male counterpart, whomever that might be. I, for one, am tired of looking up the skirt of every woman that appears in any type of media, and watching fat, bearded guys in $45,000 pickup trucks try to look tough. Personally, I prefer to make every effort to be a rational, reasonable, and unique individual.

Wall Street, AIG, Banking Industry, etc., heads should roll, I’m so infuriated with the whole fiasco were in. I’ve worked my way through college, became an engineer, pay my bills on time, work hard, am a single father of three kids. I take no vacation. Now my tax dollars are going (against my wishes) to pay all these bastards off. I’m angy as hell.

Heads should roll over all this fiscal irresponsibility or outright thievery and dishonesty. AND I AM NOT TALKING METAPHORICALLY!

That is so on target!! I think you are on to something that has been happening for the last couple of years with the middle class, the CEO’s just didn’t see it coming. I started this middle class behavior 6 years ago, it just now finally has taken affect as a whole around the country. So we will see how the CEO’s can afford their 7 mansions since we are not feeding the markets anymore.
Hat is off to you!!

I have read Jordan Belfort’s book The Wolf of Wall Street and have seen the movie Wall Street several times. It is easy to envy their lifestyles and want to emmulate their actions. They portray themselves as having it all: success, power, expensive cars and toys, women, etc. They are on top of the world characters. After reading Belfort’s book I personally became more aggressive in my business dealings and found myself mimicking his behavior in the business world and in social settings. These characters become cult figures to individuals who crave their lifestyles, and just like Belfort followed Gordon Gekko’s ways in the movie Wall Street, there are thousands of people that will look up to Mr. Belfort after reading his book and will continue his excessive life on Wall Street.

Is there not a Bible verse that says something about gaining the whole world, and losing one’s soul?

I find it difficult to believe that someone addicted to that much juice is reformed. He reads like am escapee from the Warner Bros. cartoon vault. I am in the process of rehabilitating my life as well. My excess was living in fear- of success. Having everything that people value taken away from me due to bad decisions and financial loss, I am living without less -burden, debt, obligation and fear. I am at my most creative in years, and have kicked my anti-depressant to the curb.

We all have to get back to the awe and wonder of dreaming and spend less time about acquiring things of deprecating value. Everything that I ever bought has depreciated in value over time. Well, at least it was a net loss. My investment in my friends and family has always paid off in the short and long run.

Our country would benefit from a renaissance of sharing. Back in the day when everyone didn’t have everything, we could cont on our network of neighbors and friends to help us get through the day. We need to dream about our kids, dream about our relationships, dream about tour futures, dream about what we will leave behind one day. I’m not a monkee, but we could use a few more daydream believers on Main st., Wall St. and Pennsylvania Ave.

Now, I know where and who’s enjoying my 104k. Someone allowed the weasel to guard the hen house. This only adds to the screams that are circulating in society. It’s like the rape victim paying the attacker! Once again the powers that be have asked John and Jeanette Q Public to “tighten the belts” once again. Let’s see, I’ve heard that quotation around 5 or 6 times. “Ouch” my belt is past the last hole,and you’re asking me to create another one. Oh well, the belt just broke! I won’t ask the powers that be to give me relief, they have enjoyed their fat cat life styles for quite a few years at the regular people’s expense. Oh God, I know you see this please help! I don’t know how you will begin to clean house, but please do it soon. I am running out of beans to cook.

Charlotte and David:

I tried to stick with the question that was posed (I refuse to use the phrase “talking point”), but now that the subject has been broached, I think I’ll just let her rip.

Everyone on Wall Street (traders, market makers, CEO’s etc,) should be investigated). The same for investment bankers, corporate officers, corporate board members, government officials, insurance company officers - everyone involved in the business of money investment and exchange. Anyone found guilty (by any practical standard) of any of the crimes so endemic to this sector should be divested of all of their assets, minus $100,000, and deported as “enemies of the state”. They are most certainly enemies of mine. I had used the work “guillotine” in a previous post, but it was not accepted - I’ll give it another shot. Let’s dust off the guillotine - figuratively, of course. Rxxxxxx Fxxx is my designated poster boy for this rape of the world’s wealth, but he certainly isn’t alone. I did the math on this guy. If what the media says about his income is true, over the past 6 or 7 years, he’s been making somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 a day - every day. This is based on a 2080 hour work year. This fellow makes in a day what the average American worker makes in 10 years. Apparently the board of directors at Lxxxxx Bxxxxxxx think he was worth it. I wonder why?

I love how these people who after getting rich, and living the life suddenly find themselves on the downside, or out of a job all together suddenly come to this rationalization about “gee i woke up in my 50,000 square foot house, with my private yachts, and 18 cars by my cuddly man servant and realized that there was more to life then money.” why is that people seem to come to this point only after they have made their mark either honestly or off of the 401k’s of their investors and suddenly i am supposed to take their words as if they came from a burning bush?? 22 months in a Club Fed for 100 million. wow if i ever get in trouble will your attorney rep me?? You disgust me.

More and more average jos are getting as mad as previous blogs report. When the proletariat finally bands together to defeat wallstreet and the banks it is really simple. Stop paying your credit card bills, stop buying the fashion item of the week and go to survival mode. When the money stops moving and the credit balloon is deflated, the banks fail and the economy comes to a halt, we will all then be at the same level. That’s called sharing the wealth.

There’s a special place in hell for all those b*stards on Wall street. Ah, it’s gonna be HOT!!!

And in a perfect world, who should we be emulating?

Jesus Christ, The WORD. And all the peole said……..AMEN

I worked at a “brokerage” that was a spinoff of Stratton Oakmont right in the middle of that time. I was in the thick of all of this garbage. I remember being hired at one of these firms as a “management trainee”. They put that out there in the classifieds just to attract young job seekers into the office. When they got you in there, they would dazzle you with tales and examples of how these other guys, who were no different from you, were making $20,000 a month. The promise of being able to make enough, not just to support yourself but rather to “do better than your dad did” was very attractive.

After being in it for a while, the truth started to become apparent. The bottom line is we were recommending stocks that had no chance; and we were profiting from it. The owners of these firms were masters of rationalization but eventually, truth has the ability to dig out a pit in your stomach that forces you to admit what you’re really doing.

You were stealing.

I left the business at that point. Many of my colleagues are still in it to this day. I’ve asked the Lord for forgiveness for my part in this and I know that He has forgiven me. I’ve never made the same amount of income since those days and in many ways have struggled financially. The Lord has always provided, though. The greatest gift I’ve received through all of this is His grace and my character.

When I first opened CNN.com today and saw Jordan Belfort there with his tan and the picture of his infamous yacht (the yacht was almost iconic in that all the young brokers viewed it as the ultimate emblem of success), my first reaction was to write something negative and accusing. After writing here, I hope that he has asked the Lord for forgiveness. You see, paying back reparations, no matter how much, don’t matter to the Lord. Genuinely asking Him forgiveness, accepting the gift of His grace and living the rest of your days within that grace is the ONLY way to make good on it.

It may have begun with Wall Street, Lending/Banking Institutions, Lehman, AIG, etc., but what makes it so insidious is that our Government as a whole succumbed to the lure(s) of this perceived wealth, became complacent with regulation and in some instances dipped into the well of corruption and thievery. David, like you, I’ve worked hard, timely paid my debt and live within my means and manage to eek out a savings (now greatly diminished). I shake my head with dismay and hear the cliche “performance is punishing” … Yes, we who follow the rules are taking a beating, but I believe all those who have lived their lives with greed will get the biggest shaking up (justifiably so). The rumblings of the People Are Mad As Hell And Aren’t Going To Take It Any More is resounding throughout the U.S. and World and maybe, just maybe, this time We will prevail and a sense of normalcy and well-being will be returned for at least a majority. The Tech bubble popped, the Housing bubble popped, and now “Pop Goes the Weasel” with the Greed bubble explosion. The doors of shady dealing are being flung open on Corporate America, and we are becoming aware of just who is that man behind the curtain of manipulation. I believe Accountability will be the new “it” word and figuratively “heads WILL roll”. We thus can restore the basic and good fundamentals of our society … If I had a crystal ball my feeling is that a bright future looms ahead; let’s just hope it is sooner rather than later.

As I sit in my office, a very small not for profit builders association, losing members daily because they cannot get work, build houses(no credit for buyers) I am sickened knowing that these “wall street geniuses” so they think, made that kind of money off of my members and me! I think they should all give back what they have taken from us. They should have community service to see how bad it really is. Go to Louisiana and Texas and get their hands dirty helping out the people who they have stole from and help rebuild these areas. I am sure more than a few of them would quit within an hour because it is too much work for them since they have sat in their very expensive leather chairs for so long they don’t know how to really work.

It’s impossible to put into “printable” words the anger and rage I, as well as the other WORKING people feel about the FAT CATS on Wall Street, as well as all the other CEO’s, etc. who live lavish lifestyles at the expense of those of us who actually do the REAL WORK that makes them filthy rich! I don’t know how any of them can sleep at night; however, judging from the hard partying they do, they probably DON’T sleep! Paybacks are h(*&,you know. We working people are fed up with their gluttony and greed! I hope they have to pay back what they’ve stolen from us, PLUS serve time in prison like that CEO of Berkley Neutraceuticals, Steve Warshak is doing right now!! If these disgusting excuses for human beings don’t pay in this life, they most certainly will in the next!!!

One, by one, by one- change happens

We are evolving- and each one of us can bring back the generosity within his own life ; for his family ,his neighbors and his community, that is the beginning of a new “grass roots” mentality missing in our culture today.

The leaders and power players of weatlh and greed are only a reflection of the times, and they are not the answers, the comittment is within each of us and how we live our lives… confronting values that are real for ourselves and our CHILDREN.

Pointing fingers grows old! It is certainly part of the moral picture that wants to change things, but with no action it becomes a way of shrugging off the pain; part of the “blame game” so common in the political arena. Remember each action starts with YOU in the center- no one else.

We are the models of the future, let’s open our minds and hearts and look inside first, and do the right thing…and then one by one by one the world can be a better place.

Jordan did nothing wrong and he is my hero. I am not being facetious. He simply continued to push the envelope and bend the rules, and our regulation system was not nearly as advanced in his time period. The fact that he single handedly caused ludes to come off the market, now thats a whole different story.

It’s depressing to hear of people making $500,000 a day. Even a $1000 a day would net you a salary of 360 grand a year and I could live great with a salary like that. The greed of some of these guys is unconscionable. One person doesn’t need a multi-million dollar salary when they could get by just fine with 1 million. How many folks here in the US or anywhere for that matter, would agree that you could live high on the hog with a salary of one million dollars a year? I’ll bet 98% would say yes while the other 2% who say no are the greedy bas%#@ds from Wall Street.

joe 6 pack here , done all the things ive been told to do, work ,save, pay my bills, my government has let me down for 40 years . All the problems we face now did not happen overnight. Its time to come home and take care of our country ,there are so many things to be fixed and worked on here, and maybe if the usa would keep our nose out of other peoples bussiness , they might not hate us so much. IM MAD AS HELL AND IM NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!

I work in law enforcement, and I love my job. I wouldn’t do anything else. The joy and satisfaction I get from giving myself completely to protect and serve cannot be compensated monetarily. I have 5 kids, and a wonderful wife that has a tougher job than I do in nurturing and raising them. We live in a small three bedroom appartment, but we are happy to have a warm place to sleep, and food to eat. When we can

The greed, egomania, complete lack of compassion, and the cold void where common decency should be found with this people disgusts me and makes me sick.

Having said that, I pity the poor fools that have this mentality. They will never find the happiness that I have because greed and the desire for power are thirsts that can never be satisfied. They will never have anough money, there will always be a newer and fancier car, there will always be somebody with a bigger house, and there will always be more to “have.”

However, I do find it a slap in the face to think that I may need to pay extra in taxes to bail out these soul-less, quasi-human, louthsome, nefarious, repugnant, vile, dispicable, waste of flesh, stench-in-the-nostril of humanity wankers whose addition to money and self-aggrandizing is just like that of a heroin addict.

As they say in Brazil, “Vai tomar no seu cu!”

AMEN to all the above.

I find peace with a very simple phrase that we have all heard, but one I sincerely believe in.

“What goes around, comes around.”

I may not be around to see it happen, but hopefully my children and grandchildren will.

This day and age where things like this go “unpunished” is amazing. If you haven’t caught on by now, the Govt. is going to bail them all out because their pockets are a little fatter too from them. If anyone of the average Joe’s of the US would do something remotely out of line like this, not only would we not get “bailed out” but we would end up in jail. I personally read “The Wolf of Wall St.” and I must say it good reading. It was almost like reading a fictional story. I really did question alot of it, it was so over the top. I finished reading the book on a beach on my vacation, and when I was done thinking “no way is all this true” I literally turned my head and saw a shopping bag from a fellow vacationer from the same shoe comapny from the book. Honest…it was amazing…. It then hit me….this guy was for real and did get away with it……….almost.

Abbie,
To the average American who has seen no portfolio growth from 2001, we are angry with all of Wall Street and those who represent that image. The cast of thousands financial elite from our universities leaned nothing about ethics, but rather, learned greed is good, compounded, with Hollywood’s conspicuous consumption. So what does the future hold for our financial system… the average investor won’t be coming back to Crime Street. Our Nation of Criminal Elites in Wall Street and Washington will so learn the Middle Class Trillions are no longer theirs to play with.

Carol, AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!!

i think we should vote every politian out of office that voted for this bailout .i own a small business whos going to bail me out im having tough times i need help i dont see gov resuce lining up to help me we as citizens need to take this country back.clean all the old boys out of senate congress .they all are lining there pockets and all the joe the plumbers are paying for it we had better wake up before its way to late. when gov takes over privatley held institutions if im not mistaken they call this communism.whats next they will be telling u where to work and all of our rights will be taken wake up peopl,

Jordon Belfort is just one of so many! Where is the outrage?

Clearly “Joe the Plumber” (not John McCain’s “version”) has lost all sense of his power as an American who can exercise his right to hit a clean sidewalk (thanks to public works) in PROTEST.

Frankly it’s hard to believe the entire middle class hasn’t converged upon that narrow little New York road called Wall Street with megaphones shouting: “bring us their heads on a platter.” Obviously the “Cheney Administration” has managed to do precisely what it intended.. make average americans feel they have no right to speak out — doing so brands you “unpatriotic.”

The fact is, OUR numbers give us the power to “take back our country” from those few who have literally stolen it!! I propose a grass roots movement to do so. Let’s organize a day that we all fly to New York and instead of signs.. let’s bring silver platters — symbolic of our demand!

During the civil rights movement changes were made because “the people” were willing to step forward and say “no more.” I have worked too hard for the past decades to now see 80-percent of my savings lost in two weeks time. Who is going to pay for my two small children to attend a good college now? Certainly not Jordon Belfort — or any other of the FAT CATS who he chums around with. Thank you to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — (who besides Anderson Cooper) is the only person with the courage to call for action. He has threatened to bring legal proceedings against AIG for squandering money on themselves, even AFTER the bailout.

There is no end to the greed, corruption, and immoral attitude of these corporate leaders. Frankly, I am sick and tired of it! Please CNN.. follow these so-called leaders around with your cameras. Fly over their McMansions with your telephoto lenses and show us how they are living. What expensive outfits are their wives are buying today? Expose the lavish trips they are still taking on their private jets! — as we will now give up all kinds of basic necessities just to live!

Let’s use the only power we have left Americans!! What day would all of you like to converge on New York? and then — Washington?

I want MY money back — I actually worked for it!

Why do we stand for this? Our forefathers drove Britain back on the principle of no one getting something for nothing, “Taxation without Representation.” Today, we should be screaming, “Socialized Lost without Accountability.” The government of the US was formed from such a tremendous ‘deregulation’ of the market. Now, the government has lost its passion, and seems to believe that financial tyranny is preferable to hard work and sacrifice on the part of a now weak, soft people. Come on! We’re Americans. We’re supposed to work hard, be tough, and not allow rich aristocracies to take power over us, physically, politically, or economically. We need another revolution in this country, and if you think it’s going to come from one of these two we’ve got running for president, or without sacrifice by the American people, you’re dead wrong. Your ancestors sacrificed everything for the mere hope of freedom. Now, as we’re losing it in our generation, we’ve successfully said, “We don’t mind, bail us out so we don’t have to think about it right now.” This is wrong. This generation wants to spill all its problems over to the next. The next generation shouldn’t stand for it. Hard times call for hard responses. Maybe the up an d comers shouldn’t stand to inherit our blunders. Maybe its time they stood up in revolution against their corrupt oppressors and beat their plow-shares into swords. Don’t let these evil, corrupt people take a promising future from you for their own purposes. Stand up and take it back.

I laugh every time I read something like this. Who cares about this guy? Who cares that he lived a fraud lifestyle. Who really cares? I don’t…he did not take my money…if he took yours then send me some of it. haha…what a joke.

How pathetic and uninspired, trying to live like a character you saw in a TV show or movie. Our culture is so creatively out of gas its embarrasing. True heroes such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King did not emulate imaginary characters they attained true greatness by doing new exciting things and breaking new ground. Everyone wants to be a glamorous celebrity anymore whether they have talent or not. Look at WallStreet, all that big money nonsense and now it went bust and they had to get bailed out by the gov’t because these people were failures at what they really do. Pathetic, I have no respect for these no talent losers. And to the author - I’m not trying to emulate anyone, I’m doing my own thing.

Our current situation is pretty much summed up by a speech given by Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic in 1990 at the time they were freed from the bonds of the Communists. Some have called this one of the most influential speeches of the 20th Century. Certainly resonates in the U.S.A. right now.

———

We live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell
morally ill because we became used to saying something
different from what we thought. We learned not to believe in
anything, to ignore one another, to care only about ourselves.
Concepts such as love, friendship, compassion, humility or
forgiveness lost their depth and dimension, and for many of us
they represented only psychological peculiarities, or they
resembled gone-astray greetings from ancient times, a little
ridiculous in the era of computers and spaceships. Only a few
of us were able to cry out loudly that the powers that be
should not be all-powerful…

The previous regime - armed with its arrogant and intolerant
ideology - reduced man to a force of production, and nature to
a tool of production. In this it attacked both their very
substance and their mutual relationship. It reduced gifted and
autonomous people, skillfully working in their own country, to
the nuts and bolts of some monstrously huge, noisy and stinking
machine, whose real meaning was not clear to anyone. It could
not do more than slowly but inexorably wear out itself and all
its nuts and bolts.

When I talk about the contaminated moral atmosphere… I am
talking about all of us. We had all become used to the totalitarian
system and accepted it as an unchangeable fact and thus helped
to perpetuate it. In other words, we are all - though naturally
to differing extents - responsible for the operation of the
totalitarian machinery. None of us is just its victim.
We are all also its co-creators.

Why do I say this? It would be very unreasonable to understand
the sad legacy of the last forty years as something alien, which
some distant relative bequeathed to us. On the contrary, we have
to accept this legacy as a sin we committed against ourselves. If
we accept it as such, we will understand that it is up to us all,
and up to us alone to do something about it. We cannot blame the
previous rulers for everything, not only because it would be untrue,
but also because it would blunt the duty that each of us faces today:
namely, the obligation to act independently, freely, reasonably and
quickly.

Freedom and democracy include participation and therefore
responsibility from us all.

Masaryk based his politics on morality. Let us try, in a new time
and in a new way, to restore this concept of politics. Let us teach
ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a
desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than
of a need to cheat or rape the community. Let us teach ourselves and
others that politics can be not simply the art of the possible,
especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue,
secret deals and pragmatic maneuvering, but that it can also be the
art of the impossible, that is, the art of improving ourselves and
the world.

Our main enemy today is our own bad traits: indifference to the common good, vanity, personal ambition, selfishness, and rivalry. The main struggle will have to be fought on this field.

———-

As Jim Webb says, it’s a time to fight. Fortunately, the times they are a-changin’.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

I’m honestly more disturbed by the total lack of respect for the difficulty and stress of being a senior executive than i am by the fact that this guy committed fraud because he was greedy. Most people wouldn’t get so caught up in being Gordon Gecko that they forgot the end of the movie, when everyone goes to jail for insider trading after Gecko brings down the company to make a quick buck. So I don’t really worry about that. What does worry me is the fact that so many americans seem to believe that the only greedy people involved here were CEO’s (who aparently do nothing and have no responsiblities…?) and Wall Street types. What about the people who bought houses at inflated prices through the use of sub-prime mortgages? What about the people who have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt? What about the people who flat out lied on their loan applications? Our governement went out of it’s way to encourage a culture of over spending and under saving. It used to be that if you wanted to buy a house or a car you had to prove that you could afford it, provide a down payment and show you had a job. Then it became aparent that some people didn’t have jobs, and saving for a down payment was annoying. So like the general laziness that pervades our culture, rather than try to help Americans develop good spending habits or achieve an income allowing them to afford thier dream house congress pushed banks to lower lending standards. Guess what happens when you lend money to someone with no demonstrated ability to pay you back? They default. We have people in this country with HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS in credit card debt. There are two problems here. The credit card company should have cut them off long ago, but clearly the spender is at least, if not more, responsible for their own position. IF YOU DON”T HAVE MONEY DON”T BUY EXPENSIVE THINGS. There are a large number of Americans who manage to live within their means even as they struggle to get by. But to write this crisis off as something that the “do nothing CEOs” (has anyone ever seen one of these guys, by the way?) or the “lazy Investment Bankers” (most of these guys work over 100 hours per week) did to us, rather than something we caused them to do, enabled them to do, or did to ourselves isn’t getting us anywhere. Americans, who make no effort to restrain their spending, continue to steadfastly refuse to look in the mirror and accept responsiblity for the crisis we find ourselves in.

Level the playing field by declaring every American as having an
800 credit score from this day forward. Completely do away with
any and all credit cards and have debit cards only. Either offer
every American the same health coverage as those in Congress,
that allegedly represent us, or take theirs away and return to them
serving because of some higher calling. Outlaw special interest
groups and contributions, with penalty of life in prison when discovered, without loopholes of any kind. Pass an amendment
protecting all of our civil liberties, given the fact that we are now
traversing a socialistic path.

Isn’t this a form of psychosis? Wow.

We wonder what the heck is wrong with the world, and now we know, there are too many people running around thinking life is a Hollywood Flick.

I knew a number of girls growing up who thought they were Scarlet O’Hara. And even referred to the guys they liked as “Rhett Butler” when the guys were plainly nothing like them.

I prefer to live an authentic life.

The gov’t is cutting back spending on education, social programs and elderly care. I hope to never hear the words “we cannot due to budget constraints.” I know exactly where the money went!!! We have excused these guys making millions of dollars while americans literally starve. Just about every rep and dem should be investigated along with wallstreet. If you open up Pelosi’s, McCain’s or Obama’s ledger you might be surprised. The same lawmakers who allowed this also benefitted from it.
We need a complete paradigm shift. What is left of our capitalist society when all the capital is gone? There is a map. Can you connect the dots.

trickle down economics is designed to benefit….the same people who now…..
welfare is strictly be design….
automakers produce substandard vehicles with poor gas mileage which in turn….
tax breaks for corporations to operate which in turn…..

These Wall Street people are not visionaries like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs who started with nothing and invented entire industries. These Wall Street CEO’s did nothing but go to the right schools and shake the right hands. They are glorified salesmen who invent nothing but financial paper. The salaries and bonuses they command are obscene……….and i’m a republican! I believe that people should be paid what they earn and in minimal government interference. But, the greed has gone unchecked and there is nobody steering this economy. My only fear is that the government people who get involved in this regulation will be even less competent, cost tax payers a fortune, and become another version of the IRS.

If I may Abbie, I would like to say a little more in response to your questions; what characters are we trying to portray? How does our role-playing affect our future? And in a perfect world, who should we be emulating?

What characters are we TRYING to portray, and what SHOULD we actually portray? Those are, all too often, polar opposites. But, then are not mutually exclusive either.

Is having a role-model the same as trying to portray a character that is not in reality us, or is it the same as trying to emulate somebody else? I think it is good to have role-models so we can be inspired by another person’s actions and behavior. But, we are NOT that person, we have not experienced the same challenges and obstacles they have, nor de we have the same sets of skills and abilities.

To try to emulate or portray somebody else is an excersize in futility. We are ourselves. Approaching our life’s issues ans situations through the eyes and ears of another person’s experience is like wearing somebody elses glasses. Just because they are glasses does not mean that they will help our vision, they could in fact make our vision worse and further damage our sight.

My point is that we are ourselves. We are unique. Yes we can take heart in another person’s triumphs and success, and perhaps applying some of their ideas and strategies to fit our individual situation. But to try and cut-and-paste a plan of action, a lifestyle, and a way of approaching the road of life is a mistake. The minute we try to keep up with the neighbors or the person in the corner office, we lose sight of ourselves and our own role in this world and start on a path that will only lead to frustration and impossible dreams.

We need to look into the mirror and see who’s looking back. Yes, Wall Street and CEO’s are a problem, however, when we all saw our 401K’s going up and we starting talking about early retiement no one really cared about CEO pay or Wall Street ethics. We just wanted them to make more money for all of our 401K plans and stock in general. We all saw this coming, if we are honest. Who in their right mind would sign for a house knowing full well they couldn’t afford it, with a plan that called for paying just the interest on it. Who in their right mind would allow a person to apply for and get a loan with no documentation…no one, but our 401K kept on going up and up and up as did home values. When my daughters tell me “Wow, Dad, I am making $75K” I tell them what my grand-father said to me ” it’s just a measurement of how much your dollar today can’t buy compared to what it could buy years ago” Remember, after WWII in Germany it took a wheel barrow of money to buy one loaf of bread. True, different times, but very similiar…
So, as I said earlier, look in the mirror and tell the person looking back, “you are part of the problem and part of the solution…” As I have said to my daughters, “live within your means, increase your means through education, skill, and experience, but live within your means.”

We all should be emulating the great one, Al Bundy ! Although many circumstances rarely worked out in his favor for him he always id the best he could and had the right intentions. That’s what made hime different from the wolves of wall street, not the money.

Obivously this person is worthless, really never had anything, he was EMPTY, so the hell with him. WALL STREET, look at the CEOs of these companies, they need to bring crimminal charges against them, and they should pay the money back to Taxpayers. They must PAY!

OK-Capitalism doesn’t work anymore. Shall we try Democratic Socialism for awhile and see if we can do as well as the EU?

Does anybody answer direct questions anymore?

Gordon Gekko was a fictional character and as such is an exgeration which is the case with most fictional characters. While there’s things to be learned from exgerated characters (i.e. while ambition is good, boundless greed is not), living your life in direct emulation of one is straight up stupid as the “wolf of Wall Street” and his $100 mil in the hole can attest to.

A fool and his money will soon part ways.

Do any of you people really think that any of this is going to stop on Wall Street? The recently announced $500K pay cap is a joke…all you have to do is pay the guys $300K and give them $20mio worth of stock or options…..bingo, theyve just gotten around it. why do you think no one on wall street is protesting this????? because they all know its a sham. paulson is just protecting his cronies. (and its well known that paulson just took the treasury job in order to not have to pay capital gains on the $500mio of goldman sachs stock that he owned.) chris cox (SEC chairman) refuses to reinstate the uptick rule, he refuses to mandate that hedge funds discolse their short positions….theyre all just looking out for each other. dick fuld wasnt even anywhere near the highest paid person at lehman…the heads of the trading desks all made more than fuld but those dont have to get reported to the public.

in the 80’s it was junk bonds, in the 90’s it was tech stocks, in the new century it was mortgage securities….cant anyone see that wall street will ALWAYS find new ways of scamming the system and then create even newer ways after they all blow up.

I think it interesting that the main character of this column should be asking questions regarding what character a person should play. The blog’s author indeed looks very familiar like a Michelle Pheiffer in the first place which probably was the reason why the Wolf of Wall Street aaroused the question in the first place. Which begs the question: Must we play that character whom we look like in life. If that were the case, I hav ebeen either a Scott Backula, David Duchovny, or Richard Gere and none of these characters arouse a kind of kindred spirit to associate with, other than perhaps Duchovny, and X FILES.

DON’T HATE THE PLAYERS PEOPLE. HATE THE GAME.

Wall Street should not get all the blame here people……….I am sorry you lost your retirment, I realy am, but you should have saved more, you should have diversified better, stop buying new cars every few years, stop piggy banking your house. It takes two to tango, all Wall Street did was cast out a line and you people bit hook,line and sinker…..

This story just breaks my heart. I agree with everything Carol said in her post as well as the others.
I’m 26 yrs old and I went through a similar situation right after college. You know, in college they fill you up with hope and what you should do to succeed in the real world, but when you actually get there it’s nothing like it. I saw abuse of power and no one saying anything; I saw Directors of Nursing claiming they had 5 weeks of vacation when it was only 4 weeks, they took their sick days and then dimished others for “claiming” to be sick. When I and another co-worker decided to bring attention to these tactics plus more, we were alienated to the point that it drove us from the company.

These people don’t deserve any MONEY, any HELP, or any BAILOUT! I had in my retirement thus far close to $8,000, I called AIG for my money and they told me that I would be taxed 10% from the IRS and 20% because I’m not of age to take the money out. Now who gives a DAMN about age… I DON’T HAVE A JOB!!!!!

Hale:

I couldn’t agree more with your assessment. If you have more debt than a reasonable (affordable) mortgage, and a car payment (affordable), then you are to blame. If you got in over your head, I have no interest in, and no responsibility for, your quandry. You weren’t personally responsible for your actions, and you’ll have to pay the price. In spite of what your parents, the courts, the marketing world and the media have implied or expressed - there ultimately is a price you’ll have to pay - and yes mam, that is fair. Those of us that aren’t in debt are so because of what we’ve done - or haven’t done. I want my income tax spent on schools and health care, not on your mortgage or your Merc payments.

Em, does the Adelaide ring a bell?

By the way for all of you that think sharing the wealth is the answer or capping salary at 500k grow up, this is america, work harder, get a better education, your story is wearing thin, i worked my butt off to get where i am, i came from a blue collar up bringing, I will be damned if I am going to share my money, it seems like the lower classes want a hand out……..the ceos work harder than any blue collar union jerk off ever has, there are no 40 hour work weeks, or union bennefits you take what is yours and you take it before your competition does,America has become a country of whiners and wimps………work harder, work smarter and may you to can have a little more money

Wall Street does have a place in our society and economy, as it is one of the most important engines to drive the world’s financial system. For people who do not understand Wall Street, I do not think they realize how important Wall Street is to our economy (i.e. the bailout program which so many ignorant people hated only until their companies started going out of business or until their 401ks started declining). Wall Street guys should be compensated more because they work their butts off. Also, most people do not realize that $300,000 in NYC is like making $100,000 in Rochester, NY.

However, Wall Street guys should also be punished harder if they do wrong - and this punishment should not just be in the form of losing their jobs, but rather should be in the form of fiduciary liability as we are stewards of other people’s money. There should be some sort of retroactive punishment for managers blowing up their firms and funds.

In summary, I think people who do not understand Wall Street should not be so quick to judge. However, as someone who is in Wall Street, I do agree that there should be tighter regulation and oversight.

Greed should be punished, but ambition and motivation should be rewarded… and there are a lot of good “God-fearing” “family loving” Wall Street guys out there.

Buy it. Sell it. Make a profit. It doesn’t matter what it is. Doesn’t matter if we need it or want it.
It’s All Tuna! is where you can find out about how the “market” treats its customers. Our lives are something for them to buy and sell and on which to make a profit. When the profits begin to fail, they make us “lend” them our futures too.

Kevin Phillips wrote in Bad Money that the Canadian financial community a few years ago wanted the government and news media to declare a credit emergency in order to get a bailout. They failed to get what they wanted. Our Congress was not so smart. Naomi Klein wrote us a history of laissez-faire economics in her book Shock Doctrine and demonstrates how far the powerful financial institutions will go to make a profit. Rampant Capitalism is just as bad as zealous Socialism.

The non-sustainability of unregulated capitalism comes because of the predation that is part of the financial culture of people who see The Market as a place to buy and sell without regard to the collateral damage that is done. We all love the gasoline that comes from oil and the US buys 25% of the Niger Delta oil production. The people there live in the worst poverty and polluted environment on earth. But the market measures it performance in profits not quality human lives.

Non-sustainability leads to the Principle of Imminent Collapse and future misery for billions of humans.

If he had the 100 million he owes it should have been taken from him before he got out of jail. If he doesn’t have it then he’s broke. When someone is broke, they live in a small studio apartment, paying month to month or maybe even week to week. They have no transportation beyond walking. They eat whatever they can cook on the hot plate in their apartment. What do you want to bet that this does not even remotely resemble Belfort’s post –jail lifestyle?

Unless the people who cheated, deceived and stole pay a heavy price of long prison sentences in real prisons, not rich people jail, nothing will change. Give it a few years for the market to come back around, and then you will see the same greedy and selfish b*s* again. No serious consequence equals no serious change.

If I steel a candy bar I go to jail, and that’s why we don’t steel. However, in the USA there is a different standard for people with money, and I bet everything I own, which isn’t much, that hardly anyone spends time in jail for the Wall Street scandals.

If you want real change you have to do something about it that extends beyond changing just yourself. Reach out and push for change, even when it seems impossible.

I am rich. No silver spoon. Made it on my own, including working in the investment banking and real estate industries. I got rich because I desired to work in such a way as to have the potential for unlimited income. I just couldn’t punch a clock and recieve the same paycheck each month. I have suffered at times for my choice, but it was my choice. Ethics, integrity and fairness are a permanent part of my daily constitution. Some people have them and some don’t. That’s the way of the world.

I too am ticked off at the recent financial fiasco. It has cost me a lot of money and more to come. However, I am a capitalist to the core. The securities and investment banking industries have provided money and funding to thousands of small business entrepenuers who have fueled a great economy and we have exported this financial technology worldwide. We have just witnessed a historical event in the finance history. Time will tell if it will work as planned. I believe it was the best of a lot of bad choices and the alternative could have been much worse. The Great Depression is the primary example. It caused worldwide pain and led directly to WW2. This fragile global economy does not need that kind of choas.

Of utmost importance is to make sure that the wheels of our economy don’t slow down any more than they are slowing down now. We must have a large supply of capital and credit to consumers and business. Let’s not overreact, over regulate, and demonize an industry. And let’s not condemn highly paid executives. I work to make as much money as I possibly can, live a responsible life, and create value for my employees, customers and my community. We have a free market system and it will work efficiently. The days of derivatives, subprime credit and credit swap defaults are over; but creative financing is not and new products will be offered and should be offered as soon as possible. Caveat emptor!

I read his book and his lack of morality permeates every part of it. Jordan Belfort is a complete failure as a human being. What else can anyone say?

The person portrayed here is just one type of person that we all seem to think caused all of our problems. The fact is that the problems were caused by everyday people who decided that they absolutly had to have that half a million dollar house when they knew the only way they could do it would be to take a loan paying only interest for 3-5 years/with a variable rate they could not afford.

The warnings were there for years and everyone ignored them. Do the CEO’s of the world have something to do with this, maybe, but in THIS instance it is 100% the US population that was at fault and we now expect the government to bail us out. now THAT is a real problem, my taxes have to go to help people who were not responsible enough to think ahead.

I know a person who actually advised me to take out a home equity loan in order to put a downpayment on a second house. And then “flip” it. he did this until he went bankrupt last year. Nothing to show for all of his so called high living. So now we have to bail HIM out?

I agree with much of what hale said….

Who’s fault is it? Everyone and no one.

It’s the government’s fault for pushing for lower standards….

It’s the home buyer’s fault for being completely irresponsible and taking out loans they know they couldn’t afford.

It’s the home owner’s fault and/or home investor’s fault for quite willingly cashing in on the real estate bubble (which in large part was caused by the flood of home buyers) - flipping property, selling their house/property for a ridiculous price just because they could, taklng out large home equity loans on that BOOM, etc, etc.

It’s the banks fault for actually lowering their standards and handing out money to those who had no business getting it; and then making a large profit off of it by selling those loans.

It’s wall street’s fault for going too far in the securitization of those “unwise” loans and making and increasing bets on something that was destined to collapse at some point.

In short, anyone, who in any way shape or from profited form the BOOM has resonisbility in this mess. That virtually inlcudes everyone in this country, from the CEO to the gardner who got more work because of the all the people who earned 50,000 a year but purchsed a 600,00 house.

Get my point? Maybe there are a few people who truly had nothing to do with this but there are not many, that is for certain. The fact is no one at the top or for lack of a better word at the bottom of the food chain questioned a damn thing when there was a BOOM. To turn around now and cry wall street wall street wall sreet, is ignorance on our part and in fact just as shameful as what led us here. The entire population is greedy, not just wall street.

In reality, its everyone’s fault, and therefore no one’s. We ALL need to learn from it, move on as best we can and try not to repeat the same mistakes - but please stop throwing stones when you live in a galss house.

SDN:

Unfortunately our income tax can’t be spent on schools or health care (even though the past administration never intended to use money for those honorable purposes anyway) — now the money HAS to be used to prop up our failed economy.

I personally have no debt. I own my cars, have 0 balance on my 6 credit cards, and pay my monthly mortgage payment promptly on time. I’ve done it all “right.” But I believe that the failure of this economy cannot be blamed on those who took out loans and/or credit cards they couldn’t afford. They would not have been able to do so if it weren’t for the preditory lenders!! Yes, those who took the loans will pay the price, the question is: will the lenders?

BTW — how do you feel about our tax money being used to spread “democracy” through a war that is costing us 16-billion dollars a month. That would certainly pay for a lot of books, and checkups!

American society has changed since the good ol’ days of the 1950’s with the idea of credit. See, people in that era had only one car, a modest home and for much of the time only one income coming into each household. The media has influenced all of us, especially our youth with shows like “sweet sixteen, the Godi kids and all the great lives of celeberties” and what do these kids go off and do? They emulate these kids and want what they have, pressure is then placed on each parent to provide, provide, provide. But lets not blame this solely on our youth because adults are no different - instead of looking up to our parents for these ‘extra’ things we run to the bank, pull out loans we dont need and buy almost everything on credit. Some example we are.

To sit here and be upset and blame CEO’s and corporate executives is preposterous because we all let this happen. Do those greedy people deserve to be punished? Absolutely! They should pay every excess amount of fraudulent money spent. However, this must have lifestyle is inbedded in us. Our society will still try and figure out new ways to have it all and eventually another economic downturn will re-surface. We all need to focus less on materialistic things and more on family, community and econimic stability for all.

The idea of a perfect world depends on one’s values and beliefs. In mine a perfect world is where we all have the freedom and ability to live peacefully and comfortably. In a perfect world I would emulate families like the brady bunch but instead alot of us emulate households like the Kardishians, MTV cribs and Ashley Simpson when they can only really afford to live the of The Waltons or Father Knows Best.

Matt,
You need to grow up and learn something other than greed and selfishness. You seem very narrow minded.

I agree that some people are only looking for handouts and we need a system that doesn’t help those who aren’t trying to help themselves or our society. However, there are plenty of people who work for a reason other than money, and without them our country and this world wouldn’t have the opportunities you have had. Do you really think the teachers who taught you teach for the money??? Please, grow up, open your eyes, and your mind. Just because you may know business doesn’t mean that you know how the world works.

Another thing, if you think all, or even most, CEO’s work as hard as the people under them you really don’t have a clue. Do you have any idea how many people work for a salary and work far more than 40 hours. All you have to do is go to a golf course in any town and you will find CEO’s who consider golf with business partners “hard work”. Get real! I’ll debate your narrow minded butt any day.

Tell me Matt - have you, in your entire career, actually produced something tangible? Are you a steelworker, or a teacher, a building contractor, a dam builder, an engineer?

Perhaps you’ve (unintentionally?) revealed your true self with expressions such as “lower class”, “blue collar union jerk-offs” and “I’ll be damned if I am going to share my money”. I suppose my perspective is more like; the difference between the price of an Jetta and an Enzo is several thousand lives lost to starvation. Oh well…….

How exactly do you determine “what is yours”? I just couldn’t resist asking the fundamental question; “How much is enough”? I suspect you, Richard Fuld and the balance of the American Aristocracy have a common “mindset” (if you’ll pardon the expression). I think it’s historically been called “shit on your neighbor” - by just about everyone - from however, very different perspectives.

Makes for a very civil society - don’t you think? You can do what you want to “lower class blue-collar union jerk-offs”, and they can do what the want to you. Last time I heard, that exercise is called ‘anarchy”, and it is very dangerous ground for amateurs.

SDN,
Good point. Matt lives in a very small bubble that people with greater minds protect for him.

MM,
Pure Capitalism doesn’t work. Pure Capitalism doesn’t work, pure Socialism doesn’t work, and pure Communism doesn’t work. There is no one answer. It requires a delicate balance of social support and capitalist drive. However, in order for the balance to work everyone must understand both sides of the solution and work to keep it balanced. Otherwise, we swing wildly from side to side, and never make any real progress. Balance in government, balance in society, and balance as individuals.

This is a load of ****. Blaming everyone on Wall St for the collapse of the housing/credit bubble - which is a global problem - is ridiculous.

The bubble was years in the making and involved numerous misjudgements of risk in the process from borrower to mortgage broker, to securities firm to ultimate investor. cases of fraud are probably concentrated w/ the borrower (lying about his income) and the mortgage broker (pushing a loan & misrepresenting the risk). But because the public is unwilling to understand the current situation, or take responsiblity for their own financial decisions, it is easier to blame wall street - even though they were middle men in the transactions.

There are some bad apples but that is the case w/ any profession. But because a person makes a high salary that does not make them greedy. Many of the wealthy are extremely generous in their donations, so it is not fair to stereotype. Furthermore, models, actors, and athletes make obscene amounts of money, but if that is what they can command so be it. Investment banking/trading demands more hours than most people work and it is risky in that you can be fired very easily. Some people have to make their money in the good years.

I am not trying to defend the performance/morality of everyone but blindly blaming “the greed on Wall St” is stupid and dangerous.

Nanette:

You should be proud of yourself. I do, however, take exception to one thing you mentioned; even in a world of “predatory lenders” (and innumerable others of the same ilk), we are all responsible for the decisions we make. The predators are, without doubt, more clever than most of us, but still, we do make those decisions. I just don’t see the logic in paying my mortgage, and helping my neighbor pay his.

You are certainly right about the war(s) - we’ve invaded a couple sovereign countries, and executed a head of state. Federal law prohibits these acts. Federal law and international laws strictly forbid torture under any and all circumstances. We have chosen to ignore this - to the peril of our troops both now and in the future.

I wrote a little ditty about my views on our present mentality - so I’ll paste it on. It is bound to inspire comment - both positive and negative.

I’ll say this; as long as our cultural heroes and heroines across the globe are soldiers, our so-called “civilization” hasn’t a chance of long-term survival. Our “progress”, in the technology of slaughter on a massive scale, has assured us of that. Soldiers, worldwide, are for the most part young – naïve, impressionable, innocent people that have been conned (trained, programmed – rationalize as you wish), in the name of “patriotism”, into advancing, at the cost of theirs and countless other’s lives, the interests of a small group of singularly remorseless, utterly self-absorbed Machiavellian aberrations of the human spirit. Hard to imagine someone who has accumulated a vast fortune, selling weapons to both sides of a conflict, possessing sufficient myopic arrogance to accuse child molesters, drug dealers, or anyone else for that matter, of being “evil”. Soldiers, their comrades, their families, their friends, their neighbors, their country and this planet are the gruesome, painful and permanent victims of these lowest of life-forms. Millions of other blameless and helpless victims, sadly, follow in kind.

Where we ever got the idea that economically disastrous, meticulously organized, socially, culturally and religiously sanctioned maiming/suicide/genocide was in some way ‘justified’ or ‘holy’, is way, way, beyond my intellectual and spiritual scope of comprehension. If we choose, for example, teachers as our inspiration, or heroes, our chances of surviving the next 100 years will rise exponentially. How many of these same soldiers possess the preference, will and abilities to become the future’s most inspiring and encouraging teachers, physicians, authors, artists or scientists? I suggest virtually all of these young people have the requisite qualities. I support our troops – not with the tools of horror and death - but with my confidence that they could and would make the future of our planet and our species a far more appealing prospect than the pandemic mayhem that now surrounds us.

Brian,

Unfettered capitalism and pure laissez faire is not what I, nor the CEOs that I know promote. On the other hand, we have a “headline” oriented public who generally doesn’t even begin to “understand both sides of the solution” and as such, we are likely to have one of the most Socialist Presidents in American history. Joe the Plumber asked the question and Obama said that it would be “better to spread the wealth”. I live in California…a long held Democratic state with the highest income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and regulations that drive out businesses everyday. Los Angeles is like a third world country because so much money is being spent on illegal immigrants and not on infrastructure. So although Matt’s characterizations of the “lower classes” precludes intelligent discourse, I understand his disdain for sharing his wealth with others.

I absolutely think that everyone should have a role model. My question: should the role model be self serving at the detriment of others?

As for Wallstreeters, they have, in effect, bankrupted our country (if not the entire global economy) and they are getting off without a scratch. Not only that, but they devised a brilliant scheme by which they transfer the bill onto us.

Of course they are brilliant. They are all buddies from the same alumnis that teach that greed is good and government regulation is bad. These lessons are their mantra. They do, however, incorporate a footnote that states that government should intervene to sell the little people a scary story when funds are needed.

The politicians and wall streeters (one and the same) scratch each others backs. Treasury secretary Paulson is an old crony from Goldman Sachs who proposes that the bailout should be funded by taxing the American people a trillion dollars. That money will then be used to employ his cronies like Bill Gross to manage and allocate these funds.

In other words, those who made billions getting us into this will now make billions ‘managing’ us out . Brilliant! Pass the champagne and caviar.

They use the media to bombard us with propaganda about how WE must foot the bill or else WE will be responsible for the downfall of our economy. The media aggressively complies and shouts this message at us every second of the day. Selling stories is their business. This makes for great headlines. Predictable.

Paulson implores congress to act ‘urgently’. No details needed because this stuff is too complicated for little minds. Trust is required that the brilliant will do what is in America’s best interest. Congress, in fear of losing their comfortable living, and being blamed for the demise of our economy, passes the buck. Predictable. Mission accomplished. Pass the finest scotch you have!

Well done. Can you blame the brilliant for hosting a shindig to celebrate their brilliantness. The little people pay $1 trillion to solve the ‘problem’. They make billions managing the trillion, continue to live in mansions, drink the finest champagne, drive ferraris, and fund their elite institutions. In fact, and of this they are most proud, the confused little people are greatful to them for the ‘rescue’.

Finally, the brilliant pay off their cronies with contracts, appointments to high office, donations to their elite educational institutions and life is VERY good.

Mysteriously, the mantra in our elite educational institutions continues to be: ‘Remember, no government intervention (while we make our money), just bailouts (when we get into a mess)’ …but let’s put some fancy words around it so that the little people will be too confused to figure it out. And let’s require that our students take an ‘ethics’ class so it will look like we ‘give a ___’. Brilliant!

Oh…stay tuned for Oliver’s movie; guaranteed to create another generation of self serving _________________.

Your own greed is taking you where your deserve to be, every Empire falls for the same reason…GREED!

MM:

That too is a fundamental misconception or is intentional misdirection. The securties and investment industries have not provided one cent of money or funding to anyone - American (and other) investors have. The issue is this; while the securities and investment industries have passed the investment capital from the American investor to the American businessman, they have taken for themselves a commission that is, and has been, an insult the American public will no longer tolerate.

Predatory lenders….sure. on 360 last night there was a story about a company that was taking information from potential home buyers, then changing it to make them qualify for a bigger loan and subsidizing the mortgage for a short period of time so no one was any the wiser. This kind of fraud must be punished to the full extent of the law. and if the law doesn’t go far enough then we should change it to go farther. In my opinion any company that was found to be comitting mortgage fraud on this scale should have to pay the mortgage out of their own pocket and give the people the home.

But lets not confuse Predatory action, intentionally taking advantage of people, with general stupidity on the part of everyone involved. Where is the predation in loans that were given out in good faith following the laws that encouraged or required such loans? We’re all culpable here. I live within my means as well, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t root for the stock market to keep going up and it doesn’t mean I asked enough questions loudly enough. Until people stopped watching Paris Hilton and music videos and shows like entourage that encourage the worship of conspicuous spending we will continue the cycle of valuless over consumption.

CEO salaries have escalated massively in recent years in part because of the use of “executive compensation consultants” many of which have conflicts of interest above and beyond the inheirent conflict in their very existence. Boards are hiring people to consult on the compensation of the board memebers. Obviously these consultants try to justify as large a compensation package as possible, otherwise they won’t get the next job. In addition many of these “independant” consultants are receiving a fee many times larger for other consulting opinions rendered to the same company, brought in by the same executives whose salaries they are advising on. Where is the outrage at this? Where are the laws regulating this behavior?

MM,
What do you really expect from a system that swings from one side to the other when one side goes too far? We have had a very irresponsible capitalist driven system in place for the last 8 years, so now we will swing equally as far to the other side, most likely anyway. However, I think you are wrong to say we will have one of the most Socialist Presidents in history. Are you prepared to say that we have had one of the most irresponsible capitalist presidents for the last 8 years? Also, you are judging someone before they have had a chance which is wrong. On top of that you are caught up in the crap McCain’s campaign leaders are shoveling. “Joe the Plumber” isn’t even a licensed plumber, he doesn’t earn what he claims, his boss isn’t selling the business, and his boss doesn’t make over $250,000. It’s all bs. Do some research on that guy outside of McCain talk and FOX news. Research anything a campaign says before you take it as fact.
The fact is that irresponsible capitalism created such a separation between those at the top and everyone else that something has to be done to close that gap or the system will completely fall apart. To be clear, I hate the two party crap pile of a system we have, but that is what we have and you need to realize that no side is always correct. If we stayed with one side for too long the entire system would collapse. Those at the top need us people in the middle and bottom to have money too. If you don’t understand that then you are blinded by your money as to how economics really work. Are you going to buy your own products and/or services? The system needs rebalanced, but not a leveling out and leveling is not what Obama proposes. Again, you need to do some research.
People at the top always support top to bottom economics (i.e. “Reaganomics” or “trickle down”) which is a completely idiotic concept/economic strategy, and they never support giving some back even when they have been given too much. That is called greed. The reality is that those at the top have had their party, their day in the sun, their wide open capitalism and they made a killing off of it, but it has created serious problems. Now a correction has to be made. The party is over. It simply has to swing the other way unless you want things to get worse. I think everyone is somewhat responsible for the problems we have, but greed was the biggest cause and those people at the top are the greediest of us all. Time to pay up.

SDN,

I’m not sure what misconception/misdirection you are referring to. I am aware of the middleman aspect of Wall Street…an essential ingredient to many types of industries. I don’t agree with you though that Americans will not tolerate high commissions or compensation. It is the law of supply and demand and if it (capital) is in demand enough, people will tolerate the middleman’s compensation in order to get affordable and readily available access to a needed component of the daily business of life. Should we cap CEO salary? No. Should we have better oversight of Wall Street without hamstringing them? Yes.

My concern with the tone of the blog in general is that somehow “business” and super successful people are to blame for all of life’s ills. It’s naive and reactionary.

MM,
The problem is that CEO’s and investment middle men get these ridiculous compensations without proving that what they have done will work and won’t cause long term problems. Hell, even if what they do fails miserably and creates tons of problems they still get massive compensation while everyone else pays for the mistakes. That’s not right.

Hale,
Good point. I agree.

Brian,

There is a “market” for the services middlemen provide, regardless of industry or country. It just so happens that the Wall Street “market” for services is at the highest end of all the norms for really any other industry. And now, to the credit of a free enterprise system, that “market” price for those services will be greatly devalued and restructured to align with shareholder values and fiduciary responsibilities to the actual source of the funds…namely investors like you and me. And that will occur. Bear in mind that their fees are often fixed for a particular investment sold. When a stock or other investment goes up in value substantially, I don’t see investors wanting to pay extra for the recommendation, underwriting or due diligence. Risk cannot be ignored as a fundamental fact of life in investments. Risk reward is why we invest and all those buyers of mortgage backed securities were hoping for high returns, without fully understanding the risk…so they bought the AIG insurance which had no capital reserve behind it.

Unfortutnately, the market is not as efficient with the respect to the elected “servants” of our government. We continuously have incompetent and corrupt politicians who spend more than half their time consumed with perpetuating their careers and not providing “service” to their constituents. This prez campaign, and the choices before us is a sad commentary of our times. I’d like to see a good solid businessman run the country, like Buffet, Gates, Bloomberg, Forbes. But no, we have to prioritize where one stands on abortion or gays first. I’m more disgusted about this than the financial mess, but I guess that’s for another blog.

Congratulations Carol A. Entwistle - your comments were on the mark. Just look at the daily gyrations of the Dow on Wall Street - the stock market is no longer a barometer of value, but has become a “casino game for market gamers” interested in quick profits, with no real interest in the company, it’s long term value or growth - in fact they will be just as happy to profit selling it “short” for a gain as it’s value slides ; the Amercian dream of home ownership has digressed into 30 minute infomercials on buying foreclosures or investment homes “with no money down” for a quick turn around and profit; and, the majority hard working employees in many corporations - the backbone and reason for success of those companies - have become pawns for the select in management, chosen for their “ability” to manage and grow the business, who manipulate them and look for ways to squeeze every last bit of their knowhow and ability to increase the bottom line - not for the long term - but to push their bonuses and stock options higher before the inevitable fall due to selfish and foolish pla