Main Street USA lost 6 trillion dollars to Wall Street. That is to say regular old people who invested in the markets to plan for their futures and build their dreams lost a total of 6 trillion to the likes of Ken Lay, George Bush, Terry McAuliffe and John Kerry Heinz. So what's the difference between 2004 and 1929? How come we are not seeing rich people jump out of Wall Street office buildings except when our
own government blows them up with airplanes and explosives?
Today's Scandals Have a Wider Impact Than Crash of 1929 -- In June, William H. Donaldson, the new chairperson of the SEC, told a group of executives that the current Wall Street fraud and abuse situation is worse than the stock market crash of 1929. Unlike the 1929 crash where the impact was more concentrated among affluent investors, the fraud and abuse by Wall Street now is more widespread--50% of all American households have been hurt and have lost $6 TRILLION in stock value.
In retirement accounts alone, the SEC's Donaldson stated that "between 50 to 60 million investors lost most of the value" of these safety-by-definition accounts. How Did This Happen? "Main Street investors not only trusted corporations, but they also trusted Wall Street firms to do the right thing in underwriting, pricing, and honestly presenting new IPOs (initial public offerings of dot-coms and other companies) and the financial status of seasoned companies," says Young. "Everyone assumed that investments were being made based on sound numbers, proper foundations, fundamentals and unbiased advice. It's Wall Street's obligation to put the interests of investors ahead of their own quest for fees, commissions and investment banking business and to avoid conflicts of interest. In many instances, they did not do that. Main Street suffered horrific consequences and Wall Street must pay for its wrongs."
http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2003/20030826_Headline07_Staff.htm
My favorite commercial is the one with the big ol' bull sitting in the living room ... Freud would have a field day. Here is a major stock broker saying basically they are full of bull. LOL!
While I'm a communist and thought it was funny that Ask Jeeves stock went to 180 dollars a share, and, enjoys a good economic downturn as it allows me to feel superior, and, lay around on my ass bitching about capitalism. I have to say its a crying shame.
The Left vs. Right debate that is so much sound and fury rages on. Two stinking rich blueblood Yalies both funded by essentially the same interests and both with equally horrific plans for the rest of the world compete for the support of the very people they ripped off.
Now we have Edwards to talk about two Americas.
Its enough to put you off your lunch. If you can afford one.
Next time you see the body count on TV, pat yourself on the back. You worked long and hard your whole life to finance war.
Do you think the other America appreciates it? Will you join Ronald Reagan in "the shining city?"
CEO pay rose 27.3% in 2003. Consumer debt has never been higher:
But it might not solve the problem of consumers who are continuing, in effect, to eat their seed corn. It would take a powerful disincentive, like a Fed rate hike, to get people to stop spending and start paying down debt and save more. But to do that would be to court the forces of recession.
"We have a Fed that wants a booming economy, but the only way the consumer can continue to fuel the economy is through continued debt accumulation," said Rosenberg. "I don't know if there's an easy way out.
http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/02/markets/consumerbubble/
Consumers however do fuel our economy. Our government makes money by securitizing mortgage debt. Meaning they are banking on your ability to pay out the ass for a home that is financed at a low rate but at a tremendously inflated price. The houses around here were built in the 1940's as cheaply as could be. So you are looking at buying a 5, 000 home that is over half a century old for a median price of 450, 000. So what. You got a good rate.
Here is the scary part. Where is the collateral?
Establishing exactly what is going on at the Federal Housing Administration is very hard to do from the outside. What we can see more easily is the meteoric expansion in mortgage debt outstanding in the United States, which has far outpaced GDP growth in the years since Hamilton Securities was fired by HUD. At the beginning of 1996, the annual rate of increase in mortgage borrowing in the United States was about $200 billion. That has increased to $900 billion by mid 2003, representing an increase from near 2.5% of GDP to about 8.75% of GDP in the same seven year period, or a more than four-fold increase. The home ownership rate has increased by 2.5% in the same time. What is going on?
http://www.whereisthemoney.org/S00223_collateral.htm
Indeed!
And now for the strangest piece of information. Somehow, someone has got hold of my email address that knows, not only am I in debt up to my eyeballs, but, I have small penis too. Go figure.