Be it the czar of a Columbian drug cartel like Pablo Escobar or a respected Wall Street investment banker like Lloyd Blankfein, the average American citizen is just as likely to have their life destroyed should they consume either of these monster’s poisonous products.
Even though the late Mr. Escobar was credited with the killings of vast numbers of innocents in order to keep his product moving throughout the world, he still enjoyed the love of and respect of those that benefited and or profited from his criminal enterprises. One could even argue he helped keep thousands of people employed and local governments solvent through a constant infusion of bribes and payoffs, along with huge contributions toward public works and social programs.
Without the large sums of the Medellin cartel’s capital flowing through the local economies, many of the smaller and midsized towns and villages would have simply dried up and died. Yeah, even a horrid person like the madman from Medellin could be found doing the right thing, even if it was just smart public relations. Nevertheless, we must not forget he was a poison salesman and his products were toxic to anyone foolhardy enough to take a taste.
We only bring this to your attention, since our NYC Mayor, Michael “Big Bucks” Bloomberg will likely continue to make a case for going easy on finance reform. Due to the city’s projected budget shortfalls, he is sure to keep making the connection between the billions of taxable income generated on Wall Street and the big Apple’s ability to keep police and firefighters responding to emergencies, teachers in the classrooms, the trains running on time and the garbage being picked up regularly. All this could be jeopardized, if “too many government regulations” stifle the business community’s ability to make money here.
Again, we must not forget, many of those so-called respectable Wall Street banking and investment dealers have acted as viciously and recklessly as some of the worst dope merchants from Afghanistan. In fact, one could say men like Lloyd Blankfein, Michael Fuld and John Paulson, among many others, are far worse than their drug cartel counterparts are, because the damage they are capable of is far greater.
Arrogantly gambling with the nation’s wealth, security and future, they conducted their own criminal enterprises with one single solitary goal in mind-the attainment of unbridled personal wealth. Without the slightest regard for America’s interest, they instigated, oversaw, nurtured and protected a financial bubble until it was ready to burst. Then with cold dispassionate selfishness and total detachment from humanity, they cashed in at the expense of the taxpayers, pension and college funds, as well as the solvency of state and municipal governments.
The CEOs of the Wall Street banking cartels, along with the whistle blowers they had paid off, silenced or otherwise marginalized, were clearly able to see the looming financial carnage months if not years ahead. Yet they did nothing but sit quietly by, awaiting the financial collapse of our lifetime. The thought that millions of innocent Americans would be losing their homes and jobs, while sending millions more to welfare lines for food stamps and government assistance, in all probability, was not even a passing one.
As we try to gather enough facts to develop a cogent narrative that would explain the insatiable greed, this writer cannot seem to get much beyond what should be obvious to all by now- why the money merchants saw the disastrous financial outlook as a great business opportunity and not the ethical dilemma it really was.
Without question, Wall Street’s fundamental fiduciary responsibility is to turn a profit and the bigger the profit the better. Moreover, every once in awhile some of those profits should trickle down to the smaller investors. However, when the lion’s share of massive bonuses and profits are going to a select few by making inside bets, with the end results being little old ladies headed to homeless shelters because their retirement earnings tanked through no fault of their own, we think that is more than illegal, that is pure evil.
However, do not be fooled, for said evil described above will be masked and cleverly disguised to seem almost palatable during today’s hearings on Capital Hill. Especially when it can employ its massive resources for pre-paid politicians to run interference against the latest fits of public outrage and calls for reform. No, Americans must see these bastards for whom they truly are-dealers of toxic assets just as lethal as a kilo of blow. We say, if the Republicans in Congress try to negotiate a watered down financial reform bill, Americans should be “just saying no” to many of them in November.