Wall Street lost our money in a poker game and now they want more
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Categories: Economic Fairness & Security, Effective & Ethical Government, Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, All Network Posts: Front Page
Categories: Economic Fairness & Security, Effective & Ethical Government, Corporate Accountability / Workers' Rights, All Network Posts: Front Page
Like hundreds of thousands of Americans, I've been trying to figure out what this Wall Street financial crisis will mean to the average person on Main Street. It's hard to plow through the financial technical gobbledygook and make sense of it. However, after watching Congress, the Bush Administration and treasury officials, and the talking heads on TV, it looks like I'm not alone.
So, after days of reading, research, and such, I've come up with a simple analogy to describe what happened to us:
The largest and most expensive poker party in the world
The dealers: Republican-controlled Congress and the White House
The players: Wall Street and Washington bankers, lobbyists, politicians, investment companies, stockbrokers, special interests, hedge funders, insurance firms and such
The house: Taxpayers
House rules: None
Taxpayers put up the stake for the players of this Wall Street poker game through investments in retirement funds, real estate, savings accounts, stocks, credit card lines, and other financial assets to the tune of nearly $3 trillion dollars.
When there were game rules, players were limited to sure bets on their hand. Through deregulation under a decade-long Republican-controlled Congress (thank you, Sen. John McCain) and a two-termed Bush-Cheney Administration, the dealers stacked the deck against the house in favor of the players. Under-the-table pay-offs were made and hidden aces were ignored in exchange for unlimited bet ceilings, made-up wild-card mortgage games, and most importantly, to allow paper IOU's.
Whenever there was house cash on the table, it was quickly pocketed for executive golden parachutes, bonuses, bribes, bottom lines, and such until all the house funds were gone. For years the poker players were exchanging IOU's around the table, adding a few zeros to the end of the past dues until they ran out of paper. Last week, the poker game had to be suspended.
Now, the players and the dealers seek more money from the house to get the game rolling again. To start, the players and dealers not only want the house to buy up the worthless IOU's for $700 billion or more, they want us to throw a signed blank check on the table -- without any court or congressional oversight -- for good measure, too. And no, the trillions we are eventually going to be asked to pay won't cover our losses; our tax money is to cover the players' losses.
The dealers still can't tell us what the new rules are, if any, but we are suppose to trust them to run a clean game this time. However, the dealers insist we allow the players to continue the same betting practices for the good of the world and our pensions. AND now the players can legally exchange bad IOU's for house cash -- no more underhanded deals needed anymore! Just put it all on the taxpayer's tab.
Double or nothing. With a couple of trillion dollars-worth of financial assets already in the players' wallets and purses, do we give them more of our future earnings and assets and hand over our children's bank accounts in hopes that the players will get a few good hands in this Wall Street poker game winning back our lost money? Or do we say "stop," cut our losses, and start all over again?
Unfortunately, we are in a no-win situation. The house is sunk either way. Frankly, I'd rather give up a lot today and stop the game than continue to give the gamblers a chance to lose everything tomorrow. (And if tomorrow is today, the lights are off anyway.)
The only winning hand we are going to get this year is at the ballot box. It's our one chance to throw the dealers and players out of the game and ban them from the casino.
References:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/HowWallStreetGotIntoThisMess.aspx?page=3
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/20/economists-blame-gramm/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html
So, after days of reading, research, and such, I've come up with a simple analogy to describe what happened to us:
The largest and most expensive poker party in the world
The dealers: Republican-controlled Congress and the White House
The players: Wall Street and Washington bankers, lobbyists, politicians, investment companies, stockbrokers, special interests, hedge funders, insurance firms and such
The house: Taxpayers
House rules: None
Taxpayers put up the stake for the players of this Wall Street poker game through investments in retirement funds, real estate, savings accounts, stocks, credit card lines, and other financial assets to the tune of nearly $3 trillion dollars.
When there were game rules, players were limited to sure bets on their hand. Through deregulation under a decade-long Republican-controlled Congress (thank you, Sen. John McCain) and a two-termed Bush-Cheney Administration, the dealers stacked the deck against the house in favor of the players. Under-the-table pay-offs were made and hidden aces were ignored in exchange for unlimited bet ceilings, made-up wild-card mortgage games, and most importantly, to allow paper IOU's.
Whenever there was house cash on the table, it was quickly pocketed for executive golden parachutes, bonuses, bribes, bottom lines, and such until all the house funds were gone. For years the poker players were exchanging IOU's around the table, adding a few zeros to the end of the past dues until they ran out of paper. Last week, the poker game had to be suspended.
Now, the players and the dealers seek more money from the house to get the game rolling again. To start, the players and dealers not only want the house to buy up the worthless IOU's for $700 billion or more, they want us to throw a signed blank check on the table -- without any court or congressional oversight -- for good measure, too. And no, the trillions we are eventually going to be asked to pay won't cover our losses; our tax money is to cover the players' losses.
The dealers still can't tell us what the new rules are, if any, but we are suppose to trust them to run a clean game this time. However, the dealers insist we allow the players to continue the same betting practices for the good of the world and our pensions. AND now the players can legally exchange bad IOU's for house cash -- no more underhanded deals needed anymore! Just put it all on the taxpayer's tab.
Double or nothing. With a couple of trillion dollars-worth of financial assets already in the players' wallets and purses, do we give them more of our future earnings and assets and hand over our children's bank accounts in hopes that the players will get a few good hands in this Wall Street poker game winning back our lost money? Or do we say "stop," cut our losses, and start all over again?
Unfortunately, we are in a no-win situation. The house is sunk either way. Frankly, I'd rather give up a lot today and stop the game than continue to give the gamblers a chance to lose everything tomorrow. (And if tomorrow is today, the lights are off anyway.)
The only winning hand we are going to get this year is at the ballot box. It's our one chance to throw the dealers and players out of the game and ban them from the casino.
References:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/HowWallStreetGotIntoThisMess.aspx?page=3
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html
http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/20/economists-blame-gramm/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html
The welfare of the people is the highest law
Cicero
I would like to think those involved with Government and Big Business represent brightest minds in our land.
I wish it were so.
Flash-back:
Before we rushed to War with Iraq there was heated debate about if it was the right thing to do. A common argument was that the Government must know things we do not, so we must trust them. In retrospect they did not know more than us, there was treachery and deceit fostered upon the American People.
More recently the high prices of fuel seemed to surprise everyone. The Auto Industry had been rolling along as usual. Based on the fire-sale they seem to be having I think they were caught off guard. A billion dollar industry did not have a strategic plan and did not see this coming.
Now we have Wall Street and a full court press by Gov/Biz to pass the largest tax payer subsidy/aid in history without much discussion.
Our Government and Business Leaders are not smarter than us; with all of their resources they have not made good choices, have not offered good leadership. They have offered “knee-jerk response” leadership. No strategic planning, no vision for the future. Instead they offer us petty partisan politics.
They govern with out vision for the future.
This financial system is failing. A society based on mass consuming (especially on credit) is not sustainable. Consumerism has become a hungry beast devouring all it can.
We must look to the future, plan and prepare for it. We must use this time as we seek solutions to the challenges we face to create a more sustainable life not just for us but for all whom we share this planet with.
We must.