We wonder sometimes; what part does greed play in our lives?
Is there a safe path for us and our families through the culture that surrounds us?
Φιλαρ γυρία - avarice or greed
It has the attention of the masses and their governments now. There haven't been any helpful answers. Yet.
The finance industry folks invented ways to steal money, persuaded the government to legalize it, and made billions. Then the crash came and the trillions came out of the pockets of average folks. And the poor suffered the most, of course. Nearly a million died the first year in eastern Africa alone.
Does that qualify Wall Street players as "he who sheds innocent blood"?
Of course it does.
Capitalism and free markets are great; it's the unethical play by criminal minds that make it murderous.
From Senator Carl Levin's report,
“The free market has helped make America great, but it only functions when people deal with each other honestly and transparently. At the heart of the financial crisis were unresolved, and often undisclosed, conflicts of interest,” said Dr. Coburn. “Blame for this mess lies everywhere from federal regulators who cast a blind eye, Wall Street bankers who let greed run wild, and members of Congress who failed to provide oversight.”Levin said they (Goldman CEO and others) denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue.
"Goldman told investors that its interests were “aligned” with theirs when, in fact, Goldman held 100% of the short side of the CDO and had adverse interests to the investors, and described Hudson’s assets (as) “sourced from the Street,” when in fact, Goldman had selected and priced the assets without any third party involvement. New documents also reveal that, at one point in May 2007, Goldman Sachs unsuccessfully tried to execute a “short squeeze” in the mortgage market so that Goldman could scoop up short positions at artificially depressed prices and profit as the mortgage market declined. "In other words, they were manipulating the national and world markets for corporate and personal gain, not for the benefit of their clients or anyone else. They reached out and assaulted the nation and everyone in it.
Thanks and a hat tip to Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House who obligingly passed the marketplace law for this particular assault. Now it's worse, not better. Nuts.
UPDATE: August 2014 - the only ones jailed for this and other such crimes are the Occupy protesters, around 7000 at last count. Meanwhile, Wall Street continues with billions in bonuses each year for their effective avarice.
UPDATE: September 2018 - we've reduced taxes expecting some benefit to the economy. Corporate profits increased, unemployment is down, stocks are up, but pay for the bottom half remains flat. Wall Street is doing extraordinarily well, not suprisingly.