Vegas Street

Play for money is ancient, but we understand the Vegas mentality today all too well.  High risk, smart plays, and you just might hit it big.  If you could gamble with someone else's money, you'd have a ball!  Someone loses, someone (perhaps you) wins; it's appealing on many fronts.


There's little today to distinguish the casino floor from the trading floor in the financial marketplace.  Over the last century, the similarities have synced up rather nicely.  Two decades of deregulation; then in 2000 with CFMA, we legalized betting (credit derivatives, or credit default swaps; ), removing the last semblance of responsible management from the banking communities worldwide.  (It was illegal during most of the 20th century under the gaming laws, but in 2000, Congress gave Wall Street an exemption and it has turned out to be a very bad idea.) After the change, financial firms went wild.  Countries that refused to play found their national economies battered down by the international activity.  2008 gave us the first price tag; many Americans lost a quarter to half of their savings.  Many elsewhere in the world just went hungry and more than a million died in just the first year of fallout.

Vegas casino floor and Wall Street trading floor, much the same down to the last detail

Many things that happen on Wall Street and in London's financial district are "socially useless," says Lord Adair Turner, chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA). The values that are created there are often not real or of any use to society, Turner adds. Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, once remarked that the only truly useful financial innovation in the past 20 years is the ATM.

"The sector's high salaries tend to attract the best and brightest university graduates. The members of this youthful elite don't devise new products that make people's lives better, nor do they found new companies that further progress. Instead, these young financial wizards invest a great deal of money and effort to develop sophisticated financial products, the sole purpose of which is to generate more profit for both their employers and, ultimately, for themselves -- sometimes at the expense of other market players or even their customers."

"The truth is that the financial markets are controlling the politicians. If Sarkozy interrupts his vacation, the markets interpret his sudden return as a sign that the situation there is worse than they thought -- and promptly set their sights on the country. And if there is an argument between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, then the markets target Italy, because they doubt that the Italian government is serious about introducing austerity measures. The markets take advantage of every weakness and every rumor to speculate against one country after the next.

In doing so, they aggravate the crisis. Once a country has become the subject of rumors and speculation, other investors become nervous. Fearing further price declines, pension funds and insurance companies also start selling stocks and bonds. In the end, fear nurtures fear and a panic ensues."  ~Spiegel.De DIETMAR HAWRANEK, ARMIN MAHLER, CHRISTOPH PAULY, MICHAELA SCHIESSL AND THOMAS SCHULZ

 

Governments had the chance following the crash to reign in the financial industry and significantly reduce the allowable risks, but they failed to do so.  Regulatory changes, constrained by the influence Wall Street wields in governments, are known to be inadequate.  Title VII of the act is subject to numerous exemptions that will limit its effectiveness.

This morning's news, JP Morgan has posted a $6.5 Billion profit for the first quarter this year.  They provide no goods, no services, no resources, no consumables, no benefit to society.  These are their gambling winnings taken from the world economies.

Wall Street doesn't need to be regulated.  On the basis of behavior, it needs to be walled off, locked down, disconnected, and abandoned until they've zombie-ized and eaten each other instead of us.  Or, perhaps we should move them all from New York's Wall Street to the Las Vegas strip where everyone plays the same games.  At least then we could quit pretending they're somehow different.

The problem with LAW

The law is just a thin floor covering the cesspool ...

The problem with law goes beyond content to its only purpose which is to place a limit on behavior.

The law is just a thin floor covering a cesspool of human wrong.

Down at the bottom is all the selfishness and anger of mankind.  The law is just a hair's breadth above the waste and filth.  A misstep and you're in the goo.

Obeying the law is perhaps a good beginning place, but it's just the first tiny step, and only a short distance away from being disgusting.

The law won't make us great or noble or even nice; it's just to keep us from doing harm.  

Far away, at the other end of the spectrum are those wonderful heights of courage and nobility that we imagine for ourselves; all are wildly far above the law, and nothing connects them to the pit and the slime. Greatness of character and purpose, generosity and compassion, all are so far above the law that to live in one world is to be completely separated from the other.  We hope for the best in ourselves and others, don't we.  Indeed we do.

So, of what use is the law to someone who hopes to be truly, magnificently good?  Rules can perhaps serve as a reminder of the simplest things, like:

'Share, be nice, don't hurt anybody.'  Good stuff we learned at home and maybe in kindergarten.

'Play fair, don't cheat, be a good loser or a gracious winner.'  Elementary school level, but great nonetheless.

Farther up and further in?  Where might that lead?

'Be generous to others, have good manners, be polite and scrupulously honest.'  Absolutely essential pieces.

So then, in our business and life affairs, such foundation principles are visible, ... or not.

And our chance at true greatness follows, farther up and further in,  ... or not.

For those of us who live by 'the rule of law', remember that law is just one microstep above the fecal matter. 

Imagine where that that puts the Wall Street mentality?  How about the political party process?  Or the lobbyists?  Or the pursuit of wealth ...  Time to unlearn some things?  Where is your life invested, by the way?  Great joy is only found on the good road.

Learn Unlearn Relearn

Racial bias.
Gender bias.
Political bias.
Religious bias.
Philosophical bias.
The uninformed arrogance of wealth and position.
The justifications of greed and selfishness, of avarice, of hubris.

Objectivity is often encumbered by day-to-day experience, by business or media pressures,  and much of it is just dung.  Often, it seems that every bad way to reach a conclusion has contributed to modern thinking, and we're challenged to make our way through it with integrity and a good conscience.

Did you know that Mexicans are poor because they're lazy?  They're not.
Did you know that the poor in America are unmotivated?  Not true.
Did you know that girls are poor decision makers?  Nonsense.
Did you know that Texans are tougher than most folks?  OK, that's maybe true, but way too much of our understanding is incomplete or perhaps even just wrong.

We've acquired thinking from our traditions, from the thoughts and behavior of others, and so much of it good.  It has been passed down from parent to child, from community to schools, from churches to adherents. most with thoughtful and gracious origins.  Some however, particularly from popular media, is just the inadvertent stains of life without any virtue or value.  Just dirt you picked up along the way that you need to brush off and leave behind.

Much has changed.
 Is this still democracy?
  Is that justice?
   Are those honest businesses?
    Am I represented?  Are they?
      Is that fair?
Can we think with clarity enough to dump the trash?


If you're out of ideas, go where the world is different than yours.  A different viewpoint can help you change.

Banks; bigger than countries.

Click on the chart to see countries and banks (in yellow), in order of financial size.

If banks were countries ...

Among the world's largest, based on GDP and revenue, many financial companies are bigger than most of the world's countries. Beginning with the 57th largest country in the world, it's Fannie Mae with revenues greater than the 60 countries at the bottom of the list, combined. Bank of America is next followed by other familiar names.

Too big to fail or jail? Of course they are. They wield more influence than most of the world's governments and they are NOT there to serve any citizenry or national interest. They have no granted constitutional role in the countries where they play. They provide no goods or services.

Their business model is competitive, bottom line driven; take wealth and use it to make more wealth. They are willing to take money from anyone in any country regardless of the damage done. There are no policies of benefiting others. They recognize no higher good or greater purpose than their own financial success. And so far, no one is holding them reasonably accountable for their adverse impact on the world.

Mega-banks provide no significant social benefit; there is no correlation between size and performance. Mega-banks do, however, create significant systemic risk and, being profit driven, exert their influence in favor of increased autonomy and against regulatory oversight that might reign them in. When the inevitable crash came in '07, government had no choice but to bail them out for fear of a complete financial system collapse.

In the larger context of a world economy:

“Globalization is the result of powerful governments, especially that of the United States, pushing trade deals and other accords down the throats of the world’s people to make it easier for corporations and the wealthy to dominate the economies of nations around the world without having obligations to the peoples of those nations.” — Noam Chomsky

"The financial debacle has many causes and implications, but it would be wrong to underestimate systemic corruption."  ~Daniel Kaufmann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, formerly World Bank director of governance.

Feel free to inquire, to have an opinion, to fire the bank you've been using and join the credit union, write your congressman, ... and the white house, or join the movement to occupy wall street.   This sort of volatility is a precursor to change; we should consider investing ourselves in the process.  Perhaps we'll be the impetus that provokes change for better.

This is wrong.

(NC-17 Subject)   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

There are no excuses. There are no adequate circumstances to justify such suffering. There cannot be any 'turning away' from this until such things no longer happen.

Realistically, there are too many occasions of suffering where it didn't have to happen.  There are too many who die because of greed and selfishness.  There is no excusing those at fault.  There cannot be any pretense that they didn't know.

There is no food shortage.  There is plenty for everyone, at least for now.  The rich never go hungry.  They do, however, manipulate the world's marketplaces to serve themselves, and the poor die because of such behavior.  There is no excuse.

Don't turn away.  Do something.  Say something.  Join in, and insist on change now.

There are way too many things that should not be irreverently or callously photographed.  I've posted this picture reverently, and with a broken heart.  This precious mother buries her little baby in the Dadaab refugee area of northern Kenya.  Hundreds of thousands have fled for their lives to such areas, hoping for a chance to just survive, but thousands die. 

"World Population"

We all know that living things need resources in order to survive. We often, however, don't make the connection that the amount of available resources dictates the size of a population – 

that a population will grow when resources are in surplus, decline when resources are scarce, and stabilize when the population is at the maximum level that can be sustained.  It smoothes out generally like the S-curve here (right).

There are a number of complex variables, but the results are understandable.  Continuous growth depends on unlimited resources.  Equilibrium comes with a balance of population and resources.  Overshoot and oscillation  occurs with fluctuating resource events like drought and flood and marketplace upheavals.  Collapse comes when resources are used and not renewed.

Human population is on a steep J-curve rise based on our aggressive exploitation of resources. We're bringing water, food, power, raw materials in at an accelerating pace, and population responds accordingly, particularly urban population.

It's not a smooth path across the globe. Oscillations occur regionally with drought and flood, earthquake and marketplace upheavals, things that interrupt the flow of resources.  The world's rich don't feel the inherent distress others do.  The poor are affected the most.

Do we know what resources will be available to support human population? Do we know which ones are not being replaced at an adequate rate to support our current consumption?  Of course we do.

Change is certain.  

• Caught in the Crosshairs: Wildlife Faces the Population Challenge
• Demographic Facts of Life
• Fishing for a Solution to the Population Problem
• Population: 7 Billion
• Population and Climate Change: A Clear Link
• Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Population and Deforestation
• Ten Population and Environment Connections
• The Perfect Disaster: Man vs. Nature
• The Thirsty Billion: Population and Water
• Unsustainable Suburban Sprawl
• Wildlife Feeling the Population Squeeze

• Diffusing the Population "Bomb": Demography and Security 
• Population: 7 Billion
• Population Growth and Food Insecurity
• The Fifth Largest Country: International Migrants
• Teen Childbearing in the United States

• What Will $1 Billion Buy?