Just read the article from Naked Capitalism, and it was excellent! Thanks for noting it, as I would have missed it, otherwise.
Agree 100% that we had the opportunity to finally do something to fix many of our problems last fall (2008), and I’ve been very frustrated ever since because no matter how many of us were calling/faxing/writing our representatives and other regulators, they made it blatantly obvious whose interests they served.
This quote from the NC article is right on target:
In fact, the big banks and sellers of exotic instruments pretended that the boom would last forever, siphoning off huge profits during the boom with the knowledge that – when the bust ultimately happened – the governments of the world would bail them out.
This is largely why I’ve come to have more socialist (very different from communist!) leanings. When a small group of wealthy people can easily gain control over finite resources that are basic necessities, they control the laws, the wealth, and the lifestyle of an entire population. People with this much power are **always** dangerous, because they will always seek to maintain and/or grow their wealth and power over these resources and the people who depend on them. IMHO, basic resources, infrastructure, etc. should be owned/controlled by “the people” — or at the very least heavily regulated — so that society is not decimated by the greed of a few, manipulative, powerful men.
