There has been a mindset in Washington D.C. that government should be completely hands off of business and markets except when, through poor management exacerbated by the economy, the biggest of the big companies should be bailed out with cash and guarantees and tax breaks. Those on “Main Street” with real and sweat equity in […]
Monday, October 27, 2008
Comments Off on Financial Crisis: Old-Time Investigative Journalism
60 Minutes did us all a service with some old-time investigative journalism on the financial crisis. First, critical thinking and expert input: derivatives, especially credit swap derivatives, are the culprit. Unregulated, there is no capital requirement to back them up. So they are not unlike bets by a bad bookie. With many trillions of them […]
Friday, October 24, 2008
Comments Off on Derivatives to Live By: The Present Value of Ethics
Sam DiPiazza, CEO of PriceWaterhouseCoopers told a personal story on camera in an interview with a student audience. He related the words of his grandfather who had immigrated to Alabama from Sicily. Young Sammy had done something his grandfather found over the line of ethics. He said to Sam: “Your reputation takes decades to build […]
Friday, October 24, 2008
Comments Off on Greenspan’s “Bombshell:” Markets Can’t Self-Regulate
It is a sad commentary that our former FedHead now believes that blind deregulation leads to market upheaval. Sad in that he (and his Congressional fellow-believers) did not think about it years ago. Even sadder that a large part of why the free market, “self-regulation” and such ideas present in the Paulson plan first version […]
Countless more ordinary people of equal talent never developed the leadership core required to run the show. Why not?
Friday, October 31, 2008
Comments Off on Auto(matic) Bailouts For Big Boys