Private Profit, Public Loss
September 23, 2008
By Cyd Malone
(Wyandanch, N.Y.) Wall Street has finally, bubble-by-bubble, pushed their confidence game too far and burned through their capital as well as Main Street’s. Now, hoping for one last money grab before they exit this phase of their lifecycle, the Wall Street titans wish to off load $1 trillion worth or so of their mistakes onto the backs of their fellow citizens.
At no time during the “boom years” was there one peep from these financial titans to turn over their immense incomes to “the people”, quite the opposite. Now their stock jobbery has eaten its way through not only our wealth but also into theirs. Suddenly “the people” are required to bail them out. They’ve taken an about face – capitalists when there are profits to virulent socialists when any losses arrive. This is not only unseemly but also clearly illegal.
Just as deserving of our censure is that species of hustler known as the politician, who all seem more than willing to sell the peoples’ wealth to the highest donor – in this instance to their Wall Street patrons. Despite the fact that not one word in our Constitution – the one they swore to uphold and defend – gives them any legal authority to loot the public to bail out any business, the crushing weight of Wall Street donations has seemingly buried their sworn word to that sacred trust.
Of course, this pig of a give away wears bright red lipstick, brand named “systemic risk”, cries of which are the last refuge of the scoundrel. Bailout or no, many banks will no doubt fail, and it will be a pain in the neck adjusting to their collapse. But if we do have a “free market” system as we claim, then other capitalists will create new banks, and they’ll be better and more honest with the example of Lehman and Bear Stearns fresh in their memory and, most important, our liberty and property will be more secure for our having been shielded by our Constitution from this proposed looting.
Wall Street has burned itself out in an orgy of paper money. The decision we have before us is whether the people responsible will get their just deserts, or whether we will reward them for their dishonesty and foolishness with a $1 trillion parting gift, when our Constitution clearly states they should get not a penny. Would this not add insult to injury? We have lost wealth in uncountable sums; many will be hurt; yet we have not lost our ability to think, and to burn with indignation.
The banking industry is the only industry in our nation that is exempt from the threat of failure, and hence from the laws of honesty. It is high time to set an example, to allow the Wall Street titans to, for once, collapse in a heap of their own making, and to chase all the sordid moneychangers from not only our financial system, but from our political one as well.
Our Constitution demands this bailout to be defeated, as does economic justice and our future security. We will get through this crisis as we have overcome others in our history. How we chose to do so will say much about us as a people, much about our sense of justice, and everything about our respect for the rule of law.
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Money
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3 Responses to “Private Profit, Public Loss”
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“At no time during the “boom years” was there one peep from these financial titans to turn over their immense incomes to “the people”, quite the opposite. Now their stock jobbery has eaten its way through not only our wealth but also into theirs. Suddenly “the people” are required to bail them out. They’ve taken an about face – capitalists when there are profits to virulent socialists when any losses arrive. This is not only unseemly but also clearly illegal.”
That paragrah sums up my sentiments exactly.
- Posted by: Derrick H.
If more people listened to Ron Paul, this world would be a much better place. What is happening in the financial markets should be no surpise at all. This is nonsence…Ron Paul: “Some Big Events Are About To Occur” http://www.infowars.net/articles/july2008/170708Paul.htm
- Posted by: John
There’s a word for this type of system: Corporatism, which is another fancy way of saying Fascism.
One thing this seriously isn’t is the Free Market. The collapse you’re now witnessing is the byproduct of much legislation FORCED onto the markets for the benefit of the few — things like fractional reserve banking, the privately owned Fed monopoly on money printing, etc. The real kicker is they were making all these $ billions floating on the high tide of money supply and credit expansion which yanks wealth and savings from the productive sector. Now they want the same productive side of the economy to bail out the phony activity that’s so distended and unrealistic it is collapsing.
So on top of bailing out these parasitic capitalists, we’re going to further hack away at the underpinnings of what’s left of the productive economy, throwing good money after bad.
- Posted by: J.C. Ernharth