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SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/19/2012 02:48 AM Report
Charlie, I hear you and perhaps I might help:
You say, 'There is nothing I think more to be scared about than what has happened to the middle class in America. They are the essence of America. They are the majority. They are the essence of America. (This was an essence night.) And yet their standard of living, their sense of the future is shrinking. They are shrinking. Their numbers are shrinking.'
'What are we doing wrong? This is the essence of one of the great questions in America today.'
Charlie, he tells you that we had this as a backdrop in 1890s and 1920s and that he prefers to swim in his lane (is this in the government employee manual because I have heard it before).
So then what do we do? Henry-Ford it with manufacturing wages and manufacturing jobs--nope past that time. GM has reduced wages to get out of bankruptcy. Wal-mart has about 80%+ of the goods they sell manufactured in China.
Globalization has brought people out of poverty but it has also concentrated great wealth. We can't get rid of globalization though.
However, we can NOT let the wealth continue to concentrate. We have to get it back into the system. The rules have to favor circulation of the money into our capitalist system and not to the sidelines or foreign countries or to the hands of the 1%.
Insider trading in Congress, Executive Pay that is greed incarnate, tax warfare that makes one class now pay for another class, bankruptcy laws that favor the rich (can't discharge a student loan), Citizens United . . . you know the list.
He mentions the 1890s as a backdrop and in the 1890s we had trust busting. The banks survived this latest crisis but we made them even better trusts.
So all the money that was made from the robber barons in swaps and derivatives should be taken back from the criminals and put back into our economy via fines and penalties.
A trillion in fines and a trillion brought brought back from overseas may be enough to stop the need for a Constitutional Convention to correct a few things caused by our wealth imbalance.
What am I saying? Charlie, it is time to interview who you think might lead our Constitutional Convention.
anne4444 06/18/2012 06:59 PM Report
Please help to put all people to work, regardless for competitive jobs or purely for communities’ service.
BENEZRAA 06/18/2012 03:13 PM Report
RE: TOWER OF BABEL
JG, I would state the matter of the Tower of Babel a little differently, as (a) I am a Catastrophist, and (b) as there is quite a difference between science & engineering as science & engineering v. science & engineering as religion.
When science & engineering become ends unto themselves and institutions of prejudicial beliefs and prejudicial structures, when there is a "priestood" of science & engineering (be that "priesthood" right or wrong), then the roles of science & engineering have gone way beyond the actual parameters of respect and humbleness into the realms of idolatry. The "Brain Series" is a most educative example of the difference, as Dr. Kandel so eloquently and humbly teaches us the [perhaps perpetual by nature] limitation and infancy of Science.
Having learned from Dr. Kandel the modeled humbleness of science as Science and not as Religion, how then shall we "presume" (ref. T.S. Elliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Proofrock"). Whatever Proofrock's answer, if there is one even by default, my own experiential answer for better or worse has been well expressed by Mel Brooks: "Hope for the Best, Expect the Worse." My guess is that in the laboratory this is also Dr. Kandel's experience, which is why the occasional scientific breakthrough is exactly that, a breakthrough. If there is science to economics, can it be any different? When Man finally "gets it right", won't that be the day that an Asteroid slams into Earth, or that the Sun may explode, or that the Space-Time Continuum be wrent, or -- Heaven Forbid -- Boston win the World Series once again?
vongleichent 06/18/2012 11:54 AM Report
Four years later, and no one has gone to jail yet. Nothing is going to change unless we have another crisis. Money rules the world especially on Wall Street.
JFed 06/17/2012 11:01 PM Report
It was a good interview, and it was surprisingly accessible to the wider viewers. The only problem is that it could have had more depth in regards to derivatives and the regulatory debate, for the more knowledgeable viewers.
Gelles 06/16/2012 11:59 PM Report
The problems to solved by you and me here and now are war, poverty, pollution, ignorance, etc. Our main tool is conversation that generally is between one person and no one else: listening to any voice but our own is a lost art.
You may claim to listen to Rothkopf, Hayek. Keynes, or any favorite NAME; but the fact is, if you are not the author of your own voice, the effect is the same. You echo another voice and still listen to nothing else.
Where does that leave the critical thought we crave? "Lost in cyber-space" is where.
We have created the real Tower of Babel, instead of a problem solving machine, such as the scientific method, for use in law and economics.
I want us to change gears -- and do something close to empirical science outside the current boundaries of science.
Artificial Intelligence offers models for us to try to build. Singularity University and the book "Abundance" by Peter Diamandis are in this business of moving the scientific method into law and economics as far as currenty possible.
Can I prove the above claim regarding SU and Diamandis? Not really. But I hope it will become real, real soon.
Amazon has a thing called "Create Space" to move vanity publishing into a more positive activity -- I hope. Amazon is uniquely positioned to create a 'Wiki-reform Party" to empower a voice in the public interest that may bring high technology over to our side and away from serving only people who scorn the majority (including the weak and the poor) to favor themselves.
I am not against genius that can produce a book like "FDR", as Jean Edward Smith has done. But I want that book to become bible for progress our era so desperately needs. The work of genius must be augmented by mass participation in economic democracy. We here and now can make that happen. But it is NOT happening. There is something holding us back. Partly it is the Tower of Babel we have invited ourselves to build because we are happy to remain as ignorant as possible for as long as possible. Read Diamandis if you dare -- and write to him to reform our money system until its purpose is changed from "none" to "full employment at highest real wages is an age of abundance with minimum waste and greed."
Max83 06/16/2012 07:33 PM Report
David Rothkopf, Author of the new book "Power, Inc.:The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government--and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead" joins Thom Hartmann. Striking a balance between private and public power is a major goal for society today - and correctly reaching it will help us prosper in the 21st century. So how do we achieve this balance?
Video interview Part 1:
Conversations w/Great Minds - David Rothkopf - Power, Inc P1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbQA6n9PgU
Video interview Part 2:
Conversations w/Great Minds - David Rothkopf - Power, Inc P2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJOLg717GL4
retiredat48 06/16/2012 01:33 PM Report
Interesting...but one has to note that once more we have another former Goldman Sachs upper guy (Gensler) running a fed agency. Much has been written about this being Goldman's modus operandi.
I think a key proposal to not have banks do "proprietary trading" (Volker Rule) , means this will be left to the biggies like Goldman Sachs, who can do front-running micro-second trading of stocks every day...very profitable.
Gensler seemed well intended though. The classic debate of more regulation versus "protecting the public." I might rather see a STREAMLINED BANKRUPTCY PLAN for large banks who fail...just like done now for small banks. The governmental Resolution Trust Corp did a great job clearing the more-that-a-thousand Savings and Loan bankruptcies two decades ago. The removal of a few more large banks would likely be healthy, overall.
Also, the crux of the 2008 meltdown was a failure of regulators/congress to call credit default swaps INSURANCE CONTRACTS. If done so, then under the USA insurance laws/regulations, AIG and others would have been required to have more capital backing their insurance. (CDS backing). It's like selling home insurance without any capital, and when the hurricane hits, you just walk away declaring bankruptcy.
Lastly, I liked Gensler end-game that the taxpayers should not have to bail anyone out....period. I think this is achievable. I would rather the focus be on timely liquidation methods rather than controlling business activity. When your society is led by government employees and teachers, that society is in decline. College grads, instead of becoming lawyers and finance guys, now will now have jobs as "regulators"...instead of having jobs creating wealth by running real businesses.
R48
Gelles 06/16/2012 02:58 AM Report
The metaphor of a swim meet with lanes to separate the regulators now racing to prevent the next crisis that threatens global solvency is cute -- but not helpful.
Our problem is to keep production and consumption at hyper-high levels (compared to recent past performance) and, most importantly, in BALANCE.
Asian labor has been trained and equipped to produce world class real products people need and want to buy.
This invites hyper-supply.
We have not matched that supply with monetized DEMAND.
Why not? No reason.
If we manufacture demand to meet supply and persuade by law and political rhetoric supply to meet our legitimate needs, the new paradigm we're searching for will be ours.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/16/2012 02:41 AM Report
Gary spoke twice about connecting the hedge or insurance to the actual position.
The JPMorgan loss has ignited a debate whether aggregate or portfolio hedging is appropriate at all and how to define and spot these trades.
“Aggregate hedging isn’t hedging, it’s a profit center,” Barney Frank said. “They are talking about making money out of it,” when “hedges break even.”
“The challenge when somebody uses a word like ‘portfolio hedging’ is that it can mutate and morph into many things beyond hedging specific positions,” Gensler said May 21, 10 days before the CFTC held a round-table discussion about narrowing exemptions in the Volcker Rule.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-03/jpmorgan-so-called-hedge-is-awkward-for-fed-knowing-its-mean ing.html
Yes Gary, how do we permit banks to profit from insurance?
How can I aggregate the hedge on my car, my house, my health, my life, my teeth, and all my other risk so I can make a profit on them?
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/16/2012 02:19 AM Report
Charlie, it is ever so simple:
Step One: we write a check for $10 million, hand the check to a Wall Street bank and ask them to make us a CDO.
Step Two: they create a CDO using risky stuff, very risky stuff, extremely risky stuff.
Step Three: other investors commit hundreds of millions of dollars to the CDO.
Step Four: we bet against the CDO using a credit default swap.
Step Five: the housing market crashes, the CDO's value drops to 0, our bet pays off, and we make hundreds of millions of dollars.
Step Six: we're rich.
Charlie, we're gonna bet against the American dream.
Purchase risky debt on a massive scale, then place a bet that the debt will fail.
The economy collapsing like a dying star.
No one will know 'til it's on NPR.
And who cares?
All we gotta do to make our dreams come true, is bet against the American dream.
Edited from:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/405/transcript
finalfantasytown 06/15/2012 11:21 PM Report
American's democracy is collapsing and approaching to desert.
Max83 06/15/2012 09:11 PM Report
Very good points from ReMant: ''What was it Francis Bacon said? "Money is like muck, not good except it be spread.''
and tabs: ''Secondly if a debacle should occur the American people will not be nice like before, but will be out to hurt someone real bad. Mr Dimon and his friends should be well aware of what happened to the likes of Louis XVI, Charles 1ST and Nicholas 2ND.''
I especially agree with tabs that people like Mr.Dimon and the people from the 2007 book by David Rothkopf ''Superclass'' can either take some losses on their own fortunes and status and egos voluntarily or they will get major major back lash from the American people, even in an potentially very personal and bodily way.
Americans are not some poor and uneducated peasants like in Chile that only have their pitchforks to defend themselves and can be exploited and controlled by greedy power brokers . Once people get educated, especially the gun worshiping hilly billies here in the USA, that not the black President Obama is the real threat to their American dream but Mr.Dimon and his co-conspirators they will have to use all their looted Wall Street money on bodyguards and high security bullet proof vehicles and apartments. They probably do already, so they then just have to leave the country, which many of them are doing already and move to Singapore, London or Dubai.
Everybody who is a rich American citizen leaving the USA at this time to live abroad does so because they earned their money in unfair ways and through insider trading and crony capitalism and crony politics.
I hope many more people like Mr. Gensler will start being part of a more benevolent and fair political leadership in the USA, that puts fairness first. Nothing wrong with competition as long as he said the playing field is level and everybody is playing by the rules and does not buy the referees or changes the rule book to their advantage.
Guess where Jim Rogers co-founder of the Quantum Fund lives at the moment, yes right Singapore and you don't see Mr. Soros too much in the USA anymore either these days or even in continental Europe for that matter. They are all island hopping. London is the last city they feel truly safe in, and even in England much resistance is rising.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Fund
The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) and Cayman Islands. They are currently advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund in the early 1970s along with Jim Rogers. The shareholders of the funds are not publicly disclosed although it is known that the Rothschild family and other wealthy Europeans put $6 million into the funds in 1969.[1]
In 1992, the lead fund, Soros's Quantum Fund became famous for "breaking" the Bank of England, forcing it to devalue the pound. Soros had bet his entire fund in a short sale on the ultimately fulfilled prediction that the British currency would drop in value, a coup that netted him a profit of $1 billion[2] (see Black Wednesday). In 1997, Soros was blamed for forcing sharp devaluations in Southeast Asian currencies .
In July, 2011, the Quantum Fund announced they would be ending the fund, and will be returning all outside money by the end of 2011. The fund will now exclusively manage Soros' family money.
Through my research and personal experiences through the years I have come to the conclusion that the Elite as we know them as normal citizens and define them consist of two fractions, the greedy only out for themselves market radicals that are leaving the USA en masse at the moment because they have been found out and a fraction that is truly enlightened and deserve to be called Elites because they truly are elite in their intelligence as well as in their benevolence towards the normal populace.
Brains not balanced with heart are the most dangerous thing in the Universe.
The ''Super(Ego)class'' that Mr.Rothkopf wrote about is definitely going down, even if they are not going down without a fight and the truly Illuminated are taking over, even if it might take a couple more years.
I support the benevolent Illuminati that is based out of continental Europe and I trust that they do right by the people and bring Justice and humility to the Super(Ego)class.
The only way the Super(Ego)class can maybe hope to preserve some of their powers is if they create total financial mayhem, but I am confident that they will not be able to accomplish that. The central banks in Europe are loaded with gold.
''The combined gold holdings of the European Union is 11,494.1 tonnes.'' from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_reserve
plus another over 3000 tones of gold in the IMF, which is controlled out of Europe.
It is check mate for the Super(Ego)class based out of the City of London.
This is a very good video on the topic, here the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1a-bbLkC2o
Watch the full 39-minute video at http://www.goldmoney.com/hellmeyer-turk-interview. In this video Folker Hellmeyer, chief analyst at Bremer Landesbank, and James Turk of the GoldMoney Foundation, talk about the eurozone in comparison to other debtor nations. Hellmeyer points out that the ECB is trying to monetise as little as possible, contrary to what the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve are doing. He also believes that European countries are in a much better shape than reported. He agues that there is aggressive speculation against the eurozone that disregards the reforms that have been undertaken, while other countries are simply monetising without any fiscal reforms. He points out that regarding debt to GDP ratios, budget deficits and reforms Europe is in a much better shape than for instance the US, the UK or Japan. This unfair treatment of Europe has a political taste to it and Hellmeyer even calls it a "scandal". As a solution he proposes ring-fencing by the ESFS and the ECB.
This video was recorded on November 4 at the Edelmetallmesse 2011 in Munich.
tabs 06/15/2012 06:11 PM Report
The whole Jamie Dimon performance has been Kabuki Theater, of Dimon loudly proclaiming MEA CULPA at the top of his lungs. Maybe if he says it long enough and loud enough the Congressional Hounds will leave him alone as they will figure that they can not chastise him anymore than he is chastising himself.
In the end Mr Dimon had better be praying that Mr Gensler is building some pretty stout Fire Walls that will prevent another reoccurance of a 2008 style of debacle. For as previously stated, next time the US government nor anybody else will be able to ride to the rescue as the system is so fragile (broke) that it will implode upon itself. Secondly if a debacle should occur the American people will not be nice like before, but will be out to hurt someone real bad. Mr Dimon and his friends should be well aware of what happened to the likes of Louis XVI, Charles 1ST and Nicholas 2ND.
Massive 06/15/2012 05:18 PM Report
Gensler advocated the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which exempted credit default swaps and other derivatives from regulation.
Wiki
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/15/2012 05:07 PM Report
Part II shows you how in Jamie Dimon's pocket our Senate is:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-14-2012/bank-yankers---jamie-dimon-on-capitol-hill
Jaime Dimon does look fabulous. He is the George Clooney of our oligarchy.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/15/2012 05:03 PM Report
On Jaime Dimon, again Jon Stewart and his fantastic team nail it:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-14-2012/bank-yankers
Gary makes a cameo.
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/15/2012 04:56 PM Report
Texas is known for BIG.
Here are the top three tallest buildings in Texas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Texas
JPMorgan Chase Tower
Wells Fargo Plaza
Bank of America
Charlie, why are they all banks?
Charlie, how do we get our country back?
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/15/2012 04:49 PM Report
Oh Charlie, the Goldman Sachs revolving door--look for Gary:
http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/search_result.php?priv=Goldman+Sachs
Charlie, how and when did Goldman become a branch of government?
SharkswithfrikingLazers 06/15/2012 04:48 PM Report
'Circling the drain,' he tells us about our financial crisis.
Charlie drives home the point of risk: TOO MUCH RISK!
When there is a war we see the blood and the buildings are reduced to rubble. We are told about the stench.
With this 'circling the drain' we didn't see anyone in a Brooks Brothers suit come up from the drain wet. We didn't hear how they stunk from the mess they created. In fact, we heard they got richer and fatter.
I know I am better off than four years ago because I have the testimony of how terrible things were. I was not "circling the drain" four years ago but about to be flushed like Neo in "The Matrix".
After Neo was saved from his flushing his "real world" was worse in many ways but he finally saved them from their own terrible creation.
Gary is no Neo but perhaps he will help save us from almost being flushed again.
tabs 06/15/2012 12:09 PM Report
It is no longer the smell of myopia that is strong in the room but the stink of death that is filling the nostrils. For now we are in the third consecutive summer where the "Green Shoots Of Spring" have died with the coming of summer. The current wisedom is that the Federal Reserve is about to embark upon a third round of providing liquidity to jump start the economy. However there is a growing skepticism and resignation among the financial and business wizards about its efficacy as being a solution to relieve a moribund economy.
Further what doesn't Mr Rose get about the ineviatability of the American Middle Class shrinking back to more historic norms? The American MC as a result of the consequences of WW2 grew to an unprecedented size in human history. Where a man who didn't even have a High School education could attain MC status by working in a factory. As the world has become ever more developed American labour no longer has the monoploy it once enjoyed and is now being squeezed by that foreign competition.
The following was made available to Mr Rose on or about the date indicated.
Days The World Changed
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 18:20 — tabs
And they argued as they stood on the deck of the Titanic. Meanwhile the water came up to their ankles. The smell of myopia was strong in the room, filling the nostrils.
Let us look to 3 inflection points in the recent epoch of American history.
1. August 6TH 1945. The dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima was the day that America became hegemonic in the world militarily, economically and technologically. America became invincible in all things.
2. July 20, 1969 was the high water mark of America as a world power. It took 8 years from the date that the goal was set to what only a few years before seemed impossible. To land a man on the Moon. Now we could do it all. America could have Guns and Butter without consequence
.
3. September 24TH, 2008. The day that President GW Bush came on TV and said the American financial system was in crisis and was melting down. That was the day that the perception of American invincibility in the world CRACKED. Not only have Americans lost their sense of well being, but the world now looks at America in a different light. At that moment the world changed from anything that most Americans who were alive had ever known before. Risk that had once only had been an abstract notion had become a reality.
Andy Grove said a few scant years before that "America was living on its reputation and would soon have to start proving it once again."
September 24TH 2008 was the day that the perception of American invincibility and illusion of being wealthy "cracked." Americans lost their sense of well being and the world looks at America in a different light since that day. The US had two choices to make at that point in the crisis.
1. Let the financial system and by default the economy of the US and world to crash and burn.
2. Try and bail out the system with the hope that it could be jump started and thus be resuscitated. Since this later course of action was the lessor of two evils it was the course adopted.
What happened in essence is that the private sector debt was assumed by the public sector which combined with the existing public sector debt has created the MOTHER OF ALL BUBBLES the Sovereign Debt Bubble. The efforts of the US government, Federal Reserve, various European governments and banks have all been aimed at putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. The jury is still out on whether the US economy can sustain it self without a Quantitative Easing program. Further it might be said that the US economy being a behemoth is not easily killed and would of on its own hook have recovered some sort of equilibrium.
What is not understood is that this new equilibrium is in essence a new paradigm. This is something that most people don't understand as they want to continue to apply governmental and Federal Reserve supports to go back to the illusion of being wealthy that was broken on September 24TH 2008. This is where President Obama has been found particularly wanting and shows that his sagacity quotient is practically non existent as he has never realized that a new paradigm was at work since September 24TH 2008. This becomes evident with his statement, "That it is a shame that there are 45 million people without HC insurance in a rich nation like America." Not only has President Obama and his Democrat Party not realized a new paradigm has been established they want to continue on with a living better through a bigger and better government program as if nothing has changed. All of which is and has created a huge ticking time bomb of Sovereign Debt.
The net psychological affect of what happened on September 24, 2008 was that the dsyfunctionality of the US financial and economic system of trying to maintaining the illusion of America being a wealthy nation shattered like Humpty Dumpty. No longer could America hide the dsyfunctionality of its being overleveraged, whether it was through CDO's, home mortgages via Freddy and Fanny ,hiding deficit spending by using the accounting gimmick of making the SS Trust an accounts payable instead of a debt, state debt or national debts. Since Government debts affects the monetary system which is the very foundation of any economy, everyday that goes by that the National debt climbs makes the US economy that much more of a precarious situation. Since the USD is the Reserve Currency and the US economy the largest in the world, the question then becomes who is large enough to backstop the US government in case of a debt crisis? The answwer is that there is no one large enough to backstop the US and thus there is no place to run as the world economy will fail also.
The US has for decades been using both public and private debt instruments to maintain the illusion of being hegemonic economically. This debt has now become so large and unwieldy that it can no longer be masked and has several ominous potential side effects
1. The US National debt is becoming so large and the US position so central to the world economy that it can destroy the Global economy if and when a debt crisis should occur
2. This debt puts a drag on the US economy and is to the point where it is making the US economic growth moribund. It is only a matter of time before the debt level will be so great that it will make economic growth impossible.
What these debts masked was changing economic conditions for the US economy as the Global economy took root and began to grow. The US to remedy the structural competitive malaise it finds itself in, beyond the problem of debt and deficit is to bring taxes, regulations and wages into line with the rest of the world.
The US has 2 choices one is to move in that direction on its own accord or to have events dictate actions. One should remember that the great US prosperity boom of the post WW2 era was an aberration in history which was not sustainable as the Global economy began to rebuild itself and grow. The failure of the US was not to understand this phenomenon and make the necessary changes to meet exigencies.
REMant 06/15/2012 11:12 AM Report
I thought this mostly well and good, and the fellow seems to understand largely what he is about, but you cannot go around printing money or creating debt to enable risk-taking, or buy insurance to that end. You can call that market-making, like Dimon, but I call it coercion, if not fraud, and I don't see that making things more transparent is going to help the situation, anymore than Friedman, Greenspan and Bernanke's bastard monetarism has. Mr Gensler gives every evidence of being of that school, statements about "freedom to fail," notwithstanding. The Occupy Movement and Tea Party do not want Wall St's, or even Charlie Rose's, charity. They want honesty. Few Americans are really very charitable anyway. What was it Francis Bacon said? "Money is like muck, not good except it be spread."