naked capitalism

Dave Raithel says:

Re: Question Worth Considering…

So, does anybody really know how an “economy” works? The very phrasing of the question in the context of everything else I read here connotes fluid dynamics, or something akin mostly physical. What we got is a line of people with their hands out. They (and that means you and me) all expect something back for what they (and that means you and me) have been doing till the time (and this is analytical, mind you, it isn’t that people are literally sitting in your factory … unless it is Chicago a few weeks back, or Detroit several generations back, or … Who was those Wobblies….?)it was their turn to stick their hands out.

Sorry, but after this point, I just want to get more drunk. Exchange rates are a variation on the theme (Can one predict the rate of expropriation of surplus value? Well then make buck, and Lazarus dig yourself.) Once we (and this is an editorial “We”) start “conflating money is debt” with “capitalism is a Ponzi scheme”
I have to writhe around and scream I know nothing, but I know that, and ya’ll are killing us …

Anonymous says:

Anonymous, you may yet see Mozillo burned in his own home …

Grand deceptions, like the global financial coup that is now in process, never unwind in an instant, nor in a linear fashion. Those deceived by it are now scattered along different points of the awareness trail. Those at the forefront, like Jesse, yourself, and Yves, are raising the volume of the alarm that will awaken and get more people on that awareness trail.

The question is this; does the victim wake up before the evil doctor completes the frontal lobotomy. The anesthesia of propaganda has been liberally applied. If the evil doctor is successful we plunge into a ruler and ruled world with the ruled in perpetual conflict with each other.

We live in a pivotal time in the evolution of humanity. This is not your plain old vanilla tulip bubble. There are darker elite political forces at work here that need to be brought to the light of day and eliminated.

And miles to go before I sleep …

In the end it will come down to this; no balls, no brains, no freedom.

Peace to all and thanks for a great blog!

i on the ball patriot

Independent Accountant says:

Anonymous 8:35 AM:
Mozillo is a peanut. The real big criminals are Paulson, Rubin, Bernanke and such. These are our chief counterfeiters. They are undermining the legitimacy of our system of government and potentially dragging us into a war.

Anonymous says:

Independent Accountant said,”The real big criminals are Paulson, Rubin, Bernanke and such.”

I am sorry but those guys are the front men for the oligarchs behind the curtain. We need to eliminate the rich and start over with a more balanced society that is not focused on greed and screwing your neighbor or his wife.

Merry somethingorother and peace to all.

donna says:

Mozillo better pay his security guards well and never fire a one of them…. if any of them lose their homes, he’ll be toast.

Juan says:

Well Dave Raithel, since I know you know more than ‘nothing’ (though knowing nothing would be one very astounding process) and since this is a holiday:

Social Reproduction for Beginners: Bringing the Real World Back In

spare some change? says:

The willingness of debtors to suspend their disbelief, to enter into agreements whose basis is that you can get something for nothing, shifts some of that blame over to the debtors.

I’m thinking of a pair of smug homeowners I talked to a couple years back who condescendingly advised me, and anyone else who would listen, why adding granite countertops was a great investment (”you get the most bang for your budget remodeling the kitchen!”) – but there were plenty like them I encountered in the last year of the Bubble. Dumb chatterers whose heads were filled with whatever thoughts cable TV filled them with.

The basis for the American dream is a foreign policy of pure evil, coated with a frosty icing of greed and wishful thinking for consumption back home.

Nobody’s hands are clean in this. Nobody at all. Not here in America.

But if it’s any consolation to you guys, I think of you ‘doomers’ who saw how f—ed up the economy was several years back as being the least culpable.

Anonymous says:

Yves it was at least a dozen years ago I read a book on Animals Foraging.
Birds for sure and IIRC honey bees as well were able to make the correct decisions whether to fly further for better food, or stay with lesser food nearer by.
plschwartz

bg says:

Yves, re screed…

I do think the piece makes you think about the legitimacy of all the IBs, hedge funds etc. I do not want to defend Fuld et al, but nor do I want us all to start a relativist decent that can only lead to blaming capitalism broadly.

The entire concept of corporations is a legal entity to shield liability and thus encourage entrepeneurs to take risks. But as any person who has ever run a business knows there are conflicts of interest between lenders, stock holders, managers and employees. It is easy to feel there are solid lines of expected behavior, but in fact there are agrieved and tears in many ventures. Even criminal prosecutions are less than black and white. I can make a pretty compelling case that Kozlowski and Skilling were prosecuted in the grey areas of law, and they are mostly guilty of being unpopular.

What if I accepted a loan when I knew I was headed to bankruptcy? There is malice, but no fraud. What if I got people to invest in my hedge fund, and I was a bad investor? No malice or fraud. What if I got investors for project A, and then used the money for project B? Is this fraud?

A lot of latitude is given in capitalism to managers, and rightfully so. It is expected that investors will be careful in giving money to managers. We hope that money will police itself. If people were investing in Madoff or even Fuld, they have been adequately punished. Do we blame capitalism for the excess punishment given to investors unable to do their jobs? I guess you do if you want to protect the rich.

Or we can say, this is our Minsky Winter, that will teach another 2 generations of investors how to stear clear of danger. Its not like there wasn’t evidence of the trouble, just too few trained investors.

Merry Christmas to all…

Jesse says:

The only certainty is change.

The only mistake is to expect more of the same.

The only mistake is to continue to be fooled by randomness.

(yes yes I know people like you always say it will change but when? it never does.)

You either have not lived long enough, not read enough history, or have your head buried firmly in the boob tube.

Sea change is coming.

Anonymous says:

I can’t help but think in a tongue-in-cheek manner in regards to the NYT “How To Run a Hedge Fund” article.

Looking at Yale’s current year return with their endowment, it definitely shouldn’t be “How To Invest In A Hedge Fund”. Hell, I’m sure that learning to run a HF in this economic environment may be somewhat like learning how to operate a nuclear power plant after it has been bombed to pieces.

Might be a good idea to know, but definitely not the time or place to exactly execute on that knowledge. Also, now that we are facing a Brave New World regarding the world of Finance, the old rules will not really apply. Sounds mostly like “How to make the sale” with the HF stuff as a setting in a play.