No one would argue that it is the job of a government to defend its citizens from terrorism or military attack. A government should defend against all attacks, where it has the power to do so. It follows that the government has yet another failure on its hands . It stood by and failed to damp down the sub-prime mortgage spree. It knew full well ages ago that this was an example of unsustainable greed that would affect the whole country (and possibly push it into a prolonged recession) if the problem was not addressed. Greenspan, a Libertarian simply went out to dinner and let it be.
Proponents of laisser-faire boast that the US government has prevented a recurrence of 9/11, but shrug when faced with the evidence of Greenspan’s ideological malfeasance. This has been an attack on ordinary citizens. The only difference is that no one has died as a result. But everyone is affected directly or indirectly.
Epicurus would, were he alive today, say that it was not only unwise but unethical to allow the perpetrators of this huge scam to walk away with their millions when their fellow citizens were becoming homeless.
This is a high price to pay for unrestrained capitalism. But the vocal sociopaths will no doubt be up in arms in defense of the rich sub-prime mortgage suppliers.
My oldest son is a banker, albeit an intelligent and conservative one (by conservative I mean careful and risk-aware). He said to me yesterday, “Dad, this is a failure of unregulated capitalism. If these people are not reined in they will take us all down.”
On a personal note I am proud to know that I have a thoughtful son. On the other hand when bankers start to say such things the concern has reached deep into the psyche of the general public. For myself, I don’t care a damn what they get in salary or bonuses (you can only spend what you can spend), but when they treat us to these violent fluctuations and irrational revolutions that cause economic dislocation, you bet they need to be regulated by an avenging angel.
Stuff happens. People took out these stupid mortgages thinking the value of their house would go up forever. How dumb is that?
You seem to think there’s something wrong in ambition and building up your wealth. It’s the american way and some folks have been burned by it since the US was founded. You can always be “intelligent and conservative.”
What Charlie doesn’t take into account is “information”. If all you read is stuff in the media telling you that property values are going up and up and its a sure bet to over-borrow because you can’t lose, guess what? The commentators have a vested interest in the public swallowing this nonsense. They are in the pockets of the banks and mortgage brokers. Its called advertising and it works.
Well said, Epicurus, “The commentators have a vested interest. . .They are in the pockets of the banks and mortgage brokers.” They are, in short, shills for some of America’s largest corporations, not just the financial services.
The current subprime crisis also includes an under-the-radar component: the Bankruptcy bill passed by the U.S. Congress a few years ago. This profoundly unjust piece of legistation has intensified the sub-prime whirwind. What interest groups lobbied Congress for that piece of capitalistic economic injustice?
I’d zoom-in further. For two decades the vested interest have financed the talking heads that trash our political discourse. E.g., Jack Welch and General Electric — NBC, MSNBC, CNBC. Of course, there is Murdoch’s FOX empire.
Now, if you’ve a strong intestinal infrastructure, examime the content of the irrational social frothings on national and local TV and radio –since the mid-1980s. It is to weep. No. It is to resist in any modest way we can.
Meantime, the U.S. Attorney General can’t decide if waterboarding is torture and has hung a portrait of Eric Arthur Blair in his office. By now, he may have been persuaded to remove it in response to the unfavorable publicity. George Orwell indeed. I must needs get to our Epicurean Garden.