Forum Post: Wall Street Crooks - Part 1
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 7:53 p.m. EST by enough
(587)
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It is unfortunate that the insatiable greed of Wall Street has brought our economy to its knees. Wall Street has disgraced the banking profession, which was once a proud industry. It is delusional for Wall Street bankers to believe that they are entitled to obscene compensation for the damage they inflicted upon us. Their cupidity is surpassed by their arrogance. It offends our sensibilities that taxpayers are made to foot the bill after the bankers failed miserably in the marketplace. Moral hazard dictates that Wall Street banks should have entered into bankruptcy and been dissolved. Our elected representatives, who thought it was wise to dispense federal assistance to help them escape accountability, paid the price in November for their stupidity when they were voted out of office in record numbers.
While it is wrong for our government to give bail-outs to businesses, basically picking the winners and losers in what is supposed to be a free market society; some responsibility does rest on us as consumers. How many people entered into mortgages that they could not pay for, and how many agreed to baloon payments, variable interest rates, and 'arm' loans without first researching what they were getting into? People crashed the mortgage industry through bad choices, and then the government reimbursed the banks with tax money from the people. It seems like it would be a wash, but the problem is that the bottom 50% of wage earners pay no taxes after deductions and refunds and they were the ones who defaulted all those loans. The top 1% of wage earners, that you are protesting, pay 40% of all the tax revenues collected by the government. the other 49% pay the other 60% of tax revenues. So, really 40% of the bail-outs were paid by those that were bailed out & really it is the upper middle-class and the semi-wealthy people who really got screwed because they're footing 60% of the bail-outs to the top 1% which was neccessary because of the bad choices of the bottom 50%. A little food for thought ;)
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Two wrongs do not make a right. People who lied to obtain mortgage they couldn't possibly repay are at fault and paid the price when their homes were foreclosed upon. No one bailed them out. The banks who made the dubious loans and kept many of those loans in their own accounts gambled that they would make huge profits. They were wrong and, therefore, should pay the price when their business failed. It is wrong for the government to intervene and bailout failed banks with taxpayer money. The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. Government should keep its big thumb off the scales of capitalism and the scales of justice. The 99% have exactly the right targets; i.e., Washington and Wall Street. Even the village idiot can see the grave injustice that crony capitalism has wrought upon Main Street Americans. It is unacceptable and a slap in the face to see Wall Street bankers coddled and protected by their buddies in our government while Main Street suffers the consequences of their greedy excesses.
I think the government should be the primary target, but instead Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, three of the biggest spenders of taxpayer money, are going before the media portraying themselves as part of this movement when really they are one of the main reasons this movement has become neccessary. I think the focus should be "occupy washington d.c."
The worse thing the 99% can do is have establishment Democrats or Republicans hijack the movement. Both parties are responsible for economic quagmire we are stuck in. Both parties are part of the problem and cannot, by definition, be part of the solution. If the 99% foolishly allows the leaders of either political party to tap into their energy and make useful fools out of them, then I'm afraid the movement will fail. Never let the snakes into the tent. I believe the 99% are quite capable of occupying both Washington and Wall Street and demonstrating peacefully in both venues. Those two are the major targets. They are the twin devils of deceit who have banded together to form an oligarchy and could care less about the pain they have inflicted on Main Street Americans. They have demonstrated their disdain and disregard for honest Americans time and time again.
That's exactly what democrats are doing right now as we speak. I've already heard obama and pelosi both on the radio, aligning themselves with the movement.
It is no surprise that Obama and Pelosi want to align themselves with the movement. They believe the 99% can act as an antidote to the Tea Party. The important thing is that the movement not align themselves with them or any other politician, who only see the 99% as an opportunity to further their personal careers. Avoid them. Do not give them a platform at assemblies. Almost all of the elected officials have taken money from Wall Street and other special interests. They are, therefore, tainted. They continue to actively solicit funds from Wall Street, while making believe they empathize with the frustration of the 99%. If the 99% is naive and foolish to allow these career politicians to co-opt the movement, they might as well disband right now and go home.
I think the only effective way to seperate the 99% from this administration is to protest the current administration itself. "Occupy Washington D.C."
Why not? Just keep it non-partisan. The current administration and the previous administrations all sold out to Wall Street.