Forum Post: World Economic Forum Davos Switzerland – Jan 25 – 29, 2012

Capitalism needs a Redesign – (OWS you do need to be credited for this topic being introduced, and the road is long and ....)

On the accusation that corporations are “ losing the moral compass”, two other members of the panel responded as follows.

“The business community has not lost its moral compass,” asserted David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm and global asset manager. “

Check the clients of this power wealth management Carlyle Group (Past presidents of the US, members of Congress and government, the list is the most exclusive political Who’s Who of the US)

Takeaway: Let us investigate as to how these members have gotten their wealth, “the moral compass was already lost” to have acquired this wealth. The Carlyle Group citizenship statement make them seem like honor-swearing girl guides/scouts.

Responding to the criticism levelled at large financial institutions since the global economic crisis unfolded that they are irresponsible risk takers that focus entirely on profits, Brian T. Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer of Bank of America, said that banks do not enjoy unfair advantages because they are too big to fail. “Our power, size and capabilities come from our clients. Our revenue is representative of the economic activity taking place. We are big because our clients are [global] and we support them.”

Some points to take away:

1) Couldn’t AT&T have said this many years ago, but what helped is the break up of the monopoly in 1974, The case, United States v. AT&T, led to a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982,

What about the petroleum cartel of the 7 sisters and now the OPEC cartel fixing gas prices and suppressing research and use of alternative energy options; great example is the zero emission vehicles in the early nineties.

In short monopolies must be broken to allow for better competition

2) BOA is big because of its global nature as asserted by the CEO of the Bank of America, yet there is no global task force and judicial system to deal with its complexities nor with offshore financial dealings because of local protective umbrella legislation.

Conclusions: These godzilla-like financial institutions must be broken down to allow competition and to be able to regulated. Globally managed asset groups should be subject to cross-border investigations and regulations.