People on Wall Street and in the media seem to be rather pleased that the U.S. stock market has rallied. It's hovering around 11,000, which is supposed to give us hope for the future. Forgive me for not joining in the celebration, but there are some major issues that need to be addressed. But first, a quick recap of how we got into the mess of 2008.
Any collapsed market that was built on favorable legislation, excessive debt, and wealth extraction needs to take a step back and reassess. When a plane crashes, we see the government, independent analysts, and private players get together to determine the cause(s) and make recommendations. This kind of diligence and cooperation hasn't happened with reference to the 2008 market collapse (at this time the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is stocked with market sycophants, and a waste of taxpayer dollars).
Instead, we've thrown trillions of dollars at the problem, allowed record bonuses, and now have relatively toothless pieces of legislation making their way through Congress.
In effect, we're doing the functional equivalent of the FAA sending up more planes (the bailouts) after a crash, hoping that everyone looks at the number of planes in the air (a surging stock market and a "stablizing" jobs picture), instead of focusing on the carnage that's still on the ground (homes underwater, record debt, stagnant wages, foreclosures, bankruptcies, etc.). Seriously, this is what we have today:
Throw in (1) the fact that too-big-to-fail is not seen as a serious problem in Washington, or on Wall Street, (2) growing concerns in Europe and China over finance & trade issues, (3) continued real estate problems (underwater mortgages & looming commercial real estate disasters), and that (4) Wall Street seems to think more debt and no new rules are cause for celebration, and we have reason to ask what's really happening in our markets.
No one can know exactly when the s**t will hit the fan, but make no mistake. It will.
- Mark
1. Deregulation
2. A Culture of Debt.
3. Unabated Speculation and Gambling on Wall Street.
Any collapsed market that was built on favorable legislation, excessive debt, and wealth extraction needs to take a step back and reassess. When a plane crashes, we see the government, independent analysts, and private players get together to determine the cause(s) and make recommendations. This kind of diligence and cooperation hasn't happened with reference to the 2008 market collapse (at this time the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is stocked with market sycophants, and a waste of taxpayer dollars).
Instead, we've thrown trillions of dollars at the problem, allowed record bonuses, and now have relatively toothless pieces of legislation making their way through Congress.
In effect, we're doing the functional equivalent of the FAA sending up more planes (the bailouts) after a crash, hoping that everyone looks at the number of planes in the air (a surging stock market and a "stablizing" jobs picture), instead of focusing on the carnage that's still on the ground (homes underwater, record debt, stagnant wages, foreclosures, bankruptcies, etc.). Seriously, this is what we have today:
1. No New Regulations.
2. More Debt & Record Bonuses.
3. More Speculation & Gambling ... but now with trillion dollar guarantees from the Federal Reserve.
Throw in (1) the fact that too-big-to-fail is not seen as a serious problem in Washington, or on Wall Street, (2) growing concerns in Europe and China over finance & trade issues, (3) continued real estate problems (underwater mortgages & looming commercial real estate disasters), and that (4) Wall Street seems to think more debt and no new rules are cause for celebration, and we have reason to ask what's really happening in our markets.
No one can know exactly when the s**t will hit the fan, but make no mistake. It will.
- Mark
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