Reporters Demonstrate Selfishness of the Rich

Apparently there's a bunch of well-paid (significantly, paid over $250,000) reporters who still feel that the President is wrong to consider raising taxes on the richest 2% of the community (to which, surprisingly, many of them currently belong).

Those reporters should be ashamed to be asking such blatantly self-serving questions of a President whose mandate clearly includes reducing taxes for the poorest 95% of the population. Anyone familiar with the statistics (and if you aren't, then you must read David Cay Johnston's Free Lunch) knows that the Reagnomics/Thatcherite "trickle-down" theory has been thoroughly discredited by a half-century during which the rich obstinately continue to get richer.

My own household isn't yet at the level where my taxes will go up. Should I become that fortunate, however, I will consider myself doubly lucky: I will be earning more for myself, but more importantly I shall be contributing more to the recovery of the country's economy, and helping to make sure that the lower-paid see more of their income in their pockets.

The rich have soaked this country (and other developed countries) for long enough. Time for them to demonstrate some patriotism. Government hand-outs are one thing--at least they benefit people who need help. Bail-outs are another thing altogether. They benefit the greedy, the avaricious and the selfish.

The Lunatics Are Running the Asylum

So what I'd like to know is why aren't heads rolling in the financial and banking world? The industry has received huge injections of capital, largely at the taxpayers' expense, and yet the people who steered the industry wrong in the first place are either keeping their jobs or becoming institutionalized as government advisers and cabinet members.

Not only that, but you could drive a London double-decker through the salary caps put in place at President Obama's request. While they may limit the short-term income of the chief executives there are apparently many devices that they can use to defer income, and still end up with tens or hundreds of millions of dollars once the cap is lifted.

In this interview with Bill Moyers Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the IMF, argues inflluentally that Congress has way too much respect for the powerful insiders whose business inadequacies have put us in this position. Sadly, those people have collectively contributed $180m in campaign contributions, and now seem to be receiving the benefit of this investment by not having to answer the awkward questions they should be facing from all sides.

If something isn't done, and quickly, it's going to become apparent that the greed and corruption endemic in Wall Street extends to Capitol Hill. The people who we elect to serve us are in fact serving themselves, nobody appears to feel compelled to pay taxes until they are faced with a public inquiry, and there is remarkably little concern for the middle- and working-class millions whose lives are being destroyed by the incompetence and dishonesty of the political-financial complex.

One Reason Wall Street Failed

This New York Times article gives a great analysis of Wall Street's over-reliance on a risk model that reassures you about what will happen 99% of the time but fails to take into account the catastrophes that can occur the remaining 1% of the time. And these people want to keep their bonuses?

I found this in Bruce Schneier's February Crypto-Gram newsletter, a great read for anyone who's interested in security of all kinds - even financial security!