Financial history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. You can't be stupid enough to trade off anything I say.... I'm lucky they let me out of the straight-jacket long enough to trade.

J. P. Morgan

"Sell down to your sleeping point"

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Populist outrage

... I've been working on some good populist outrage all weekend.

Saturday morning I heard some guy arguing that "Why should one guy at AIG be punished for something that another guy at AIG did?"

Of course why should the entire country be punished for something AIG did?...
and Yet we are being punished. We as Americans have to just nut up and take it.

The Phrase that keeps going through my head is "Shared Responsibility" And "Shared Sacrifice".... and my issue is ... as I read about the banks... and they say "we are trying to rebuild this institution and pay off the taxpayer as best we can."

So I ask.... Who has a sense of Shared sacrifice/responsibility.

Congress... Except the republicans, have been risking their career trying to convince the people that helping the banks is a good idea.... Are the banks helping? Are the banks out with newspaper adverts saying... "We are behind america 100%" or.... anything.

When I see Jami Dimon, of JPmorgan... I see a guy who when he is talking to the public... I feel like he is talking to investors in his bank.

When I see Vicram pandit of CitiGroup, or the other Cheese heads... I see guys who are treating me like the sucker who purchased his stock.... Like I'm just some asshole to get diluted by overpaid management, and too many stock options.

I don't see companies trying to tighten their belt to get through this with us....

So... when a bunch of guys who, didn't or havn't even thanked the taxpayer for helping them out..... I feel like they are my ungratfull sister... just looking for a handout.

I mean if they really are just "SinkHoles".... Why not take away all the bonus pools. They can be paid in options at the strike price that is the stock is at when they pay off the bailout money. I'm not sure you get a bonus to be a sink hole.

5 comments:

Tony said...

"Except the Republicans..." That's because maybe the Republicans as a party know that none of these bankers can squelch their urge to satisfy their immediate self-interest. The GOP knows that this thing is going to end in flames because they personally know these bankers and understand that they are genetically incapable of considering the greater good.

Where does the greed end? I'm truly beginning to understand how guys like Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, V.I. Lenin and Hugo Chavez garner public sentiment. As knuckleheaded as they may seem, they still are more altruistic than the capitalists.

Maybe if we are lucky the outrage will bring about a revolution of sorts.

Eric said...

the republicans are playing perfect game theory..

If they help the democrats and the democrats succeed, they lose.

If they help and democrats succeed marginally.. they lose.

if they don't help the democrats and the democrats succeed, they lose.

If they don't help and things don't go well, the can get a marginal wind.

if they don't help and things go baddly they win.

Of 6 possible outcomes, the only ways they win is if they fight against the democrats and things go ok... or badly.

There may be those marginal voters that may be pro republican if they help to save the economy.. but they are too few to count.

Eric said...

It's the banks the piss me off the worst.... you can just see why they are failures...running that Ayn Rand shit for so long....

Tony said...

"Capitalists are no more capable of self-sacrifice than a man is capable of lifting himself up by his own bootstraps."
Vladimir Lenin

Republicans may practice game theory successfully, but that's because they have read their Lenin. We can only hope Obama has as well, but so far it appears not.

Tony said...

Banks are failures? Since when? They seem to have played this all out extremely well. Nobody is frog-marched or lynched... heck they all even got their full bonuses! Jimmy Cayne has been arguably the biggest loser in this mess, and he's still worth a couple hundred million.

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