Well it doesn't take a Nobel laureate to figure this one out, but I'll get back to you in a minute.The system, as it is, is corrupt to the core. The crooked institutions who fomented the crisis should be permitted to fail to clean out the rot. There is no evidence that doing so would "make the 1930's look like a cakewalk". That's fear mongering right out of the international bankers' playbook. And if you have any evidence, other than the Great Depression, that that would happen, I'd sure love to see it.
Oooh goody, I can't wait. Shall I take notes?I'll provide some evidence of my own.
But you see, your example of the "two eyes" (cuteFor perfect examples of either route being taken, take a look at the two "eyes": Iceland and Ireland. . . . <snip>
..:Flush:
(This, by the way, is why the US needn't worry about the oft repeated specious threat of "What if China called the US on its debt? Won't that crash the US economy?" Well no, that won't and can't happen, but even if it could theoretically, China's economy would crash as well from losing its major export market. We're all interconnected. But I digress . . . . )
To return to your first question, a similar thing happened in the Great Depression, but the US was not anywhere near as indispensible to the global economy as now, nor were the vast majority of multinational corporations and the world's largest financial institutions headquartered in the US anywhere to the degree they are now, nor did they even exist in the 1930's, and what did exist was a tiny fraction of the present scale and proportion. Most importantly, there was nothing approaching the sort of multinational interconnectedness that exists between all these corporations and financial institutions. Hence, how we can extrapolate that the situation this time around, had it been allowed to continue unchecked, would have been much, much, much, much worse. Capiche? There is no doubt about it, we dodged a bullet, a death blow. For now. As if it weren't bad enough.
One has only to look at the resentment harbored against the US in particular by the rest of the world, for our irresponsible lack of regulation and shoddy oversight leading directly to the worldwide financial crisis, to understand how integral, how indespensible, the US economy is to a functioning global economy.
Thank god. That would not please me at all. As if you could do that.I'm not going to go through the list of well over 1,000 politicians who brought the economy to ruin, looking for which party each one belongs to, just to please you.
You grossly overestimate your effect on me and my blood. And you didn't tell me anything I don't already know and essentially agree with. Thanks for the lesson in Washington influence peddling, oh fount of knowledge and insight. Gee, I had no idea that went on, despite the fact that probably a full third of my posts in this forum rail against backdoor lobbyists, the effects of corporate influence peddling on public policy, and how our government has been bought and sold to the highest corporate bidder. How dense are you, anyway?Did you miss my earlier post in this thread about political corruption and the revolving door between the public and private sectors that makes it possible? Or did you just read it and immediately throw it out because my points make your blood boil?
Thanks again for the astonishing revelation. It's remarkable how you continue to torpedo your own thesis. Anyone marginally conscious with an ounce of objectivity can plainly see that the revolving door corporate influence peddlers are overwhelming Republican and overwhelmingly influencing Republican lawmakers over Democrats. The Republicans are deep in the pockets of their corporate overlords. This is beyond dispute. One need only follow the money (the disparity in corporate campaign donations), listen to their rhetoric, and see the legislative agenda they push in order to plainly see this. One need only look at how they have systematically worked to dismantle not just financial regulation, but all regulations designed to protect people, the economy, and the environment over the past thirty years to see who their masters are. If one were still in doubt, one need only look at how they bitterly fought and stonewalled against revising financial regulations and consumer protections in the wake of the economic meltdown - how they are still openly advocating repeal of those and virtually all regulations designed to protect people, the economy, and the environment.The fact is that politicians of all stripes have already been bought and paid for many times over by the very people they're supposed to be regulating.
I'll pull my head out of the sandTherefore, having them construct more regulations will have little effect- or completely the opposite intended- because the entire system is corrupt and broken in the first place. There is a permanent conflict of interest in Washington and burying your head in the sand and pretending there isn't, isn't going to somehow make you right.
The financial overhaul legislation that was passed last year in spite of solid intransigent Republican opposition is inadequate to address many of the fundamental problems that led to the financial meltdown, and that still exist in the system. Still, it's not quite the insignificant fig leaf I colorfully characterized in my earlier post. It's a step in the right direction, and better than nothing. The increasingly powerful Republicans are openly committed to dismantling or blocking implementation of these measures, leaving us back in in essentially the same condition that led to the global economic catastrophe of '08 in the first place.
So you've identified problems, you acknowledge that greed, corruption, and undue influence from powerful business interests have broken the system, but you still haven't come up with a coherent practical response to my original question. None of you "Free Market Fundamentaists" have.
So we're back to where we started, post #3 in the thread:
:confused13: How do you control greedy impulses without regulation?
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