On Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:46:43 -0700, Winston
wrote:

On 4/17/2010 4:11 PM, F. George McDuffee wrote:

(...)

FWIW -- it appears that even if Goldman Sachs is put out of
business, their executives sentenced long prison terms, with
massive disgorgement of personal wealth, nothing will change
because the system that allowed/encouraged Goldman Sachs and many
other financial firms to flourish at the expense of the people
was not changed.

If those three things were to happen, it would signal a
fundamental and earthshaking change in the system, yes?

Then Wall Street would likely demand a partial refund on
their purchase of D.C.

"It isn't broken and we want it FIXED!".



--Winston
===========
John Carroll appears to be exactly correct when he observes that
until and unless a new super Glass-Stegall is enacted and
enforced, and derivative trading is either outlawed [contracts
not enforceable in the courts] or confined to regulated specialty
exchanges, nothing is going to change in the world of the
banksters. I would add that a "small enough to fail" cap may
also be required for both market share and total capitalization
if things are to be brought under control.

Consider what happened in Chicago. Elliott Ness, the
"Untouchables" and many other brave and dedicated law enforcement
personnel managed to nail Al Capone and send him away for a long
stretch in prison [income tax IIRC]. This was *NOT* the end of
the syndicate in Chicago, or anywhere else. Big Al went to the
slammer, and paid some fines, but the system was not changed, so
only the names of a few of the people running things changed.

We do not allow the interstate sale of mis-branded, adulterated,
or impure food in the United States. While occasionally
ineffective, the FDA acts to prevent systemic violations, and the
CDC tracks outbreaks of food born illnesses after they occur. The
FTC commission will also act in the case of fraudulent
misbranding resulting in unfair competition, preventing a "race
to the bottom."
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/27/256...s=Our%20Region

I can see no reason why similar constant and strict oversight is
not now required for financial products/services, given the
proliferation and the increasingly large fraction of the
population now directly affected through their IRAs, 401ks, etc.
when the financial markets "go south." ==Everyone is indirectly
affected because of the effects on employment and demands for
governmental [i.e.taxpayer] "rescue" efforts, e.g. government
[formerly known as general] motors, Chrysler, Chase, Citibank,
AIG, etc. etc.==


Unka George (George McDuffee)
...............................
The past is a foreign country;
they do things differently there.
L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author.
The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).