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1 jaunte  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 7:46:53pm

Thanks for fixing that typo!

2 What, me worry?  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 8:01:33pm
What puzzles me is why there isn't more indignation. The Tea Party is the most indignant domestic political movement since Norman Thomas's Socialist Party, but its wrath is turned in the wrong direction.

Pure partisanship. They weren't pissed because it was Bush. Had it happened under Obama's watch, you'd see indignation flying all over the place.

Is it is "socialist" to believe in a more equal distribution of income, what is the word for the system we now live under? A system under which the very rich have doubled their share of the nation's income in 25 years?

I like hearing this stuff coming from the wealthy. Good article.

3 Linden Arden  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 8:21:53pm

"No Wall Street or bank executive has been charged with anything. It will never happen." - Ebert

I see a lot of this. What would they be charged with? Specifically?

4 jaunte  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 8:26:41pm

re: #3 Linden Arden

Insider trading, and possibly bribing SEC regulators.

Gary Aguirre isn’t exactly a neutral commentator on the SEC, but you can’t say he doesn’t have an insider’s view. The SEC paid him $755,000 in 2010 to settle claims it wrongfully fired him after he pushed to depose Morgan Stanley (MS) Chief Executive Officer John Mack in an insider-trading investigation. Today, he says the SEC “has been so compromised by its connections with Wall Street, it cannot function.” To make things right, Aguirre would require that at least five years go by before an employee could get on a financial firm’s payroll. The way things are now, “a guy at the SEC makes $200,000 a year, leaves for a $2 million a year job, and when he needs a favor, calls an old pal at the SEC.” The Government Accountability Office plans to release a study on the revolving door issue in July. [Link: www.bloomberg.com...]
5 jaunte  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 8:35:35pm

Nathaniel Schwalb has some good ideas for a fix:

Corporations must also push “claw back” clauses for disappearing short term profits. According to the SEC’s charges, Mozilo made $139 million through insider trading and securities fraud. This is a cartoonishly large total. But it is only a fraction of Mozilo’s $470 million in total pay. He made the balance by cashing in on short-term profits that left Countrywide bankrupt in the long-term. This is perfectly legal. Shareholders could disincentivize this behavior before the fact, and recollect ill-gotten gains after the fact by demanding “claw back” clauses to recollect executive pay earned before the full ramifications of a strategy plays out.

The question is, why don’t shareholders do this already? The answer is complicated. Part of the problem is the fact that board members and executive pay consultants are closer to the CEO than average shareholders, so they represent shareholder interests poorly. Such clauses may also get traded away at the bargaining table, because they matter more to the executive than to the shareholder.

But it is not only in the shareholders’ interest to see executives behave themselves, it is also in the interest of the nation. And so it is incumbent on our government to nudge these clauses into compensation contracts if some market failure is keeping them out. The government is ill-suited to litigate executive crime directly, but it could and should levy taxes on companies that don’t have bullet-proof arbitration and claw back rights over their executives. Stopping the next financial crisis is a complicated task, but stopping the next executive crime shouldn’t be.
[Link: www.yaledailynews.com...]

6 FreedomMoon  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 9:03:21pm

They'll never be charged because of the golden rule: those who have the gold, make the rules. And with 40% of the wealth, you can bet they're making a lot of rules. (i.e. Koch Brothers)

7 Velvet Elvis  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 9:16:46pm

This one is worth clicking through and reading the whole piece.

8 jaunte  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 9:17:13pm

Be sure also to read Joseph E. Stiglitz' piece in Vanity Fair:

Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. So what if this person gains and that person loses? What matters, they argue, is not how the pie is divided but the size of the pie. That argument is fundamentally wrong. An economy in which most citizens are doing worse year after year—an economy like America’s—is not likely to do well over the long haul. There are several reasons for this.

First, growing inequality is the flip side of something else: shrinking opportunity. Whenever we diminish equality of opportunity, it means that we are not using some of our most valuable assets—our people—in the most productive way possible. Second, many of the distortions that lead to inequality—such as those associated with monopoly power and preferential tax treatment for special interests—undermine the efficiency of the economy. This new inequality goes on to create new distortions, undermining efficiency even further. To give just one example, far too many of our most talented young people, seeing the astronomical rewards, have gone into finance rather than into fields that would lead to a more productive and healthy economy.

Third, and perhaps most important, a modern economy requires “collective action”—it needs government to invest in infrastructure, education, and technology. The United States and the world have benefited greatly from government-sponsored research that led to the Internet, to advances in public health, and so on. But America has long suffered from an under-investment in infrastructure (look at the condition of our highways and bridges, our railroads and airports), in basic research, and in education at all levels. Further cutbacks in these areas lie ahead.
[Link: www.vanityfair.com...]

9 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 9:19:32pm

re: #2 marjoriemoon

I like hearing this stuff coming from the wealthy. Good article.

It bears mentioning that Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man, specifically because of his philanthropic activities. I have a hard time reconciling the genuinely good work he does through his charity, with the often downright sinister business practices of the company he founded.

10 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Sat, Apr 9, 2011 9:22:40pm

re: #7 Conservative Moonbat

This one is worth clicking through and reading the whole piece.

Ebert rarely disappoints. Ever read his article about having half his face removed due to cancer? Heavy-duty stuff. The guy can write.

11 researchok  Sun, Apr 10, 2011 4:28:55am

The VF article was about the societal/cultural problems of the disparities of wealth, not about accumlating wealth.

12 Romantic Heretic  Sun, Apr 10, 2011 9:11:57am

I'll make the comment I usually make when massive wealth disparity is discussed.

I hear the sound of knitting needles.

13 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Sun, Apr 10, 2011 10:19:51am

re: #12 Romantic Heretic

I'll make the comment I usually make when massive wealth disparity is discussed.

I hear the sound of knitting needles.

[Video]

Our guillotines will be made in China out of particle board and low-grade sheet meta.

14 Gus  Sun, Apr 10, 2011 10:23:55am

In 1776 we had a revolution to overthrow the monarchist rule of the British. Flash forward to 2011 and we find that instead we are ruled by the moneyed class of the super rich who are in fact the true elite. Americans will never admit to living in a stratified society based entirely on wealth and class where its citizen are not treated equally.


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