2. Many people knew there was a bubble (I prefer the musical chairs analogy). In fact just a couple of weeks ago George Soros said that he likes it when markets become "exuberant", that's when he makes the most money. He figures he can ride the wave up and is smart enough to jump off before everyone else. Recently he has found that this is harder to do than previously. Lots of people believe in timing (knowing when the music will stop). Sometimes they are lucky.
3. Dealing in fraud. There hasn't been as much discussion about outright fraud, but it has been a factor for much of the past two decades. It is only in the extreme cases like Enron or Worldcom that it gets noticed by the general public, but it has become the norm in the financial sector. Much of it is hidden fraud. For example, a trader was asked about Bernie Madoff and said "we all knew he was doing something illegal, but we thought it was trading on insider information." In other words this sort of behavior was acceptable since it was commonplace and hard to track down. Inflated bond ratings, tossing pension fund business to certain firms and other such arrangements are all types of fraud, but are the norm. This is not being reformed.
The unifying theme is that capitalism is based upon gaining an advantage over one's rivals, by fair means or foul. Once the premise that the biggest is the best is accepted then everything else follows. Capitalism and morality don't mix. Policies not Politics ---- Daily Landscape
MPs won't be too keen on asking hard questions after this.
Meanwhile you have to admit, it takes a certain kind of chutzpah to intimidate an entire government.
But I'm not holding my breath.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
well you never know the next election might result in an intake of honest politicians.....
More likely an intake of cowed politicians who will think twice before taking on the Telegraph or the financial establishment.
Just as the political class was gearing itself up to properly regulate and control the financial/business class its own credibility and public standing is mysteriously undermined.
Now why would that be? notes from no w here
No - wait - actually, you're not.
Some interesting developments have happened overnight. Nadine Dorries has seen the blog part of her website instantly taken down after she made allegations against the owners of the Telegraph Group, Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay.Lawyers acting for the Barclay brothers, Withers, instructed the takedown carried out by Acidity via mail to Coreix last night, citing the Acceptable User Policy. The takedown will be bolstered by the Godfrey vs Demon precendent, where an order can be made and it will be done instantly. <snip> Update II: Interesting to note that the day after Nadine makes allegations that the Telegraph has a hidden proprietor driven agenda to drive votes to UKIP (I repeat this is an allegation not a proven truth), her blog gets taken down by lawyers and then this morning's Telegraph carries not only more expenses scandals but a gushing piece about UKIP.
<snip>
Update II: Interesting to note that the day after Nadine makes allegations that the Telegraph has a hidden proprietor driven agenda to drive votes to UKIP (I repeat this is an allegation not a proven truth), her blog gets taken down by lawyers and then this morning's Telegraph carries not only more expenses scandals but a gushing piece about UKIP.
After that, as the British Society of Homeopaths learned to their discomfort, it's two or three e-mails away from being up on half a dozen foreign sites.
Because the first thing I'd do if I were going to tighten the ability of Bad People to retroactively censor the internet would be to sic Stasi 2.0 on Google to make them stop showing their cache to the general public. And I don't trust Google not to fold - they have too big commercial interests at stake, and their policy on legal threats, like bogus copywrong claims from IFPI, has been "better safe than sorry."
Someone with a more suspicious mind than mine might wonder if there isn't something Rovian about concentrating on relatively minor fraud, such as Commons Expenses, while ignoring the much bigger frauds which inflated the bubble.
bingo! i've smelt this since it started.
ow, ow, ow, look at the sore toe!
(said the headless man...) ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
and if this is the limitation, it boggles the mind how much damage there is that we're being kept in the dark and fed horseshit about.
consumer confidence cannot be allowed to fail...
(got to let us down as gently as possible, given the circumstances)
the sheer pettiness of some of the sums was a clue too, by the law of inverse spin, that means they don't dare begin to really quantify the tsunami coming. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
And then these last weeks there were revelations about union waste and spending just days before the company leaders published a statement about the need to lower salaries. Except for their own of course.
I think it is very deliberate timing.
Of course, if the union leaders in question had not used those board seats to line their pockets or not had been wasting their members on themselves they would have been in a stronger position. Who knew that luxury had a downside? A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
