Every day the way events are unfolding I get chills thinking about a novel I read many years ago. With this new taxation of Wall Street and the impending exodus of employees and talent from American banks. Did anyone else notice that all our banks were down 10% on Friday; JPM, BAC, C, GS, MS. With all the Euro banks up 10%; CS, UBS, DB - because of the expected influx of the most talented and highest paid bankers and traders to them. The AIG mess where the right people are being 'bribed' to stay with the ship in air pockets under water after it has sunk with retention pay, and are now being scrutinized and chastized for accepting the bribe. OK, we'll have college kids figuring out how to unwind these complicated derivative structured products and protect OUR $80billion investment. NO foreign kids though, they have already been told only American citizens need apply to ANY U.S. bank that took TARP. American banks have had to find spots overseas to honor contracts offered to non-US citizen graduates from our universities. Ayn Rand prophetically envisioned this in her 'fiction' novel 50 years ago. Its an amazing and 'must' read if you never have. Think I saw someone on ET mention WSJ article in Jan. Here is a small synopsis with a link to a great analogy relating it to today's America from January's WSJ below. Events since Jan. make it even eerier. The main crux of the book surrounds the decision of the "men of the mind" to go on strike, refusing to contribute their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas of any kind to the rest of the world. Each man of ability eventually reasons (or is convinced) that society hampers him with unnecessary, burdensome regulations and undervalues his contributions to the world, confiscating the profits and sullying the reputation he has rightfully earned. The peaceful cohesiveness of the world begins to disintegrate as each of these men of ability slowly disappears and society loses those individuals whose mental effort allows it to continue functioning. The strikers believe that they are crucial to a society that exploits them, denying them freedom or failing to acknowledge their right to self-interest, and the gradual collapse of civilization is triggered by their strike. This is not to say that they believed that giving the creators their due would cost civilization. Rather, the strikers believe that the current irrational altruist/collectivist culture impeded them and therefore the rest of society as well. Link: WSJ Article about Atlas Shrugged
I've said this before. Enough of the Ayn Rand comparisons to Wall Street. She championed THE CREATORS OF WEALTH - THE PRODUCERS OF THINGS. People that made things like railroads, buildings, steel, hell, even hamburgers. What does wall street do? It creates nothing but paper wealth with the backing of the fed. It redistributes wealth and gets bailed out. That's it. Ayn Rand is probably turning over in her grave as these Banksters compare themselves to her philosophy. False Prophets all of them. AYN RAND considered the Federal Reserve one of the greatest abominations. I say let these Banksters go anywhere they want. They blew up the world and now they say they're indespensbale. Fuck them. Hell, why don't we pay them to work in China, Russia, or even Iran or Venezuela? Think of the damage they could do to those countries as they have done to ours. Fuck 'em.
I agree with Mithos and so would Rand.The Bankers are Looters,using the 'Federal' Reserve Bank to enable their schemes.
This Ayn Rand crap has to stop. Really. These bankers aren't the "best and brightest" they're the "Fraternity President" types (read Carl Icahn to understand the concept) They screwed the system to its breaking point because they either did not understand or did not care about the leverage they were using. My bet is on the former. Their great "models" were crap. We would all be better off without this type in our country. They produce absolutely nothing and just move paper from one side of their desk to the other.
runningman This Ayn Rand crap has to stop. Really. These bankers aren't the "best and brightest" they're the "Fraternity President" types (read Carl Icahn to understand the concept) They screwed the system to its breaking point because they either did not understand or did not care about the leverage they were using. My bet is on the former. Their great "models" were crap. We would all be better off without this type in our country. They produce absolutely nothing and just move paper from one side of their desk to the other. ................................................................... There is a lot of truth to this.... Fraternal aspects dominate in America in that it is often who you know and not what you know.... In fact...This is what is bringing down America to a large degree...ie what brought down New Orleans.... .................................................................................. The right schools...the right contacts.... ............................................................................... This is one reason that I have a deep respect for Obama.... He may not be right about some of his thinking.... But he is self made.... This I respect.... I do not respect for a second the fraternal crowd.... They are bullshit of the worst kind.... I would never hire a fraternity brat for any reason...other than to shine my shoes or take out the garbage.... What they would be good for is seeking the best play type entertainment.....but I would even question that.... Whitebread fraternal brats are incestually weak....
Good lord. Did you just get off the boat? You think Obama is not apart of the very fraternal crowd you despise? Open your eyes!
Truth. America has followed the UK into selling out much of the ability to make things, devise new ways to make things, protect the proprietary information involved in making things - and has headed towards an economy based on the nascent and naive view that designing and creating financial products and credit-'clever' instruments, and having a market (once liquid, not so much more) that they promoted throughout the globe could more than pick up the slack. Even though Korea, Japan and China are hurting now, at least they have mastered and are continuing to master the business of making things that people will need - more of in flush times, and still in lean times. And they have widened the gap by which they can more cost effectively make these things and/or make these things of a superior quality, quantity and grade than other nations. Math, science, chemistry and engineering is what creates real wealth in society, not business and finance degrees.