Bush, Greenspan, Bernanke and Wall Street have collectively pursued policies and actions that now have the US, and much of the civilised world, on the brink of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Many normal people are going to look at the Wall Street bailouts and their own foreclosures (coming on the heels of the dotcom massacre) and think something is deeply wrong. In the US in particular, they have one charismatic socialist providing a persuasive and charming alternative. Thanks to the timing of this crisis, just before an election, they may well vote him in. They may have achieved the remarkable feat of making the most socialist, left-wing inexperienced member of the US Senate into the favourite for the Presidency. Bush, Greenanke, and the Wall Street CEOs have, by their utter incompetence and misguided economic policies, therefore presented possibly the greatest risk to US - and thus world - capitalism as a socio-political and ethical system since FDR, or even Karl Marx himself. What 1 billion nuclear armed Soviet and Chinese communists could not achieve in 50 years of Cold War, a tiny handful of American free marketeers may be in danger of achieving within less than a decade - the destruction of capitalism's reputation as a system where an honest guy, by his own hard work, drive, and determination, can drag himself up from the bottom to the top on a broadly level playing field. The recent actions by government and Wall Street's elite, along with the con artists in the real estate industry, have shattered that illusion and turned it into a laughable snow job in the eyes of many. If in 5, 10, 15 years time, you find yourself governed by a socialist, facing 60%+ top rates of income and capital gains tax, hamstrung by business legislation, strangled by the dead hand of the state, then do not point the finger of blame at the left. The left was in critical condition, on life support just waiting for someone to pull the plug. Instead, they got emergency CPR from these 4 horseman of the economic apocalypse, and now stand a real chance of becoming a viable and even dominant force in western politics once again. This would be a disaster of unmitigated proptions. So, remember this hall of shame: George W Bush - economic illiterate, protectionist, socialist (but only for big oil, Enron, the military industrial complex, Wall Street and the real estate predatory lending sectors), friend of Enron, $5 trillion debt junkie, warmonger, single-handed destroyer of America's reputation throughout the world, partly responsible for sending oil to >$100 per barrel. Alan Greenspan - serial bubble blower, naked put seller, ex-libertarian sellout and turncoat, ARM-mortgage pusher, mortgage brokers best lobbyist on the Hill, bankrupter of an entire generation of US homeowners. "Helicopter" Ben Bernanke - destroyer of the dollar, creator of the Wall Street Welfare State for Billionaires, ardent inflationist. Wall Street CEO, Chairman, and board members rogues gallery - Cayne, Schwartz, Prince, Dimon, Rubin et al. There are a few exceptions, but not many. Guilty of fiddling while Rome burned, stumbling headlong into the biggest bubble since the roaring 20s, getting an entire generation of Americans hooked on nothing down, crack cocaine high risk jumbo ARM reset toxic liar loan mortgages, palming them off to a bunch of know-no-better clueless savings institutions, pension funds, municipal government investment pools, and other conservative investors. Guilty of possibly the largest and most destructive financial fraud in the history of humanity. Guilty of conspiring to turn their disastrous, insane losing gamble into a profitable one, courtesy of billionaire Welfare from the Fed, by crying about possible financial meltdown (hint - if you care about financial stability, don't max out leverage and push financial crack cocaine on clueless noobs during a bubble). Remember these people's names. They may well go down in the hall of financial shame - the Hoovers, the Whitneys, the Kruegers, the Strongs of the modern era.
So how are you gonna fix capitalism? By having Obama fix it through social programs & Obamacare? Are you gonna blame Bush Greenspan Bernanke Wall Street on the collapse of Europe too? What about the cities that have gone bankrupt like Harrisburg, PA, Stockton, CA, Detroit? Those are Democrat strongholds. You gonna blame Bush? I dunno why I'm having a discussion with leftists here. You knuckleheads can't be reasoned with.
You may want to re-read my post - it was posted in March 2008. Stick to fucking your cousins, hillbilly boy. Oh, and I had to laugh at this comment of yours: "I listen to credible people who back their opinions with data. I listen to both sides. Then I make up my own mind." - Petsamo, Elitetrader.com, May 2009 AHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHA
It was a pretty prophetic post Cutten. But these people are not really capitalists, or this would not have been the course of action they took. Also i think you were a little too hard on Bush, not ben. Why do you think you were too critical of that douche?