Matt Tiabbi, author of "The Great Derangement," which I highly recommend, provides something very valuable in this article. He explains why the AIG bonuses, small though they be in terms of the overall bank bailout, are really evidence that the U.S. has endured a coup by our financial elite.
After explaining the nature of the coup in vivid and readable detail, Taibbi explains why it is so important for the rest of us to understand what has happened, and why the ruling class, including the media, are in panic mode trying to ease public anger about what these people have done to us and our country.
As all dictators know, literacy is power.
Happy reading. Oh, I hope everyone will excuse Taibbi's profanity in his first sentence. Its an understandable sentiment.
Joe H.
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The Years Of Writing Dangerously
9 years ago
1 comment:
Joe:
You make an important point here.
Jon Stewart recently had Jim Cramer on his show and was highly critical of the quality of financial journalism. We do a better job at explaining the Big Bang to lay people than we do at describing market mechanisms. As good an expose as Taibbi wrote, it's clear he doesn't understand what a "naked" position is--which is critical to understanding what went wrong at AIG. For me, as someone who used to structure CDOs and CDSs, the solution to our current mess is nearly intractable. There are politically expedient solutions, which will satisfy people's desires for revenge, but will do nothing to solve the problem short-term. And there are market-driven solutions that might turn us around, but would cost a politician his career to suggest and support. In the meantime we hear a range of policy statements that miss how the capital markets work. Clearly we need more financial literacy.
Alan
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