By now we all know that something bad is happening on Wall Street, but it seems so complicated, with talk about CDOs, credit swaps, mark-to-market issues, etc.
However, Secretary of the Treasury Paulson just made it very simple. From his statement today regarding a "Comprehensive Approach to Market Developments":
http://www.treasury.gov/...
"The financial security of all Americans – their retirement savings, their home values, their ability to borrow for college, and the opportunities for more and higher-paying jobs – depends on our ability to restore our financial institutions to a sound footing.
What he just said above is that every single one of you who have worked hard, saved what you can, have hopes for the future of your children...Every one of you, who didn't make millions in stock options or on the appreciation of your over-financed McMansion...Every one of you, whose parents told you to work hard, play by the rules, don't expect a handout in life...Every single one of you: Your life, savings, pension, and future have been put in dire jeopardy by the decisions of a handful of men.
Literally, a handful: the small number of men who ran the biggest institutions on Wall Street, those politicians and lobbyists who've relentlessly pushed deregulation over the past 28 years, and the President and Vice President who've put people who despise oversight and regulation in the most critical oversight and regulatory positions.
You thought that if you worked all your life and put you money into the bank -- hell, not the stock market, the BANK! -- in savings accounts, in money markets, because you thought the markets were too risky, guess what -- you were wrong. You're now about to pay the price for the greed and ideology of these people.
Make no mistake about it: Sec Paulson told you today that the world you live in is not the one you thought you live in. You're at the mercy of a handful of people whose interests are not your own, and they are walking away from the mess they've made without repercussion.
These people, these politicians and financiers, are Republicans. They espouse Republican economic ideology, they push Republican policy.
Meantime, unsurprisingly, Sec Paulson also said this:
When we get through this difficult period, which we will, our next task must be to improve the financial regulatory structure so that these past excesses do not recur. ...That is a critical debate for another day.
The only way this "other day" will ever come is if big changes are made in November.
Act accordingly.