The Usual Suspects: The Masters of the Universe
"For what does it profit a man who gains the world and forfeits his soul?"
More than four years have passed since the “The Great American Bank Robbery” aka Financial Meltdown brought us to economic instability only overshadowed by the Great Depression. What saved us from the plunge into financial Armageddon was the largest act of government interference into privately held financial institutions. As we teetered on the edge of the abyss, the Masters of the Universe continued on with the great fraud - stealing, lying, denying and refusing to accept responsibility for their actions.
The posturing and condescending attitude exhibited by these Masters of the Universe was so extreme, that one could only laugh. To imply that mere mortals or the 99% were incapable of understanding the complexity of the market only served to further enrage an already angry public. As Obama said, “I’m, the only one between you and the pitchforks”. We, the mere mortals, certainly understand that if you put shit in a box, wrap it up real pretty, put a big elaborate bow on it, at the end of the day, it still is shit.
Let’s not delude ourselves, we know exactly what type of individuals we are dealing with. They are devoid of character, lack conviction and if I were a believer, I would guess their moral compass points straight to hell. The magnitude of their arrogance left the public with no illusion about what motivated them. Sheer greed, ambition and entitlement drove them to act with such recklessness, committing financial crimes of such great proportion that nations were almost destroyed. The world is still reeling the impact from their crimes.
Rather than punishing the architects of this fraud, they have been rewarded financially with taxpayers’ money. While their victims became homeless and lost their hard earned savings, they were enlisted finding solutions to ensure “never again”. The obscenity of the situation parallels the enlisting of con-men to prevent fraud.
Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers, all card carrying members of the club. In addition, they personally and directly metabolized the catalyst that set off a chain reaction leading to global economic failure. Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers, all attempted to use their extensive power to prevent Brooksley Born from instituting controls on the OTC derivative market in the late nineties. Rather than be run out of town on a rail, or made to walk the plank, they were rewarded with positions of pervasive power. What galls me the most is to have someone like Lloyd Bankfein re-enact his own personal "Carrie" adolescent revenge plot on all he feels have mocked him; and as growing up I would surmise this was a common event, and then claim he is doing "God's work".
This leads me with no other conclusion than the government itself is as broken and dysfunctional as those who lead to the crisis itself. This was not a mistake, lapse in judgment or miscalculation, but was implemented with intent, forethought, deliberation and premeditation. I also can no longer excuse the actions or lack thereof, the President – Barack Obama. The failure to lay criminal charges or secure convictions arising from the meltdown is not resultant of weak leadership, the obstructionist GOP nor the enormity and cost of prosecution. It too is an intentional and premeditated act executed from the Oval Office with forethought and deliberation. We speak of individual, corporate and state financial bankruptcy with increasing concern and fear, yet what we fail to realize is the entire political process already is morally bankrupt.