There has been a lot of talk about greed as of late. Greedy Wall Street bankers and those huge corporate monsters destroying everything in their path for a greedy pursuit of wealth. Greedy fat cats living large off of the labor of the poor and their blatant disregard for the "downtrodden".
This is incredibly irresponsible and inflammatory language because of the effect that it may have on those members of our society (This is a leftist argument against right wing talk radio) who have been told that nothing is their fault. Hey, if it's not your fault for the situation you find yourself in, then it must be the fault of some one else, right?. Who better than those greedy Wall Street bankers to cast your frustrations and angers upon? If they get theirs; now that's justice and it's about time. But hey, when has America's leftists been responsible?
There's one problem with this track though; people are greedy for more than just money, so if these Wall Street bankers are to be brought down to size because of their greed for money, what should happen to those who are greedy for power? What about those with a lust for political power? Greed is greed and if it's a bad thing, then it's bad for everyone; including the power hungry.
There is no doubt in my mind that the current Goldman Sachs show trial in Washington right now, is about nothing more than power. The "Democrats" are parading these GS executives before the television cameras in order to make it look like they're taking care of us little people by calling these evil men on the carpet. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Goldman Sachs. Our last governor was a former GS executive and he was an absolute joke. However, these hearings are really quite laughable and absurd because this is all for show; it's Kabuki Theater. We all know that families take care of one another.
You see what we are witnessing is really an incestuous relationship between politicians and their political patrons. Goldman Sachs gave almost $1,000,000 to the Obama campaign as well as money to the campaigns of those very people grilling them in the Senate conference rooms. The Obama administration is littered with many a Goldman Sachs expatriate and many former "Democratic" Congressmen and Senators have found employment with the firm. It's ludicrous to think of this as anything other than political theater. It's all designed to soften the ground for the pending banking legislation in the Senate. Goldman Sachs will pay a fine and after a light spanking will go back to lobbying for new regulations that will allow them to solidify their share of the market and edge out any competition.
What does this have to do with greed for power? Well, I'm glad you asked. When you look at the pending banking legislation closely, you begin to see some interesting things. The legislation that is before the Senate gives the FTC unprecedented and near dictatorial powers within the banking industry. It would also create a brand new Federal regulatory agency; the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (just what we need, another bureaucracy). The bill would touch all corners of the financial sector, from small-town mortgage brokers to the highest penthouse office suites on Wall Street. The Federal Reserve emerges as a leaner institution with new powers to regulate the size and the activities of the nation’s largest financial firms (I thought the the Federal Reserve was a private institution? Why would the Feds give them the power of regulation? Isn't the Fed chair a former Goldman Sachs executive?).
This piece of legislation is a huge 1400 page monstrosity of a bill. I'm sure that Goldman Sachs will gladly pay the fine, take the verbal abuse and slap on the wrist in order to be a diversion for a governmental power grab of the financial sector that will benefit them tremendously.
We're not really a capitalist society any longer. Those days began to fade with the original Anti Trust Laws in the early Twentieth Century and have gradually withered away under increasing regulation over the years. Add to that the fact that the referee, the Federal government, has entered the game and is now a player with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the new college loan bill (Still trying to figure out what that has to do with health care). That's why firms, unions and corporations spend so much money lobbying the Federal government and can you blame them? One sentence in a 1400 page bill could mean the difference between earning or losing millions of dollars. What we have now is "Crony Capitalism", "Pay to Play" and legal extortion. The Federal government was never intended to have this much power, but that's a topic for another post.
I've always had a healthy distrust of government. It's my heritage as an American to be suspicious of those who seek office, but over the past three years I've begun to feel quite uneasy with the rhetoric and activities coming from Washington. For the first time in my life I feel that those in power look at me as nothing more than a source of revenue and potential trouble. You see, power not only corrupts, it is addicting. Try getting between an addict and their fix sometime. It ain't pretty.
There's an old Chinese curse; "May you live in interesting times." I pray that we can soon return to less interesting days.
