September 19, 2008
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in announcing the mother-of-all-bailouts just now said:
"This crisis demonstrates in vivid terms that our financial regulatory structure is sub-optimal"
Sub-optimal?
He did go on to say "duplicative and out-dated."
I do agree its unfair to just blame regulators here. That's like blaming the cops for crime.
Neology in the markets is constantly in overdrive. We all know there are poor english grads that do that type of marketing speak in order to keep people confused about how much money the country has and where it goes right now."De-Risking" was another great term from last week. I'm de-risking by getting the hell out of the country.
Did I hear correctly? Bush said we should "persecute" the people responsible? Nice use of the malaprop. He finally got one right.
Somehow I have a feeling that the Top 2% will still get off like the bandits they are and the Republicans will them "Crafty Mavericks". Meanwhile the every day person pays the bills. Same old, same old. The Top 2% should spring for the check this time since they are the ones who profit... they are the Casino who never loses.
Past prformance is no guarantee of future performance" This is on every financial prospectus, because it's true and required by lawyers. Yet almost all commentators in this event and others are quick to say, " If you have a 10 year horizon or more just hang tight and you'll be OK". The financial market system as we know it has only been around for 80 years and all statements about "hang tight" are based on a very short snapshot in history. Don't count on it getting better.
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