The Folks Who Want to Cut Social Security Applaud Government Subsidies for Huge Wall Street Bonuses
No, I am not kidding. The Washington Post (Fox on 15th Street) applauded the big profits at Goldman, which will mean bonuses in the tens of millions of dollars for top performers. Goldman is able to make these payouts because it won with the bets that it made with taxpayers’ money. We all know what would have happened if Goldman lost on these bets.
(If you answered something like bankruptcy and unemployed managers, you obviously know nothing about modern economics.)
—Dean Baker
This is an area of particular interest for me. Due to excesses in liquidity under Greenspan and successors, it has become most profitable to engage in leverage and fee-for-service financial gamesmanship than in traditional commerce.
GS just happens to be best at this of the Wall Street investment bankers.
We will not again have a “normal” economy until those who produce real goods and services are again at the centre of the world of commerce.
What does it take to end it?
Probably a government that can no longer afford to bail out even Goldman.
The moment of transition may be nearer than it now appears, though the process of change is somewhat glacial in nature.