Bernie Sanders proposes legislation to break up big banks and other too big to fail companies.
It is not often the case in this crazy time in America that someone like myself would be aligned with a self proclaimed socialist, Bernie Sanders from Vermont. While I find Sanders view on almost everything to be abhorrent, wrong and flat out anti-American, the man has some serious cojones.
Specifically the introduction of the bill that he wishes to be called Too big to fail, Too big to exist Act. Actually on the subject of aligning with socialists, Sanders also submitted a version of Ron Paul's House bill to audit the Fed and this would then mark the second time I support a socialist. Oi Vey.
Why is Sanders correct in this particular case? Because corporations like Fannie/Freddie (GSEs), Goldman Sachs, AIG, GM, Chrysler, etc have held the government and the taxpayer hostage. While Congress is entirely complicit and bribed to the bone the ability of giant corporations to essentially threaten financial apocalypse in order to get hundreds of billions of dollars is simply reprehensible.
Fannie is a massive money pit that will never ever be profitable again and will simply siphon our wealth much like the Japanese Banks. AIG used force and intimidation. Goldman Sachs and the rest of the big banks are just flat out robber barons stealing money from us using insider trading, manipulation, coercion and threats.
Goldman Sachs trading division pulled off a miracle recently. Out of 64 days, it only had one losing day. Look, I am not a professional trader by no means, but I know a few things about statistics. What GS pulled off is like winning the lottery, it's not possible for traders to be this successful. They are cheating the system and they are brazen enough to show it off to the world! Hell, even I would have lost a few days on purpose - this is garbage and an outrage! No wonder they paid off the TARP money. But that is only marginally outrageous when you realize that the average salary at Goldman Sachs in the middle of one of the worst recessions in history is $773,000! Whiskey-tango-foxtrot!?!?
We are talking about a god damn SERVICE company, they produce and create NOTHING, how in the hell is this possible!? This is not free market capitalism, this is fascism. Hell, I don't even know who is regulating who anymore - the line between Goldman, The Fed and Congress is so blurry it becomes impossible to distinguish.
Sanders is right, if you are so big that you cannot fail and must implicitly rely on taxpayer money - then you should not exist. This of course begs the question as to how this will work in practicality. Sanders in his legislation requests the Treasury Secretary to submit a list of all companies too big to fail, but this enters the realm of subjectivity. What will Geithner use to determine this information? How will they break this up? Is this any different than previous anti-trust busts? If so, how can we determine which companies should or should not be broken up?
We can at this point all agree, conservative, liberal, libertarian that the current situation of giant banks holding us hostage must come to an end. We can also agree that the Fed must be audited, but better yet dismantled. Free market capitalism cannot work when there are no defined rules and worse yet, no one to enforce these rules. We need transparency, exposure, information and better communication. We need to avoid creating angry anti-capitalism mobs, but realize that what we have today is a grotesque perversion of how the system is supposed to work.
Is it any doubt that the Fed already opposes this?
Specifically the introduction of the bill that he wishes to be called Too big to fail, Too big to exist Act. Actually on the subject of aligning with socialists, Sanders also submitted a version of Ron Paul's House bill to audit the Fed and this would then mark the second time I support a socialist. Oi Vey.
Why is Sanders correct in this particular case? Because corporations like Fannie/Freddie (GSEs), Goldman Sachs, AIG, GM, Chrysler, etc have held the government and the taxpayer hostage. While Congress is entirely complicit and bribed to the bone the ability of giant corporations to essentially threaten financial apocalypse in order to get hundreds of billions of dollars is simply reprehensible.
Fannie is a massive money pit that will never ever be profitable again and will simply siphon our wealth much like the Japanese Banks. AIG used force and intimidation. Goldman Sachs and the rest of the big banks are just flat out robber barons stealing money from us using insider trading, manipulation, coercion and threats.
Goldman Sachs trading division pulled off a miracle recently. Out of 64 days, it only had one losing day. Look, I am not a professional trader by no means, but I know a few things about statistics. What GS pulled off is like winning the lottery, it's not possible for traders to be this successful. They are cheating the system and they are brazen enough to show it off to the world! Hell, even I would have lost a few days on purpose - this is garbage and an outrage! No wonder they paid off the TARP money. But that is only marginally outrageous when you realize that the average salary at Goldman Sachs in the middle of one of the worst recessions in history is $773,000! Whiskey-tango-foxtrot!?!?
We are talking about a god damn SERVICE company, they produce and create NOTHING, how in the hell is this possible!? This is not free market capitalism, this is fascism. Hell, I don't even know who is regulating who anymore - the line between Goldman, The Fed and Congress is so blurry it becomes impossible to distinguish.
Sanders is right, if you are so big that you cannot fail and must implicitly rely on taxpayer money - then you should not exist. This of course begs the question as to how this will work in practicality. Sanders in his legislation requests the Treasury Secretary to submit a list of all companies too big to fail, but this enters the realm of subjectivity. What will Geithner use to determine this information? How will they break this up? Is this any different than previous anti-trust busts? If so, how can we determine which companies should or should not be broken up?
We can at this point all agree, conservative, liberal, libertarian that the current situation of giant banks holding us hostage must come to an end. We can also agree that the Fed must be audited, but better yet dismantled. Free market capitalism cannot work when there are no defined rules and worse yet, no one to enforce these rules. We need transparency, exposure, information and better communication. We need to avoid creating angry anti-capitalism mobs, but realize that what we have today is a grotesque perversion of how the system is supposed to work.
Is it any doubt that the Fed already opposes this?
Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said Oct. 21 the idea of breaking up large institutions is impractical, calling it “more a provocative idea than a proposal.” Instead, he said any firm that may pose a risk should be subject to stricter oversight. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on Oct. 15 said regulators should consider breaking up systemically risky firms.Make your voice heard folks, DEMAND this!
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