Crony capitalism [How Wall Street undermined free markets and the rule of law]

Toronto Sun ^ | 2011-11-06 | Lorrie Godstein

[Clive]

-

[impimp]

Government’s fault - not Wall Street’s fault.

[foreshadowed at waco]

Great article. Thanks for posting. There is certainly alot of blame to go around and while we line up against each other the bad guys get to ride off into the sunset.

[liberateUS]

It’s not just a disgrace, it’s criminal!

[Venturer]

Why aren’t they camping outside Barney Frank’s house. I would camp there with them.

Why arent hey camping outside the Capitol, where the Congress can use “insider information” to become rich while it being perfectly legal for them.

Why aren’t they camping outside Bill Clinton’s home he is the one who loosened up bank loans for people who could not afford the loans.

Why aren’t they outside the White House which has spent or shared 3 trillion dollars of stimulus money and not created one job with it.They have paid off the Unions though.

Perhaps Wall Street is a part of he problem, but the greatest part of the problem is politicians who are more worried about getting elected than in doing what is right.

And these very protesters are the same ones who will vote again for the POS they helped elect the last election.

[bert]

The government is individuals. Individuals should be held to blame. Everyone knows the Democrat leaders Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are to blame for leading the party down the road to doom.

The punishment should be far more than prison. Heads should roll and be posted at the city gates on pikes

[SueRae]

I find myself agreeing with much of this article...except the starting date of 2008 for the crisis....it goes back much further than that.

And he nails it with this comment...

“As a fiscal conservative, I believe in free markets and the rule of law, not fraud markets and crony capitalism, in which profits are privatized and losses socialized.”

[DainBramage]

Crony-Journalism is at least half the problem.

[bigheadfred]

Occupy is a warm up. Things are only going to get worse.

And, IMO, who is POTUS won’t matter. Unless they truly draw a line in the sand.

The last POTUS to draw a line in the sand got his head blown off in Dallas.

[LomanBill]

Government isn't blameless.  It created the usual Charlie Foxtrot it always creates when it follows its collective nature and exceeds the limited scope of purpose defined for it in the American Declaration of Independence: TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS, governments are instituted among men.

BUT - it was the CRIMINAL nature of certain merchants and their dishonest scales that gamed the confusion and perpetrated the FRAUD.

 

"TO SECURE THESE RIGHTS..."

 

From who?

"The merchant uses dishonest scales; he loves to defraud."
--Hosea 12:7

That's who.

Got RICO, LEO?

[TheBigIf]

The writer of this article is a disgrace.

When government sets forth laws that attack free market principles and create an environment whereas it is obvious that investors are being robbed by political activists with the help of Congress it is then a disgrace to blame those who simply are trying to use the best possible stradegy legally to protect their investments as being the cause of the problem.

The author of the article claims to be a conservative but comes off as either a liar or as extrmemly ignorant.

[TheBigIf]

Basically this author is upset that investors on Wall Street didnt do their best to make the crony capitalism sheme created by ACORN and Congress work better.

This author would be happier if the democrats financial systems were still in place and blames Wall Street for not finding better ways to prop it up.

This author is a disgrace.

[varon]

BTTT

[Carbonsteel]

Yup. These punks should be protesting on Capital Hill. It was the politicians that slowly stripped away the regulations that had been in place since the Great Depression, put in place to prevent the banks and Wallstreet from getting too out of control.

The more freedom these institutions had, the more problems they caused and the media likes to conveniently overlook the fact that the scumbag politicians are more responsible for these ills then anyone.

Then top it off by the fact that the whole movement has been hijacked by Commmunists and you have a recipe for disaster. Stupidity and Communists made for a real bad combination.

[A_perfect_lady]

The reality is both parties and their presidential candidates, happily allowed themselves to be bought by the U.S. financial services sector in the years leading up to the crash.

Then government is just as much to blame, if not more so.

[Senator John Blutarski]

impimp wrote: “Government’s fault - not Wall Street’s fault.”

.....I rather view this as a team effort. Wall Street is no innocent in this debacle. We have today the the best government money can buy; our government has been bought by Wall Street, is more or less controlled by the financial elite, and, judging from the immense financial benefits derived, probably stands as one of the best investment Wall Street every made by Wall Street.

[Venturer]

What line did Kennedy draw?

The only one I remember is when he forced the Soviet ships back from Cuba. Ships that wouldn’t have been there in the first place if he hadn’t caused the problem, by chickening out at the Bay of Pigs.

[org.whodat]

Wrong, it is both. This country is on the path to destruction due to cronyism. The old line gop want willard to protect cronyism.

[Aevery_Freeman]

It is a "chicken and egg" scenario.

Businesses can hardly commit fraud for long in a free market. To truly rob people, you must use force - the gun, if you will. Government is the gun. Unscrupulous men are always drawn to illicit power.

So we have a government of unscrupulous men being bought by unscrupulous men in business. We must disarm our government, then businessmen will have to go back to being honest to get ahead.