----------------
I don't think they are stupid. I think they are deluded by their own neoliberal nonsense. The They, meaning what C. Wright Mills called the financial elites, believed they could manipulate the financial system alone and let the more concrete stuff of the economic base go to hell or go to Mexico, and still make money forever out of nothing. Basically they thought these swindles and frauds were the economy.
Here is a short shot at Larry Summers, probably headed for the Obama cabinet:
``Those of you blissfully unfamiliar with his record may not know that in addition to being supportive of `dumping toxic waste in third world countries' (the subject of my piece), Summers played a crucial role in the Clinton administration's jettisoning of the Glass-Steagall act leading directly to the subprime debacle, the immiserative consequences of which we will be experiencing for the next generation or so...'' (see Pen-L, John Halle)
I think I disagree a little with DRR and Carrol that Wall Street went to Washington or Washington went to Wall Street. These are all the same people we're talking about (maybe that was Carol's point). That's the whole problem. The elites of the executive branch and the elites of capital are all the same crew and they just move back and forth. Maybe I want to refine that a little. Even if the individuals are members of the same elite class, the institutions of government and capital are structurally different. The big neoliberal merger isn't quite complete.
Obviously, Henry Poulson is a good example at the moment. When I think back on his first proposed bailout scheme, I went off the deep end---what an arrogant bastard. Thinking back now, maybe he just forgot he were he was working in a senior moment. Maybe he thought he was still at Goldman Sachs, where as CEO he could just go downstairs and demand anything from anybody with a fucking memo. Here, you figure it, boys and girls. Have the check on my desk tomorrow morning.
The whole executive branch is full of this idea that the government runs like a corporation. Just hand out orders and some marketting ideas and have somebody else figure out how to make it all work. Get all those slow learners in the Reality Based world working on it.
This reminds me of my former boss. A. would get an idea that was completely and totally FOOBAR, would listen to no one, and hand out the plan to his favorite underling of the hour. Here S., make it work. That's the way my current boss is running the place into the ground even faster. (Wednesday I got my first Social Security check, so I quit on Friday. Chuckie got his bailout from the US Treasury. Feels good, even if it took 49, that's forty-nine years of work. I spit on ever hour of that forty-nine years. Fuck you.)
My favorite congressional example these days is ex-Senator Phil Gramm, current board member of UBS, and key economic advisor to John McCain. Where is that swindling son of a bitch? The Obama campaign is not doing their homework. Here's the latest crime blotter hot off the presses:
``Swiss prosecutors examine UBS conduct: reports Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:43am EDT
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss prosecutors are considering opening an investigation into the conduct of the management of UBS AG ... during the subprime crisis, two newspapers reported on Sunday.
Zurich prosecutor Andreas Ochsenbein told the Sonntag newspaper his office had been in touch with UBS officials.
...Separately, the SonntagsZeitung said Zurich prosecutors had been in touch with the Swiss banking regulator last week to obtain a report into the causes of the crisis at UBS.''
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE49P1H820081026
I would advise Kantonspolizei Zurich und Herr Ochsenbein assign a special surveillance unit to just keep track of Phil Gramm. Big money swindles follow flithly Phil around like sour gin farts and Old Spice.
Karl Grimm