Webdiary - Independent, Ethical, Accountable and Transparent
header_02 home about login header_06
header_07
search_bar_left
date_box_left
date_box_right.jpg
search_bar_right
sidebar-top content-top

A critical moment

With many US congressmen apparently afraid to rouse the ire of their voters so close to an election, ANZ boss Mike Smith's fears of a Depression ring more loudly in the ears than ever.  I've just finished reading George Bush's sales pitch to US pollies and voters, and now think that  if this is the part of the situation we're being told about, how much worse might the situation truly be, and how bad might it become?

Anyway, over to Dubya,courtesy of the White House website:

 

"Good morning. Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on a financial rescue plan that had been negotiated by Congressional leaders of both parties and my administration. Unfortunately, the measure was defeated by a narrow margin. I'm disappointed by the outcome, but I assure our citizens and citizens around the world that this is not the end of the legislative process.

Producing legislation is complicated, and it can be contentious. It matters little what a path a bill takes to become law. What matters is that we get a law. We're at a critical moment for our economy, and we need legislation that decisively address the troubled assets now clogging the financial system, helps lenders resume the flow of credit to consumers and businesses, and allows the American economy to get moving again.

I recognize this is a difficult vote for members of Congress. Many of them don't like the fact that our economy has reached this point, and I understand that. But the reality is that we are in an urgent situation, and the consequences will grow worse each day if we do not act. The dramatic drop in the stock market that we saw yesterday will have a direct impact on the retirement accounts, pension funds, and personal savings of millions of our citizens. And if our nation continues on this course, the economic damage will be painful and lasting.

And I know many Americans are especially worried about the cost of the legislation. The bill the House considered yesterday commits up to 700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase troubled assets from banks and other financial institutions. That, no question, is a large amount of money. We're also dealing with a large problem. But to put that in perspective, the drop in the stock market yesterday represented more than a trillion dollars in losses.

Furthermore, both the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget expect that the legislation considered would ultimately cost the taxpayer far less than the $700 billion. Because the government would be purchasing troubled assets and selling them once the market recovers, it is likely that many of the assets would go up in value over time. Ultimately, we expect that much -- if not all -- of the tax dollars we invest will be paid back.

As much as we might wish the situation were different, our country is not facing a choice between government action and the smooth functioning of the free market. We're facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans. And for the financial security of every American, Congress must act.

My administration will continue to work closely with leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill. I appreciate their determined efforts. While Congress is out today for the Jewish holiday, my administration will be talking to Congressional leaders today about how we can move legislation forward when members begin returning to the Capitol tomorrow. Our economy is depending on decisive action from the government. The sooner we address the problem, the sooner we can get back on the path of growth and job creation. This is what elected leaders owe the American people, and I am confident that we'll deliver. Thank you. "

left
right
spacer

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Left right out

Angela Ryan: "I didnt think we were talking about antisemiticism , but what on earth has it to do with the old Left and Right poltical labelling."

I've noticed, Angela, that the "old Left and Right poltical labelling" is perfectly alright when you are labelling others "Right" (as in "my dear Eliot, keep up the Right fight'), but is oddly old hat when your opinions are called "Left", especially when they seem to mirror the "Right" of Hezbolla and Hamas.

To an extent, you are correct. the differences between the slogans of the serried ranks of the Right of old, and those of the Left today are not much different.

Eliot, reminding us of the Neocons origins

Eliot, I was not aware that I had Left or Right opinions as my views are mostly based upon human rights issues and values. If that means supporting oppressed people while yet opposign the use of violence and force then that is still internally consistent.  My use of Right was purely for irony as I had thought you would have appreciated and had wit to easily see. See what a high opinion I have of thee?

Serried, what a word. Actually I think the Right of today are the Left of yesterday and known as Neocon(new Conservative)  and have brought us the wars, military buildups  and invasions and loss of human rights and personal freedoms that the FarRight of previous century are notorious for, some things do not really change as far as that goes.

Thanks for reminding us of the origins of the Neocons and their nefarious acts since coming to power. 

Sanitised for their protection

Angela Ryan: " He may be a rightwingdeathbeastfan and vote for McCain and have a signed copy of Corsi's book ("my dear Eliot, keep up the Right fight, or just keep up etc love Jerome) but that's it "

I've pointed out on more than one occasion that I'm supporting O'Bama.

In this crazy old world today, people who support Hizbollah and Hamas are "left", or so they keep insisting, and so therefore those who don't are "right".

That's one of the measures by which the New Ansti-Semitism is being sanitised for idiot chattering classes.

Paul Walter: "....try to imagine you are living an old farmhouse  being attacked by a giant marihuana plantation."

I had a landlord in Ashfield who kept a fairly substantial crop hidden just meters from Ashfield Police Station beneath a canopy of Monstera deliciosa.

Eliot confusing little me again

Eliot:: "That's one of the measures by which the New Ansti-Semitism is being sanitised for idiot chattering classes.."

I didnt think we were talking about antisemiticism , but what on earth has it to do with the old Left and Right poltical labelling. Are you talking anti-Apartheid Israel or real anti-semiticism?  Most people are anti-Apartheid and I dont know anyone who is antisemitic, yet many are "right" or" left" wing, so maybe you are confusing human rightrs issues like Apartheid and poltical wing dividsions. Israeli people are like any other with the full range of poltical left//right wing philosophies represented just as most places and usually reflecting from  whence they came. eg the Russian post soviet imigrees have apparently quite a far right problem, even Nazism elements. hard to believe. Anyway, all kinds make up the world.

Obama for Eliot. Or is it Biden?

Eliot, that is interesting, the first "leftwing" support you've given for a long while. Does that mean there is now going to be another paradigm shift with the formercommunist/socialistthenNeocons now going left again? No wonder they are all so dizzy in their polciies.

Personally I cannot see much Left and Right meaning in the traditional political sense of the word, and this was all well discussed eruditely on another essay here much earlier. I suspect they lost their relevance when both became fascist half a century ago or so. Since then it is the Angloamerican dutch economic alliance versus any who dare oppose. Just as Perkins Confessions of an Economic Hitman described. The Nonaligned movement was an interesting phenomena. 

So, really, why ARE you supporting Obama...you do KNOW he isn't Irish don't you?  Or is it Joe Biden you support? The heir apparent.

Cheers

ps personally it would be a hoot if that nutcaseAlbrectson-ador-ed, 7 days creation believing,contraception contrabanding  Palin became President, Bush with Lipstick! I could listen to her all day, she is such a hoot!  And she takes herself seriously too, even funnier.Trroper gate may yet get her if her mouth doesnt.Ah well.

There would be no real change , the same string pullers would tell her what to say but it would keep politics so much more entertaining and that is all that it's about isnt it? Actually governing you say? where? When? Who?

GLOVE PUPPET

Gawd Akka, have you still got  the Invisible Hand up your arse?   You'll be quoting Stalin next.  Or Putin.  Or Palin.

Dr Jack Woodforde, OAM

Richard:  Good to see you in such fine form, Peter!

Nom de Guerre

Richard:  Good to see you in such fine form, Jack!

Dr Jack Woodforde, OAM etc

Richard:  I stand corrected, Dr Jack.

My Friends

Cripes, Jack, has the Fatwah been lifted, or is that not you at all? Anyway, now is not the time to disagree over food, eh?

As Captain Blood (Errol Flynn) announced to the motley crew after skewering the eeeevil Basil Rathbone "And that, MY FRIENDS [and fellow prisoners], is the partnership that should never have begun".

Clock onto David Day's latest, on Andrew Fisher. About time, too. May be just enough to flush the dregs of Howardism from the drains. 

LAST MAN, LAST SHILLING

Trevor KerrCripes, Jack, has the Fatwah been lifted ...

 Mmmm, you speak of victuals, but I can't come at our darling little tearfully disappointed Akka as Basil Rathbone, whethr or not skewered through the giblets or even entertainingly swinging from a gibbet on Hispaniola.

For a start, Akka can't act for toffee, and anyway, one abhors capital punishment.

But I'm still looking forward to Akka's market-driven appraisal of socialist fiend Rudd's sly jacking up the postage rate of letters and postcards to 5s & 6d.

 I expect that it's to help his friend George W Bush scam together a big US$700 billion pigout at Reno on Wall Street.  George might just finish the presidency richer than either of his brothers Neal or Marvin, who each have amusing little lines in vast taxpayer-funded corporate rip-offs.

Dr Jack Woodforde, OAM etc

Things that go bump in the night....will crash the next morning

 Things that go bump in the night ...will crash the next morning, wehther markets or a car or a plane(qantas) or spaceships or triffids or mad cows or......

Actually, Jenny, that was in  a Ray Bradbury story....see if I can remember it from childhood, one of my favs..:

 Just before a full on nuclear war threatened to anhilitate man, a pre-Armageddon moment occured and Giant Black vehicles parked from outer limits above the world's cities, naturally settling upon New York as the main one. That upset the cows in the paddock. And the sheep. new government ensued, as one would expect. 

I wish I could remember that story from my childhood, it had a really clever idea in it. the ulitmate Christian idea of "do unto others", as harming other people was not permitted by the "invading force" from the Elsewhere, adn pain inflicted upon others was immediately felt by those imposing it. Think about it.

Nice idea , the morally challenged may find kinder financial/business decision making skills if economic pain inflicted upon so many plebe strangers was immediately self felt. What?? Have to sell the Lear??

In the book there was, naturally, an immediate end to wars. They do hurt a bit, all hose bombs, even from 20k feet. The book  had an interesting ending. Wish I could remember it's title.

What year did that event occur, Jen? Location?

Much in the bush has been testing outside prying eyes.

Afraid there wont be any real rescue by little green men, it will be up to each of us. Ah well. Dig a hole, head in.

Cheers

Year and location

Since the dairy closed in 1996 it had to be before that Angela - but probably around then, and on a hill outside Goulburn.

What I found interesting was that my brother said it was so evil - and he is not one to exaggerate or see things. Very strange.  Made my hair stand up on me I can tell you.

Cheers

Whoosha on a hill , dark , the power of nightmares.

H  iJenny , is this your brother who was a diplomat? What on earth?  If so, is he back on the land in Goulburn? 

Then again, I find the more times I live overseas , the more I love those red rooves as I fly back home.  For him, perhaps the fluffy white clouds on the ground.

I dont have evil or supernatural in my own paradigm but our own experiences are nly our own. I wonder if he was thinking of a threat or ominous events from above. I remember after attacks from helicopters above any such flying vehicle ominous shadowing brings viceral fear of teh fire from above.

Anyway, devils probably make whosha whoosha rather than wokawoka due to their wing structures.

Evil dark feeling. A real phenomena. Had it once when in Soviet Russia alone.  How those people survived communism I will never know.Nice they have found Christianity again. At least their soldies wear crosses now.  :)  

Cheers

Yes, Angela, the one and only

Yes, Angela - the diplomat, very pragmatic, very articulate. Evil is not a word that normally he would use, but for that dark mass he had just that one word. It was ten or so years ago and I think he is still a bit rattled by the experience.

 He retired four years ago after 39 years in the Service, and nearly all spent overseas in various parts of the world. Iran (4 years - has interesting insights on the mullahs) Burma (8 years there over two postings - you should hear him on those Generals). Japan, Portugal, Germany, USA, New Caledonia, Geneva, Greece - and managed to survive our recently departed Foreign Minister. That I see as perhaps his biggest achievement!

He never spent much time on the Goulburn dairy farm but on trips home he would bog in and help. Getting the cows in was a 3.30am rising job. He's now restoring and running the old home there - takes tour coaches - Garroorigang.

Nice place, interesting history but he's welcome to it.  Old houses, too much hard work. I prefer the warmer and more open place we have out on the plains. Lonely, but beautiful country. Sunsets, dawns, wildlife, maybe one car a day passes by in the distance - and at night the everlasting stars, in their billions. Old house too unfortunately but not as big as the old place. 

I did have another brother but he died. He was the original farmer. 

even triffids were about oil

How can Eliot not know what a triffid really is?  Sorry , that is the ultimate. He may be a rightwingdeathbeastfan and vote for McCain and have a signed copy of Corsi's book ("my dear Eliot, keep up the Right fight, or just keep up etc love Jerome) but that's it . I draw the line at Triffid ignorance. Perhaps it explains a great deal. Not knowing to fear the big bellied oil filled saps who blind you with their whipping poison lash, obviously alluding to Texans. I can just imagine Dubya tapping on the Aussi perimeter........gathering the bankers....tap tap tap.

Triffid ignorance, that is the Root cause of this calamity. And being blinded by the bright lights and not seeing the empty nothing behind them.

And it was all about Oil. 

cheers

John Wyndham , the oily triffids and bright things in the sky

But no bright things in our banks. Going to a share holder meeting soon to vote on the salary package (Howard allowed this and Greens tried to push a shareholder veto power for the salary but blocked by Libs and Labour).  500,000 base salary (ie minus the perks) PLUS up to a million shares for free over 3 years for "performance". So....what was the 500,000 bucks for, looks?

Hey Paul i knew you meant a real meteorite crash and it is a bit weird but was also thinking of the Wyndham book but thought no-one would know it. I went to a A-R book shop just two weeks ago to get one for a Niece and the Sci-Fi expert hadnt even heard of any of the titles. I quite liked the face cream one.?Trouble with Lichen.

All the same, if there is a Meteorite Flash, dont watch it. And get to the country. Maybe that is why B-West bought all that land, for the Urban refugees from the Triffids, ahhhhh. Blind leading the blind in Banking. Funny CBA shares went up with that. I grew up in an old house with a wonderful library of old books like Wyndham and Bradbury and Asimov , just what a science geek loves, books written by scienctists with imagination. Most now is written by imaginative people with no science.  Better prose but .......................

I still think most meteorites are more likely space junk. 

Now, back to Roahl Dahl's Kisskiss. 

Cheers

ps hard to think of any safe stop for one to park one's funds.  Aunty just lost 30% and is retired (Uncle a head honcho banker and a bit shocked by it all) and that is where it is so sad, the retirees are truly the ones hit who cannot come back so well. Our investments are safe, a packed, happy house, :)  Whatever happens, how can people shoot their families up? Poverty is not fun but it sure beats illness and old age. It is the later that we may all have to help more.

Time for a vegie garden.

Dark things too Angela

Sometimes there's dark things too Angela. Brother the other day told me how at 3.30am, bright starry night, all 200 cows ambling toward the dairy behind him on the quad. Then suddenly a big black cloud the size of a house descended on the landscape and in a flash moved over the ground, making he said a dull snarling like sound. He was terrified and the cows scattered in 200 different directions in panic. The thing crossed the farm and disappeared over the next property. My brother said he had no idea what it was except that he had a sense that is was pure evil. Must have been a banker's ghost methinks.

I challenged him that he was pulling my leg, but he was deadly serious and he is not one for stories anyway. So he tells me now. Just as well the dairy has gone as it used to be me out there most mornings at that ungodly hour. And I spook very easily.

Watching one's investments crash to the floor to me is less spooky. Rather expected really. Just glad all the debt has been settled.

Did you see those execs under cross examination. Bet they don't anti up their 300 million they grabbed at Lehmans et al as the houses fell down. Gaol the lot of them I say. Greedy bastards playing with everyone else's money and helping themselves to the trough. Makes the pollies here with their little toe dips in the trough look like mugs really.

God knows what it all means for aid programs around the world. The poor are about to get a whole lot poorer.

Air Garooted

My mate used to work for Qantas. He found some of those overseas service centres were not up to scratch. Air Garooted was one airline he would never travel on.

Triffids - famous in that ABC sort of way

I used to watch the Triffids perform in the old Shephered & Newman Building ground floor performance space in East Sydney.

Not as good as Amanda Brown in Climbing Frame, if you ask me. That was before she joined the Go Betweens.

The Meteors were way before my time, though.

ps

post scriptum, Eliot.

If you are still finding my exegesis problematic, try to imagine you are living an old farmhouse  being attacked by a giant marihuana plantation!

And, Paul Walter

Consider ye Midwich.

Maybe Eliot Ramsey is related to a Cuckoo. 

one flew under the cuckoo's nest

I'll be damned if he's not, mon ami....

Dollar freefalling like a planeload of QANTAS passengers

I didn't know we had so many Wyndham afficionados here.  Hamish Alcorn is another, methinks.

I thought this unholy mess was supposed to be stopped by the bailout? 

Freefall

Richard Tonkin, It looks as though the quicker Qantas gets it's planes serviced overseas, the better. Our engineers here seem to be missing a lot of things lately.

the peripatetic at the lyceum

With Max Merrit, Eliot. Yep, good rock outfit.

Now, you are attempting to find out if my expansive knowledge extends to something else called "Triffid", beyond a popgroup,  yes?

In which case I will refer you to a marvellous book (later filmed), written by an English writer called John Wyndham, about a world full  of people blinded by what appears to be epidemic-causing meteorites, then under siege from walking plants called "Triffids", who sting their human victims in  the eyes, if they can still see, before devouring them.

A bit like War of the Worlds.

The man wrote a number of "triffic" sci fi books during the 'fifies  that we Boomers grew up on, along with Huxley and Orwell as some of the foundational American sci fi writers like Asimov.

Maybe also can recommend The Kraken Wakes, another warning about meddling with science, featuring a big predatory thingummyjig lurking under the oceans. And a post planetary holocaust thing about telepathy, value and meaning: the strange and beautiful The  Chrysalids.

So much of modern sci fi themes are a direct rip-off of the old sci fi masters of the early/mid twentieth century.

URL

Palin blames asteroid on Obama

Alan Curran: "What if the Iranians think it has come from Israel or some lunatic cult think it is the second coming, the bloody stock market could crash."

Well, it's bound to herald the end of the American empire as we know it.

"On mainland China, the stock markets declined sharply, catching up with the rest of the region, as trading resumed for the first time after last week's National Day holidays.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite dropped 5.2% to 2,173.74, while the Shenzhen All Share index slid 3.8% to 590.91."

Yikes. It must be the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Chinese snack

Michael de Angelos: "This is just the beginning and the end of civilization as we know it ie: the end of the American empire."

Well, it's probably not given that the USA accounts for 25 per cent of global production. But if it was, Australia's bacon would be part of a big bowl of Chinese sweet and sour in a heart beat, wouldn't it?

It will get worse

This is just the beginning and the end of civilization as we know it ie: the end of the American empire.

Imagine if those two mavericks (one being that gosh darn it hockey mum) get their hands on the economy?

Could get worse

Michael de Angelos, A very tiny asteroid, not much more than 10 feet across, will enter Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in Africa tonight, October 6-7, 2008, near 2:46 Greenwich Mean Time. Most likely it will burn up before hitting the ground, but it could produce a spectacular fireball, or bolide, in the night sky equivalent to the explosion of about a kiloton of TNT.
Astronomers are concerned that eyewitnesses might misinterpret the event as some type of hostile military action. 
The object's entry might be visible as far north as southern Europe and the Middle East.
What if the Iranians think it has come from Israel or some lunatic cult think it is the second coming, the bloody stock market could crash.

 

Ian M (Ed): Alan, could you give us a source of your information?

Source

Ian M, Here is the link to the story. As an amateur astronomer I can assure you there is nothing to be alarmed about.

 

Ian M (Ed): Thanks for the reassurance, Alan. I won't ask you for the RA and Dec on the asteroid at any precise sidereal time, but the insert hyperlink function does not appear to have worked. Perhaps you could give the URL address as well. 

Landed

Ian M, Asteroid 2008 TC3 has hit our planet, exploding in the atmosphere over northern Sudan like a kiloton of TNT and creating a fireball as bright as a full Moon. Most of the 3-meter-wide asteroid would have been vaporized in the atmosphere with only small pieces possibly reaching the ground as meteorites.

Shortly after this interest rates dropped by 1% and the ASX rose slightly.
Nothing to do with Rudd & Swan!

meteoric falls and vaporising

The Russians are learning the hard lessons of joining the Capitalist system, their meteorite  market crash of  30% last Friday and had to be halted three times. 

Guess they have gone back to the red.

But at least they are helping out...Iceland with 4 billion . Keepng the little island afloat. ...afloat after a run on their banks...adn funds vaporising.

Wonder what next coms from the skies.

cheers

Day of the Triffids

Actually, Angela Ryan, a real metorite crash!

The newspapers are telling us that a real meteor some several metres across will hit the atmosphere, spectacularly burning up  and disintegrating perhaps over Africa, which is only a couple of inches south of  Russia on the pocket atlas I am reading. 

What comes next Angela Ryan?

It comes closer to home.   No doubt the Commonwealth thinks it is getting a breat bargain with the purchase of BankWest.

Hope they've done their due diligence properly (and I'll lay odds they haven't).   If I had any Commonwealth shares I'd be selling them this afternoon.   Bankwest, a buch of cretinous cowboys from WA has, for the past few years been aggressively lending in the bush during the worst drought the country has ever seen.   It probably has one of the dodgiest loanbooks in the banking industry.   This wasn't sub-prime lending it was stupid lending.   The bank must be in possession of more unsaleable rural land than you can poke a stick at and the Commonwealth Bank wants to buy it.    The non-perfoming loans must be stupendous.   The only possible rational reason for acquiring it would be to take over the tax losses and that just affects the ordinary Australian by driving revenues down further.

Heavens save me from bankies. 

Perception is important

It seems to me that it is not the substance of media posted issues which is effective, but the willingness and/or gullibility of the readers to accept it. After all, it is a business for profit.

In this forum we have well-educated and intelligent people who, because of the WD charter, can forcefully express their opinions. And that is a lesson for the media.

However, it also applies to those of us who may be less educated but nevertheless, hopefully, no less intelligent.

I have said so often that deception is the basis of Howard's "good" business. I do not resile from that opinion.

For the Howard "New Order" principle to be sustainable, it would have needed a much stronger regulation of the multi-million dollar advertising enterprise. But that would invade the freedom of the press.

The conservative principle of "the end justifies the means" is completely contrary to commonsense. It ignores the fact that the right cause may have been lost to the wrong - because of success.

I believe that we should be thankful for being able to express our views openly - even if only to relieve our tensions.

NE OUBLIE.

Sloth

Ernest William, it certainly seems sloth has played a part in recent events. Any ampifications, Paul Morrella?

Homework.

"Dynasties were made during such things as the Great Depression, not before, and not after. Many would argue (I being one) this is the only way a true capitalist system can operate."

Paul, which depressions made these dynasties and these dynasties, when you get through with those I've got a whole heap more.

The government meets average standards

Ernest William: "Paul Morrella: 'PS Greed is a symptom - it's never the cause. ' Is that intended to get a bite - or to defend your corrupt merchant bankers?"

It's not intended to "get a bite". My belief is that all emotions are a victim of circumstance.

What I do find interesting is your religious reference. I'm not a religious man. I will admit to harboring some "envy" of those that are - a clarity or certainty that one can never buy.Why would a person so anti-religious (which you are documented) fall back on such connotations to beat somebody over the head with?

My feelings on your beloved Australian Government: Average centre right government. The brilliance of which is extrapolated by its members. Given the highest percentile rarely moves into politics, it's not poor, though, it's not great either.

No attempt to lecture, Paul

Paul Morella: ''Why would a person so anti-religious (which you are documented) fall back on such connotations to beat somebody over the head with?"

As you know, there are many excellent descriptions of everything the human race has endured since recorded time.

At the time of my post,  the one I quoted seemed to be appropriate and wise. But it no more defines me as religious than the wise councils which exist in the Bible, the Koran, and any other religious guides.

While advising us as to the way we should live our lives, some use fear of death to force us to conform, and conversely some use heaven (without a hell) to convince us to accept their principles.  That is broadly speaking of course.

I don't think I have ever read a document so wise and unimposing as the Desiderata which in the case of the Wall Street financial disaster I would recommend:

"Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery".

If we can learn something from all of them, we may not hate each other so much.

After all, while we believe that death is inevitable it may not be so fearful if we also believed that there was life after death - no hell - but a better existence.

Be aware of those baring non gifts

Ian MacDougall: "What GWB does not address here (I wonder why?) is the fact that Congress and senators have been heavily lobbied lately by irate taxpaying voters opposed to the bailout."

Yes, and for vastly different reasons. Some believe that this bailout is bad for them as taxpayers, and some believe it's bad for their bottom line. Example: there are a small number of people (in all shapes and sizes) on the sidelines, and they've been there for a while. If the bailout doesn't proceed this is their time to make hay (prudence should bring reward). Any price will be accepted. Dynasties were made during such things as the Great Depression, not before, and not after. Many would argue (I being one) this is the only way a true capitalist system can operate.

PS Greed is a symptom - it's never the cause.

A new dictionary, Paul?

Paul Morrella: "PS Greed is a symptom - it's never the cause."

Is that intended to get a bite - or to defend your corrupt merchant bankers?

The training and functioning of merchant bankers is simply to put money in their own pockets along with the shareholders.  That is their only concern.

While you are at it you may consider that the great majority of financial analysts, plus a huge number of American citizens, don't agree with you.

Even the careless Bush Administration is concerned at the clearly bad risks the bankers took for the sake of greed.

The Bush administration's lack of regulation (like that which Peter Hendy wanted here) allowed the natural greed of bankers in the US to exploit a situation which they must have known could not last.

Should they be applauded because they were willing to risk the livelihood of tens of millions of people all over the world? Or should they be gaoled?

To destroy the millions of American shareholders from the top and now, filtering down to the smaller operators, was cold-blooded greed.

Greed caused the present disaster in the American markets even as it did in 1929.  Now, as Paul Keating said, they want to run to Momma (taxpayers).

Greed motivates greedy people because enough is never enough - but under the crazy and exposed system in the US the (at the very least) incompetent merchant bankers will still pick up their millions in rewards - albeit with some cap of, say, only $60 million?

The Seven Deadly Sins:

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

Thank you Ernest William

I am pleased to note that I am infected neither by pride nor vanity.

Gosh, that's a relief. 

Greed can be understood

What GWB does not address here (I wonder why?) is the fact that Congress and senators have been heavily lobbied lately by irate taxpaying voters opposed to the bailout.

Had the members of the corporate executive class been only about 1% as greedy as they have been, maybe the thing would have got up. But ordinary taxpayers are having a hard time understanding why it is they who should have to pay for the lavishly rewarded mismanagement practised by the aforesaid corporate layer.

The last comparable class with this ability to write its own stupendous cheque was the pre-1789 French aristocracy, of whom we need say no more.

Yet in a perverse sort of way, corporate greed is understandable. In a dog-eat-dog society where the only welfare available just keeps one from starvation and with little else in life, greed, if not excusable, at least makes sense. Put it this way, it is not as irrational as it may first appear, even though it is still true: compulsively accumulate enough wealth and you will spend all your time maintaining and worrying about it. One can only drive one car at a time, wear one watch, shirt, suit etc. The extravagance of an Imelda Marcos (was it 500 pairs of expensive shoes she had?) only makes sense as an insecurity-driven mania arising out of an impoverished childhood.

Apart from which, it's impossible to find good servants these days. Or so I am given to understand.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
© 2006, Webdiary Pty Ltd
Disclaimer: This site is home to many debates, and the views expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the site editors.
Contributors submit comments on their own responsibility: if you believe that a comment is incorrect or offensive in any way,
please submit a comment to that effect and we will make corrections or deletions as necessary.