Monday, May 31, 2010

Shorting Reform

Here's a satire by Michael Lewis, giving Wall Street advice on how to control the senators they have in their pockets, so as to make the banks even more powerful and bring in more money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/opinion/30lewis.html
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4 comments:

  1. tcmtJune 1, 2010 at 11:45 AM

    Kind of a "laugh to keep from crying" kind of satire.

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  2. MattRJune 1, 2010 at 12:41 PM

    Very good article. Really focuses on the importance of framing. Important to realize that it's not just about the arguments various sides make, but also about what we are actually arguing over. Wall Street can win by making sure we never even discuss the real issues and instead focus on non-issues. Classic politics.

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  3. Noah OesterleJune 1, 2010 at 1:11 PM

    At the end it mentions that people cannot pay for reform. That isn't true if you had known Rod Blagojevich at the right time. Seriously though, money talks, and the money is on Wall Street and in Politicians pockets. They could care less about the consumer as long as they play along.

    Another point made jokingly I thought was actually alarming: "Washington will attempt to limit our ability to exploit the idiocy of institutional investors a k a our “customers.”
    Most American people are idiots quite frankly. They have no idea how to manage their money or could even explain how a bond works. People need to be more educated and learn about this stuff so they can protect themselves and not rely on the government to protect them.

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  4. BryanJune 1, 2010 at 1:18 PM

    I agree with Noah, people are idiots. They really need to learn and research how to manage their money properly.
    I found one quote particularly interesting-
    "If they curtail our ability to shaft German investors in one way, we will simply find some other way to do it."
    What will happen to financial regulation in terms of derivatives and will these young financial advisors be inventing new ways to screw the American consumer??

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