Krugman writes: "Mr. Gross's fall is a symptom of a malady that continues to afflict major decision-makers, public and private. Call it depression denial syndrome: the refusal to acknowledge that the rules are different in a persistently depressed economy."
Paul Krugman. (photo: NYT)
Depression Denial Syndrome
04 October 14
�
ast week, Bill Gross, the so-called bond king, abruptly left Pimco, the investment firm he had managed for decades. People who follow the financial industry were shocked but not exactly surprised; tales of internal troubles at Pimco had been all over the papers. But why should you care?
The answer is that Mr. Gross�s fall is a symptom of a malady that continues to afflict major decision-makers, public and private. Call it depression denial syndrome: the refusal to acknowledge that the rules are different in a persistently depressed economy.
Mr. Gross is, by all accounts, a man with a towering ego and very difficult to work with. That description, however, fits a lot of financial players, and even the most lurid personality conflicts wouldn�t have mattered if Pimco had continued to do well. But it didn�t, largely thanks to a spectacularly bad call Mr. Gross made in 2011, which continues to haunt the firm. And here�s the thing: Lots of other influential people made the same bad call � and are still making it, over and over again.
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Goldman Sachs needs to be Nationalized and broken up.
In short, the Treasury helps its friends, but only the "invisible hand" can help the rest of us. At that moment I realized Obama will probably be re-elected. Nobody has in our whole history helped CEO's more than he has. And Geithner, for all his apparent ineptitude, has actually done exactly what he and Obama have meant to do. Poor America!
They are just living the American Dream -and somebody has to pay for it. :-)
Maddave is right on! Boot 'em via Nationalizing and breading up.
We MUST put in place a 0.05% transaction tax on ALL equity trades which would really put the brakes on the "skimming" thusly described. Elliott Spitzer confirmed what I have contended for years that about HALF of ALL daily trades taking place in the markets are of this sort.
Such shenanigans increases both volatility and risk, in particular for the retail investor who is not engaged in this practice which is exclusive to the Wall Street "set-up."
John Russell, Dade City, Fl
Occupy Wall Street and demand prosecutions!
Ofcourse the execs stay fat and happy - their campaign contributions to Obama are investments that are paying off.
The bailouts that Senator Obama votes for, the TARP bills President Obama voted for.
The watering down of the AUDIT THE FED bill the democrats did...
no one should be surprised that FASCISM is live and well
Obama is the biggest corporate whore the world has ever seen
Then you think wrongly.
As a Tea Party member I know for a fact that the government bail outs are unconstitutiona l and yes it is fascism and I an other TP members are opposed because companies do not have a right to funds extorted from the tax payers given to them by low politicians in high places.
As a citizen and as a tax payer It matters not if it was Bush or Obama who give away our money, it is wrong.
They really aren't free people (I've known some in the corporate high-paid category described here) and they seem to me to be trapped in a system which doesn't allow them to be whatever they really might be. They wear a stylish uniform, behave in a proscribed way and follow orders just as sure as the military, and as likely as not live in gated non-communities.
They isolate themselves from any but their own corporate reality and all their material acquisitions seem to bring them little joy, as spoiled kids who take their "toys" for granted.
Sure, I am one of the "New Poor" but I do what I love for what little I make, have pride in my productivity and unique creativity and try to be a contributing part of my community, sharing the struggle for survival and even a little growth.
They may look down from on high from their architecturally appalling and space-gobbling glass towers, at the OWS masses but I wonder if there isn't just a trace of envy in what they see; fellowship, mutual aid and support forming an irresistible force, growing and shaking their very foundations?
"Ah make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the dust descend,
Dust into Dust and under Dust to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and -sans End!
Omar Kayyam.
People genes/nature is very different - read work of E. J. Wilson.
http://www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka_magazine.27.bankersmanifesto.htm
99%
TOO BIG TO FAIL!!