AND THE RICH GET RICHER….
The financial crisis has exposed a major flaw in the U.S. economy – the growing wealth gap. The bankers who helped cause all of our problems are now right back where they left off; record bonuses, billion dollar earnings, etc etc. Meanwhile, small businesses continue to struggle and unemployment remains near 30 year highs. All the little guy has to show for the financial crisis is a new resume and the moral hazard that is the leftovers of the banking bailout. We should have stuck it to these a$$holes when we had the change back in March. A truly capitalist system does not work in which the losers win. Instead, we allowed our government to further devalue our dollars and bailout a group of criminals who deserved to go down on the ships they captained. (Pardon the rant, but I am not happy about the current situation).
The growing wealth gap is likely nowhere more visible than it is in the parabolic growth in world hunger. After all we’ve done for the banks it would be really nice to see the bankers use their record bonuses to donate TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars to people who actually need it. In fact, how great of a message would it send if they actually sent ALL of the bonus money to charity as opposed to paying it to people who likely have no dire need for it? I guess I could compromise on sending 75% of it to charity….
The wealthy get a propped up financial market, and the laborers do not get a propped up labor market with make-work jobs or protectionism.
In Sweden there is a make-work job program called “labor market political activites” or “AMS-åtgärder” in Sweden (arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen [labor market board] åtgärder [measures or action].)
Agreed!
Unconscionable!
moral hazard indeed! and a broken trust of the stock market because of the mishandling of this crisis by the government. There is a lot of simmering anger out there about the bailout. GS makes more than 3 billion profit last quarter, a billion a month using the 70 billion bailout money from taxpayer with no string attached, thanks to Hank Paulson and Tim Greisner.