Capitalism, in our country, is always regulated to some extent. And most people agree that most of those regulations are good- food quality, building safety that protects us from buying unsafe houses and/or places of business, and rules against both false and subliminal advertising, among other things.
Pure capitalism, in its unvarnished form, requires every consumer to be an expert and have extensive knowledge of every competitor in order to avoid being cheated and/or hurt by substandard products or services. And most people don’t have a problem with a SMALL amount of government regulation for the people.
But where do we draw the line?
The banks and financial institutes (fi from this point on) took TARP funds-taxpayer money- in order to avoid failure. A good portion of those banks/fi paid back that money. Yet the government attempt to interfere with their current business practices has not stopped.
Our President being undignified enough to refer to Wall Street executives as “fat cats” isn’t a real problem, though it does show a lack of understanding of subtleties. Many of these “fat cats” fought against practices that caused harm; many have VOLUNTARILY taken pay cuts and turned down bonuses; and others are just men and women who do their job. On average, these people don’t sit in their offices rubbing their hands together cackling madly about screwing over the average American.
Name calling is one thing. But the House had passed a wide-acting bill that changes the business practices of everybody from mortgage brokers to banks to Wall Street firms. The most troubling part of this bill is that it allows a new agency created by the bill to shut down a bank/fi simply for “hurting the economy.” It doesn’t matter if the firm is solvent. It doesn’t matter if they’re not taking taxpayer money. THE GOVERNMENT CAN DECIDE TO CLOSE DOWN A PRIVATE BUSINESS. More disturbing, the Fed is stripped of almost all power, and Congress- always politically influenced and affected by lobbyist- would be in charge of consumer protection and be able to overrule the Fed’s financial decisions.
-Continued tomorrow
Pure capitalism, in its unvarnished form, requires every consumer to be an expert and have extensive knowledge of every competitor in order to avoid being cheated and/or hurt by substandard products or services. And most people don’t have a problem with a SMALL amount of government regulation for the people.
But where do we draw the line?
The banks and financial institutes (fi from this point on) took TARP funds-taxpayer money- in order to avoid failure. A good portion of those banks/fi paid back that money. Yet the government attempt to interfere with their current business practices has not stopped.
Our President being undignified enough to refer to Wall Street executives as “fat cats” isn’t a real problem, though it does show a lack of understanding of subtleties. Many of these “fat cats” fought against practices that caused harm; many have VOLUNTARILY taken pay cuts and turned down bonuses; and others are just men and women who do their job. On average, these people don’t sit in their offices rubbing their hands together cackling madly about screwing over the average American.
Name calling is one thing. But the House had passed a wide-acting bill that changes the business practices of everybody from mortgage brokers to banks to Wall Street firms. The most troubling part of this bill is that it allows a new agency created by the bill to shut down a bank/fi simply for “hurting the economy.” It doesn’t matter if the firm is solvent. It doesn’t matter if they’re not taking taxpayer money. THE GOVERNMENT CAN DECIDE TO CLOSE DOWN A PRIVATE BUSINESS. More disturbing, the Fed is stripped of almost all power, and Congress- always politically influenced and affected by lobbyist- would be in charge of consumer protection and be able to overrule the Fed’s financial decisions.
-Continued tomorrow
