Capitalists tax things. Communists ban or cap things. Bans and caps never work because there's always a way around them.

The way to stop this is to drastically increase the personal income tax rate on the wealthy, while, simultaneously, drastically lowering the business tax rate. This will discourage the "personal jackpot" mentality and encourage the wealthy to keep their wealth in their business.

If I'm investing money, I always keep it in industries close to me that I understand.

You have to discourage the wealthy from withdrawing money for wanton personal consumption. If you drastically lower the exceedingly high US business tax rate and hike the personal income tax bracket back up to the 50%-70% rate it was 25 years ago, these bonus babies will go away.

Once the wealthy realize they have to invest for the long term, not for short term bonuses to buy that mansion in the Hamptons. These short term plays will die off.

The way many companies are run these days reminds me of the business simulation game you play in business school. At the end of the semester, when you're about to be graded, you cut your R&D and marketing to zero and put all of your money into stock buybacks and dividends. The "company" is in big trouble if you were to play the game past the time you're graded, but who cares about the company since you have your "A" and you've moved on to the next victim.

In the real world, managers manage their companies for a big bonus check, then leave very soon after they collect their Lotto check.

If an executive had to pay 70% of that Lotto bonus check to the US Government and nothing if they left it invested in the company, don't you think they would manage it differently?

My point is, while everyone is busy pointing fingers there is no true solution on the table. That is the problem and the question of the day. Jobs are non existant, health care is only for those who can afford it, and public education is losing ground fast.

Americans read the constitution, "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Change can only be done by the people for the people.

It does not matter if people like Goldman are idiots or evil. They helped to blow up the world financial system. Period. Bad

I myself am very suspicious and this causes me to generate another conspiracy theory of my own.

The Treasury lets small banks get away with buying back the warrants cheaper then what they're worth.
That's as per the oversight board.

It's kind of odd that GS seems to never make a mistep and the Treasury is full of their alumni. Someone trying to feather a nest before going back to the mother ship? Would explain a lot.

It's also odd how all of these analysists seem to of under estimated GS earnings about the same amount and they had the same projections.

Is this more of the banks feeding rubbish to "independent" analysists who print the junk.

The writers at CNN.Money should be embarassed about printing such rubbish w/o doing any reporting work.

Why are you not trying to investigate just why GS seems to be all knowing and omnipaant about trading.

You guys get a kick back for not being very inquisitive?

Lehman, Morgan, Goldman (all owners of sub-prime conduits) and hedge fund in the country led the charge to create and implement the mortgage programs now bringing us down. Fannie, Freddie and even Golden West (World Savings- Wachovia) participated in creating the top down debacle.

As a small broker/banker I along with hundreds of thousands were nothing more than pawns positioned to distribute the poison. If I was told to collect W-2's, paystubs, bank statements (as I did in the 80's) in order to sell the paper to my wholesalers or correspondent banks, I DID! If I was told not to collect anything I DID NOT! Very simple but obviously too simple for many to understand or perhaps not want to.

These rules came from Fannie and Freddie who received their marching orders from the securities markets. No different than me getting my orders from my money suppliers.

Today nothing has changed. I collect what I am told to collect. I do not make the rules, the guidelines or the regulations. I do not analyze or run models for the “what ifs”. Like thousands of others I only do what is necessary to originate and close a loan for people who need it.

It should have been obvious when Barney Frank and Chris Dodd started in on the brokers as the ones responsible that was only a smoke screen to cover up their own blatant mistakes and as well to keep the heat off the true culprits. When Barney went after yield spread it was the first shot over the bow to brokers and bankers that your days are limited. Now we can see that with the recent release of new regulations, their ultimate goal is to limit he players and reduce the competition.

I will predict that sooner than later, there will be no competition for loan products. The same banks who began this mess and who rec'd the TARP funds are now the same lenders who are putting a stranglehold on America while they spend the bailout funds on everything but.

The greed and evil began at the top and it continues to survive no matter what you or I say. A sad statement considering we’re a Democracy.

When you think of it objectively, you need to remember how many Americans have lost their well-paying jobs to those in overseas countries. The result–the companies get richer. The domestic work force gets squeezed.

Take those same folks, put them in part-time jobs in [other] evil empires, making half or less, and you have a recipe for disaster. More homes for sale and less folks buying them.

But the shareholders are happy, since their staff costs are down, and the profits stay up.

If Americans kept their jobs, the 'evil empires make less money (those poor guys.)

But if that happened, would there have been a housing collapse?

"Never ascribe to conspiracy, that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Their management is totally corrupt, and self-serving, and their goal is not to make a corporate profit, but rather to line the pockets of top management, and the devil with who gets hurt in the process.

This situation started in the 1970's, and has deteriorated ever since, as management became devoted to themselves, rather than to good business practices.

If the government doesn't pass legislation to rein in these abuses, and cap corporate salaries and compensation, and to SEVERELY LIMIT stock options, then the government can only be considered to be part of the problem.

http://www.beaconintegration.com

If the government decided to stop enforcing laws against murder I'd be willing to bet that the murder rate would skyrocket. And I'd be willing to bet that the government (and even much of the public) would blame the new murder epidemic on all of those evil murderers out there. Certainly the murderers are responsible for their actions but, realistically, there are people out there who are always going to do evil given the opportunity.

The government has been on a huge anti-regulation kick in recent years (it is now reversing, of course). It was inevitable that the government's not enforcing ethical standards in finance would lead to an increase in unscrupulous and irresponsible behavior which is exactly what happened.

Regardless of anything else this is why the bubble got so bad on so many fronts.