Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaC
I said punished, not prosecuted.
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How do we punish someone who was making over $10million annually by selling stocks? And who pay almost no taxes? Fine them $1million? In the Money, Power, and Wall Street, even those who freely talked about the scam could not or would not say how much money they were paid. What was once public knowledge is now required (in contract) to be secret.
We had this argument about a decade ago between Lookout123 and me. He was recommending mutual funds mostly on spin and image. I cited the massive fees paid to stock brokers by investing in funds; due to fees and that typically underperform the market. I even noted a superior investment tool for the most naive - now commonly known as Exchange Traded Funds. But many here only understood what Wall Street was promoting. And foolishly put their money into mutual funds.
Others did the same thing with adjustable rate mortgages and credit card balances.
Some numbers. One analysis recently reported a mutual fund investor paid his stock broker and financial consultant who does almost nothing about 14% of his profits. An ETF investor paid something like two or three percent. And those who purchased stocks recovered almost 100% of his profits.
Punished were so many investors who still do not even understand that enriching the rich (tax cuts for the rich) destroy jobs. That reality is contrary to sound byte logic. Therefore many do not understand they are being punished for being complicit. This recession is traceable to so many who believed those lies. Many even wanted to put Social Security into the stock market. Everyone should remember those discussions.
So who got punished? The PBS series Money, Power, and Wall Street includes what I was discussing here over a decade ago. The people who got punished are the many who listened to Wall Street or the popular urban myths (ie a mutual fund investors). Who foolishly believed the purpose of a company (and the mafia) is its profits. As I have been saying here for decades: the purpose of every company is only its product - the advancement of mankind. Those who understood that were much less harmed or even earned a small profit during the recession.
I even cited examples of the problem by name even a decade ago - ie General Motors.
Of course the most corrupt got off and are now being protected by more urban myths from the easily brainwashed; such as the Tea party. Massive regulations are needed. We now have in politics people who want America to fail. So they stifle and attack regulations using ridiculous reasoning based only in a political agenda or Limbaugh logic. They continue to protect those most complicit. We can never over regulate finance people despite a political agenda that is still hyping deregulation and enriching the rich.
Most punished are those who most make this possible by listening to sound bytes rather then learn obvious facts. Economics takes revenge even on those so foolishly parrot that lower taxes for the wealthy will create jobs. We knew from the Kennedy Tax cuts that stimulus eventually causes economic harm. We know see what the George Jr stimulus did - history repeats itself. But ten years ago, those who are now punished listened to sound bytes. Even foolishly believed "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter." Punishment has been dealt.