Sunday, November 16, 2008

If only he kept his fly zipped

Eliot Spitzer's editorial in today's Washington Post, How to Ground the Street, makes me wish he had kept his fly zipped (or frequented cheaper hookers and thus stayed off the radar).

excerpt: When my office, along with the Department of Justice, warned that some of American International Group's reinsurance transactions were little more than efforts to create the false impression of extra capital on the company's balance sheet, we were jeered at for attacking one of the nation's great insurance companies, which surely knew how to balance risk and reward.

And when the attorneys general of all 50 states sought to investigate subprime lending, believing that some lending practices might be toxic, we were blocked by a coalition of the major banks and the Bush administration, which invoked a rarely used statute to preempt the states' ability to probe. The administration claimed that it had the situation under control and that our inquiry was unnecessary.

Time and again, whether at the state level, in Congress or at the
Securities and Exchange Commission under Bill Donaldson, those who tried to enforce the basic principles that would allow the market to survive were told that the "invisible hand" of the market and self-regulation could handle the task alone.

2 comments:

# 56 said...

Why? A decent oped from a total douche leaves you longing for more? Given your background I can't imagine you would think we need more Bulldozer. He abuse the system and his authority, I give thanks he was brought down by any means. And no, I am not Ken Langone.

the darkcloud said...

shoot, title had me thinking you were writing about clinton.

nice blog - found you via moon of alabama.

here's my theory:

an "interesting" parallel

from 1917-1931 (14 years), america's lawmaking watchdog and protector - congress (both the house and the senate) - was majority-controlled by the republican party.
after the roaring 20's, ensuing stock market crash, great depression & WWII, americans never entrusted another "extended long-term" congressional duopoly to the republican party again...
until 1995-2006 (12 years).
deja vu all over again? enter "the roaring 00's (oh-oh's)/FDR part II"? the massive economic and financial damages are here and will continually worsen and devastate for many years, even a decade or more. facts and history will disclose "america's 2nd great 'depression' " for all to see:
as the fat cats' and elites' wealth coffers were seriously bloated (once again) [this time via 'the great credit experiment'] - america got wiped out (once again) under a republican watch.