When following the leader could lead to corruption...

-
I think it is safe to say that Goldman Sachs is one of the leading investment banks in the United States today - if not the leading bank. Our financial sector has become so shrunken, who else could rival the golden boys for the title of America's Greatest Bank? Perhaps JPMorgan Chase, but as I understand it, they're weighed down by the debt-laden consumer side of banking.

That's why it is incredible that the nation's leading bank is so very busy this year fending off corruption charges. Sad for the nation when the leading financial institution is alleged to be acting corruptly in multiple instances.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The October Rose

-
Image
‘Tis the season to bring love and joy into the world – and here’s one of the loveliest stories of the year… It’s a story that begins in October 2008, when the economy is in a state of collapse; the culture is in crisis, and faith in humanity – at least, my faith in humanity – is at an all-time low. It is precisely at this time that my next-door neighbor, Annie Jennings, comes home from high school bearing an orange rose. She presents this flower to her mother, Ellen, with the announcement that she is one of the “Sweet 16,” a member of Libertyville High School’s Homecoming Court. Annie is not quite 18 years old, a high school senior with stick-straight, sandy blond hair, glasses and a big smile. We hire her to feed our cat whenever we head out of town and we leave knowing our cat is in very good hands. So when I learn of her selection as a member of the homecoming court, I am intrigued. This is the girl who watches my cat, after all. Ellen is curious about what it means to
Read more

DUH!!!

-
NPR reports that consumers who are squeezed at the pump have pulled back on spending in other areas. The result is being felt on the economy. " High gasoline prices, government budget cuts and weaker-than-expected consumer spending caused the economy to grow only weakly in the first three months of the year." Thanks to NPR for pointing out the obvious - that higher gas prices cut into money consumers would rather spend elsewhere. That's why the corporate leaders who feel that squeezing as much out of their employees for as little as possible are remarkably short-sighted. A consumer-driven economy needs consumers with funds to spend. So dip into the profit goody bag and start giving employees much-deserved raises. Hire new talent to fill key positions. (There's a lot of talent looking for a compatible work hook-up right now, FYI.) If business leaders want to sell their product, they need to make sure America's got consumers with money to put towards consump
Read more

On the failure of "the invisible hand" to influence our financial sector

-
In Alan Greenspan's book, The Age of Turbulence , one of the issues he explores is the failure of economic populism in Latin America. Here are his thoughts: " The dictionary defines 'populism' as a political philosophy that supports the rights and power of the people, usually in opposition to a privileged elite. I see economic populism as a response by an impoverished populace to a failing society, one characterized by an economic elite who are perceived as oppressors. Under economic populism, the government accedes to the demands of the people, with little regard for either individual rights or the economic realities of how the wealth of a nation is increased or even sustained." So in Greenspan's view as a self-described Libertarian Republican, economic populism comes to life in "failing societies" that have significant income inequality and are dominated by an economic elite. And in Greenspan's mind, it is not the government that can make t
Read more