From: David Bain,
Capitalism still needs to be ethically regulated. Otherwise, you have people who have much more money and power exploiting and manipulating many people who don't have the same power and money. I will feed you back your own Adam Smith quote in an entirely different light.
'It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.'
If the butcher can sell you 'dog liver' even though you think it is 'cow liver or 'cow steak' that you don't know is full of hormones and steroids, if the brewer can sell you 'domestic beer' that you think is 'premium beer', and if the baker can sell you 'fresh, baked' bread that is a day or more old, if corporate America can 'outsource' all its 'labor force' to places like China and Mexico and India for half the cost, if New Mexico farmers can get 'dirt cheap' labor by 'importing illegal Mexican immigrants', if companies can 'import' scientists from around the world on 'work visas' at half the cost while American scientists with Phds can't find jobs or half to accept jobs for half the amount of money that they should be getting because of 'foreign competition', when full-time workers become a thing of the past because you don't have to pay part-ime workers 'benefits', when employees stop getting raises -- or lose their jobs to other workers who will accept less -- while the!
ir bosses continue to rake in more and more, when Wall Street Bankers take their 'bailout money' from Washington -- and use it for personal executive dividends amongst those who bankrupted the company by exploiting middle class Americans with 'Trojan Virus' mortgages...
After all of this, what do you say about 'the self-interest' of Corporate America and whether it is good or bad for the rest of the American people?
Here is what I say: You still need benevolence, you still need ethics, you still need altruism and caring about other people. You still need regulations, you still need good Government, you still need law and order -- and not only to protect the rich from the poor, but also to protect the poor and the middle class from the rich.
In short, you need homeostatic, dialectic-democratic balance between the best principles of both Capitalism and Socialism, allowing people to work hard and to gain from this, while at the same time protecting people from their own greed and the greed of others.
Unethical self-interest -- that is the curse of America right now and the curse of unregulated Capitalism -- Capitalism with no reigns attached to it.
I like Adam Smith but even he didn't trust many of the business men he was dealing with and knew that they needed to be regulated. A totally 'free market' doesn't work or if you want to play the 'free market' to the max, to the extreme, then you don't bail out the 'robbers' on Wall Street. And you let the American Automobiles fend for themselves -- and go bankrupt if necessary. This is a totally 'free market' and it is so comically ironically when the ultimate Adam Smith Capitalists come crying to Washington for 'bailout money' when the 'free market' is no longer fun for them, no longer in their 'self-interest'.
This is the height of irony -- and the height of human hypocrisy.
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From: B Smith
To: dgbainsky@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 11:15:50 PM
Subject: Re: Message from David Bain at Helium.com
Wow! What a response. I want to thank you for setting the record for the longest and most intense response I have ever had to one of my articles. Obviously I hit a nerve.
I would like you to know that I will respond to most of your points. First though, I would like to ask you if you are aware that you had a sentence of 219 words. 219! That sets a record. To the best of my knowledge I have never read a 219 word sentence and for that, I would like to thank you.
Again, wow! You sound like you are a little upset. You made some points and accusations and I would like you to answer the following:
1. How do you define "good government"? And, who defines it?
2. Who are the "robbers" on Wall Street? Or are you just using a cliché?
3. What "protection" does the poor and middle class need from the rich? Who provides jobs for the poor and middle class?
I really am trying to figure out just what you are saying. Are you saying that socialism is better than capitalism? If so, I would ask you to provide an example of where socialism has ever provided better opportunities for its citizens than what we have here in America under what used to be capitalism.
Or, are you saying that capitalism works best when regulated by the government? If so, then I would counter that the very problems we have right now is that we have too much government interference. Specifically, government is too involved in taxes, regulations such as requiring lenders to loan to otherwise unqualified loan applicants so then can buy into the American dream of home ownership and so on. Things look bleaker as Obama is sworn in tomorrow.
And to answer your question of, "After all of this, what do you say about 'the self-interest' of Corporate America and whether it is good or bad for the rest of the American people?" My answer is that the self interest of corporate America is good for America. After all, if the corporations do not survive then where will we work? How will we earn a living?
Finally, I believe there should never have been a bailout. I also believe that it might just be good if one or two of the auto makers declared bankruptcy. One benefit of that would be that the union contracts would be null and void and they would have to start over. I believe that would be good.
Smith
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B. Smith,
Sorry if both my previous responses to you have been a little long-winded (and expanded for public consumption).
Regarding one of your points, if you know for sure that the idea for all of those 'low interest on the front end; high (hidden, trojan virus) interest rates on the back end' mortgages' for people who couldn't afford the houses they were buying, especially when the interest rates went skyrocketing up -- if the idea for these toxic mortgages came from either the White House and/or the Senate -- then, yes, that would take a good piece, if not all, of the responsibility and accountability for this decision off of Wall Street, and put it right into the laps of an 'over-regulating' Government. A manipulation of the 'free market' if you will. But the question also has to be asked: 'Who put those trojan virus interest rates into those bad mortgage contracts?' This clearly, was not an act of 'altruism' or 'benevolence' -- of trying to get more 'riskier credit' people into a situation of being able to own their own homes to make their lives better -- but rather an act of unbridled narcissistic manipulation and malice in terms of 'interest gouging' these people after they had settled into their homes for a few years -- and making their lives 'sheer hell'.
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malice
One entry found.
Main Entry: mal·ice
Pronunciation: \ˈma-ləs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin malitia, from malus bad
Date: 14th century
1 : desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another
2 : intent to commit an unlawful act or cause harm without legal justification or excuse
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So the second part of the question here becomes:
Who was responsible and who is accountable for those 'gouging, hidden trojan virus, high interest mortgage contracts'? Did the idea of this type of toxic, gouging contract come from Washington? I highly doubt it. That smells of rotten Wall Street Bankers...
To sum up...
1. Government manipulation to get more 'higher risk' people into their own homes: Call this 'government over-regulation';
2. Wall Street Toxic, Low Front End, High Back End, Gouging Hidden Trojan Virus Mortgage Contracts: Call this 'government under-regulation' of Wall Street Bankers.
-- dgbn, Jan. 21st, 2009.
-- David Gordon Bain
