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Robert Rubin Proteges Tapped to Fix Rubin's Mess
New York, 1:37 PM
Wed Dec 2
56 posts in the last 24 hours
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Robert Rubin Proteges Tapped to Fix Rubin's Mess |
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11/24/08
Yes, please document the negative economic impact of that decision. Come on, you can't even estimate the cost of the health care plan OR the cost/benefit of NAFTA, let alone compare them and conclude one was superior over the other.
to this day he shudders at the idea of demanding worker protection before passing more free trade pacts
Like virtually every economist and policymaker, because it's destructive. I'd love to know what makes you think protectionism would be good for our economy. Are you a Smoot-Hawley apologist?
he resisted calls for the regulation of derivatives and strongly encouraged the repeal the Glass-Stengall [sic] act, thus leading directly to our current economic crisis
The repeal of Glass-Steagall does not have anything resembling a direct relationship to our current crisis. Rating agencies mattered vastly more, not the commingling of commercial and investment banks. And have you noticed that we've FURTHER integrated commercial and investment banks to save them?
Allowing them to unite reflects market psychology in a downturn, in which both types of banks would be aggressively sold due to investor panic irrespective of the misunderstood and arbitrary distinction.
11/24/08
11/24/08
I really hate the Glass-Steagall shit. It's such a stupid meme! It's stupid! INVESTMENT BANKS lost all this money, and the panic caused COMMERCIAL BANK customers to take their money out of the bank. The current dynamic is proving the reasoning behind the repeal - that the investment and commercials sectors of banking were inexorably linked in the minds of panicked banking customers regardless of the government's silly distinction.
Even if Citigroup were two separate firewalled entities, they would both be failing. That's the point of repealing the act - it was a sandcastle to begin with.
Furthermore, GSA was constructed to prevent risk-taking from Commercial banks, but these securities were rated AAA! They were viewed as, essentially, without risk! Risk TAKING wasn't the problem, risk JUDGEMENT was the problem. This is a crucial fucking distinction that tons of media people don't seem to understand.
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11/24/08
I love this comment. Couldn't agree more.
I would argue that the current market turmoil is about the failure of distorted markets to operate properly, that our recent history of financial policy had been to spend like drunken Keynesians (on the wrong stuff), and that the response of the media has been to use BUSH = REPUBLICAN = FREE MARKET caricatures instead of being honest.
11/24/08
is a DISASTAH.
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