IT'S A GREAT GAME!
(Wall Street Journal/Frazer
Chronicle)
It's a great game.....until you lose, and then
it's quite a drag. C.E.O.'s actually have to answer questions, fess up to
mistakes, and take personal hits on their decision making processes. It almost
makes them glad that there is insider trading and secret tips.
To me, a regular guy.....an everyday Joe, I
wonder how in the world these people can lose such huge amounts of money and
continue to breathe the same air as I do. I'm sure that they turn their backs
to the mirror when shaving in the morning so they don't have to "face
themselves."
Of course we aren't talking about "regular
guys" here, these people that can lose money at billions of dollar rates
are the very paragons of investment institutions, the captains of Wall Street,
the movers and shakers of the industry of making money.
About this time some of you might be wondering
exactly what the hell I'm talking about.....well my sports page reading friends
let me tell you.....J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, Jamie Dimon and at least a 2 billion dollar loss in
wagers gone wrong.
The wager, betting on continued economic
recovery, that's right.....continued recovery, to a degree, the attitude was
based on "me and you" spending money at an increasing rate. Are they
crazy, I live from payday to payday, when you factor in my health, my attitude,
the speed of the wind and the temperature, even I don't know at what level I'll
spend.
According to Dimon,
the bank's strategy was "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed
and poorly monitored." What struck me about Jamie's remarks was the one
that addressed the "complexity" part of his answer. Did you ever
notice how complex banking practices are today, or as I call it,
"job security."
The minute a C.E.O. begins to talk about his
companies business and uses the word complex, the word has several different
meanings, and one word always comes to mind.....cover-up. You also could use
the term(s) "butt cover, blame shifter, or get out of jail free
card."
The best thing this time is that only stock
holders were affected......and I say "this time," because next time
you and I could be left holding the bag for some fool hardy lame brained effort
to make buckets full of money on a shaky investment scam.
Like politicians and Wall Streeters, Bankers have a major
"bolt" loose, they aren't (normal) like us; they have some
sort of vision of grandeur, an almost untouchable attitude. As long as we rely
on pathetically weak governmental agencies to police and patrol these
jerk-offs.....we are in trouble.
Jamie Dimon called J.P. Morgan's mistakes
"egregious, self-inflicted," and said, "We will admit it, we
will fix it, and we will move on." Yeah right, until the next opportunity
at making billions, no matter the chance they might have to take.
Banks need to return to what they used to do,
make comfortable profits from lending money to us so that we can be saddled
with house payments for the rest of our lives. That's the true American dream,
buying a house for a hundred grand and over a 30 year period, paying over
$450,000 for it. That was always the best investment, investing in America, the
middle class and strapping our collective "asses" to the debt
treadmill. Whatever happened to the good old days?
It is a great game until you lose, but
most American's aren't interested in playing that game, the betting on some
idea, a trend, an attitude, or a possibility. Most Americans want safe stuff,
stable stuff, sure things in their lives, most of us simply don't have enough
money to wager on “what if's”.
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