Civil Disobedience

Bailout BS is right.

Thoreau wrote:

All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.

Washington is saying to itself, "Kick this GM CEO out because he hasn't turned his sorry corporation around." In an economy like this, who has?! One of the pundits this morning called him the sacrificial lamb; that's exactly what he is, and I'm sure he knows it.

Imagine if we could use this method on the politicians in office. "You haven't turned this sorry problem around, so you're out -- starting MONDAY."

The foreclosure rate has spiked yet again, layoffs are continuing unabated, and even a cursory glance of the classifieds or the online job listings reveals in seconds that practically nobody is actually hiring. Public anger is profound and seemingly intractable.

In Civil Disobedience, the author also wisely noted the following:

I meet this American government, or its representative, the State government, directly, and face to face, once a year -- no more -- in the person of its tax-gatherer; this is the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily meets it.

Imagine the joy of being able to live out a year of one's life and having to interact with the State only once -- at tax time! Of course, things have sure changed since Thoreau's era. Our days are chock-a-block with dull, frustrating, unjust interaction with the long tentacles of the government. Just now, we're losing our jobs in droves, losing our homes, losing the money we've been saving for retirement. And what are they using our taxes for? A growing number of private-sector companies to stay in business -- regardless of whether we have any direct business with those companies or not. I don't want an American car. I haven't driven an American car since the first car I ever drove (a Buick Skylark). I just don't want a car from GM, or Ford, or Chrysler. It's my choice because it's my money. And I don't want to be forced to prop up, with my money, another company. That goes for all the government subsidies and corporate welfare plans of the past fifty years or more, too.

I'm just about inclined to do what I think Thoreau recommended: Stop paying taxes. As he discovered, the friction has overtaken the machine, and the mechanism is utterly out of control.

Bailout BS

Clive, I don't understand. The latest news about all of these bailouts is that GM's CEO Rick Wagoner is resigning as part of an agreement for the government (taxpayers) to give the car company even more billions. What will his resignation accomplish? Surely, this one man didn't cause all of the problems and a new CEO can't come up with the solutions needed to keep them in business. No matter who's in charge, GM will be back for more billions as long as anyone is willing to hand them out.

Now, Clive, I'm not an expert in economics, but there's something really slimy and disgusting about all of these bailouts. I can't believe that continuing to provide welfare for corporations will help the rest of us and not just the chosen few. We've been doing that for decades and look where we are now. What's your take on all of this?

Cash and Carry

Neel Kashkari, Geithner's assistant at Treasury, is a Bush holdover and former Goldman Sachs honcho. As No. 2 man in the money department, he's in charge of handing out cash to the already rich via the so-called bank rescue plan that buys up toxic assets. Yes, he must check with Obama or Geithner before he sends the pallets of money to Wall Street. Still, I think Kashkari should be fired even before Geithner. Why? He's not doing the job for which he was hired.

Kashkari's sole requirement these days is to come up with solutions to myriad money problems and what does he do? Nothing other than give out cash (bailouts) to banks -- and his Wall Street friends -- to do with as they wish. What kind of intellect and experience does it take to underperform in such a way? I'll hand out cash for half of his salary, only $100,000 a year. I could call in the trucks to pick up the bucks. I even know someone at UPS so I might get discounts. President Obama, call me.

Don't Blame All Financial Advisors

You're overgeneralizing about all the financial advisors out there, Cassandra. Just like the range of talent in any profession, some financial advisors are good at their work & some aren't. It's unfair to accuse all advisors of doing nothing more than sitting around watching the values of their customers' accounts fall -- unless those customers keep a seven-figure amount in their accounts.

As far as being "conned" goes, caveat emptor. Every investor is free to invest aggressively or not. It's the responsibility of every investor to do a little legwork on his own investments. After all, it's his money.

Financial Advisors and Snake-Oil Salesmen

When did it start? Anyone could hang out a shingle and people would walk through the door and hand over their hard-earned money to be invested. We demanded no proof of experience or knowledge, yet when we go into a doctor's office with the flu we check out a nearby wall for diplomas to show he or she is qualified to make the important decisions. But we don't have a clue about the expertise of these so-called financial advisors, either in offices or on cable money shows. We just say, "We trust you and we'll give over our money, based on what you say." Suckers, all.

Each investment company has these salesmen ready and willing to take our money. We decide whether we want the funds to be invested in aggressive, conservative or moderate accounts. We receive statements showing what happens to the money and how much we're earning. We've learned lately -- think Bernie Madoff -- that those statements may be nothing more than pieces of paper. But now the snake-oil part -- it seems that these advisors don't really do much about moving our money around when things start going down. To get that kind of service, we must have a minimum amount of money in our accounts, most likely seven figures and over. The advisors really sold us something different from what we thought we were buying. We parted with our money for a fake product.

It's my thinking that most of the small-account investors wouldn't have lost so much money in the past few months if these advisors had acted on information available to them about what was happening in money markets. Instead, they sat on their butts and did nothing for most of us. I don't give them any breaks. I don't agree with those who say, gee, they were as surprised as the rest of us that the markets were going down so dramatically. That's not true. They should have known. What else are they paid to do? If it's simply taking money, putting it in accounts and letting it sit there, then hire a bunch of clerks.

We've been conned, folks. If there's one group of people who should lose their jobs, it's these financial advisors. The entire category of workers should be eliminated. And at least a few of them should be in perp walks.

Fire Timothy Geithner

OK, first off, I'm a liberal. I live in a blue state and I supported Obama with my vote and contributions. I like him a lot, but what the heck? He's all over the place with his selections for guys to run his administration and they're not doing what I want them to do.

The president selected a man for Secretary of the Treasury who has almost as many ties to corporations and Wall Street as the Bushies did. Why did he do that? I want to give Obama a lot of slack here. I know he inherited a mess, but don't tell me there wasn't and isn't someone better than Timothy Geithner. His demeanor is that of someone who's afraid to say anything, fearing that he will offend those who are both bigger and meaner than he. C'mon, President Obama, fire Geithner and put in someone we can trust, someone who can tell us what's going on, and someone who can take on the big guys without being afraid of them.

And, most of all, don't look across the aisle. We've had enough of those Republicans for a long time to come.