The Back Alley Archives

This meme just won't die, will it? Where there's smoke there's fire, folks. The hubris of these fuckers drives me mad. I can't wait to starve them to death.

Last month, when the US Congress failed to pass a bankruptcy reform measure that would have allowed home mortgages to be modified in bankruptcy, senator Dick Durbin succinctly commented: "The banks own the place." That seems pretty clear.

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More importantly, we are looking at the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. The cumulative lost output over the years 2008-2012 will almost certainly exceed $5tn. That comes to more than $60,000 for an average family of four. This is the price that we are paying for the bankers' greed, coupled with incredible incompetence and/or corruption from our regulators.

Under these circumstances, it would be reasonable to think that the bankers would be keeping a low profile for a while. That's not the way it works in Washington. The banks are aggressively pushing their case in Congress and Obama administration. Not only are we not going to see bankruptcy reform, but any financial reform package that gets through Congress will probably contain enough loopholes that it will be almost useless.

In this political environment, the poor might get empathy, but Wall Street gets money, and lots of it. Even when the issue is global warming Wall Street has its hand out. The fees on trading carbon permits could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades. A simple carbon tax would have been far more efficient, but efficiency is not the most important value when it comes to making Wall Street richer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/jun/30/congress-financial-reform-banks

I couldn't imagine the existential crisis that any morally sane person must go through when working for these sonsofbitches.

if the industry you represent was the country's cash cow, you'd get the preferential treatment too.

LOL my family's industry doesn't do much of importance...just feed people...enjoy your steak man.

Cash is the root of all evil. Attempting to attach artificial values across classes of unique goods is a farce only allowed by money. We need to get rid of it and find a better way to live.

but what came first? the chicken or the egg?

was it the greed of wall street bankers that came first or was it the willingness of greedy investors to want to outdo one another?

Can't believe you're saying greed is OK because others are greedy. Kinda shocking to me.

no...i'm not saying that.

just asking which came first.

who would greedy bankers service if not for greedy investors? probably no one
who would greedy investors turn to if not greedy bankers? probably some one.

The greedy bankers would just come up with some new fake system built on the foundation of lies, like they always do.
The greedy investors would be forced to face the folks they're investing with face to face and their penchant for constant fraud would be immediately curtailed.

if you say so.

i know that the investing public out numbers the greedy bankers...don't know the ratio but we know there's over 6.7BLN people on this planet.

bankers ARE because of a demand for them....investors AREN'T because of the supply of bankers.

A bunch of welfare queens are this nation's cash cows? Wow, guess that means we're really screwed.

if you say so.

i know that the investing public out numbers the greedy bankers...don't know the ratio but we know there's over 6.7BLN people on this planet.

bankers ARE because of a demand for them....investors AREN'T because of the supply of bankers.

The point is that exploiting people's greed doesn't constitute a viable and productive business. Your industry preys upon that greed. That don't compute bro. I would expect your business to educate people about the real risks of their greed...instead y'all take advantage. But whatever...to each his own....if you don't have enough of a conscience for it to bother you, then so be it.

drug dealers won't/can't be in business if there aint no drug addicts

drug dealers wouldn't be if there were no drug addicts....comprende?

Drugs create legitimate productivity in the real world, yaknowhaimsayin? hmm prolly not since you think finance actually creates productivity....

"Finance" is absurd in its current configuration. It should not be revered nor worshipped, as it has for the last 20+ years, because it's merely a simplistic distraction to allow certain groups to extract wealth from one location and efficiently transport it across vast distances. The catch is that those who use paper (i.e. a mere promise of wealth, not actual possession of REAL wealth) do very little to produce actual wealth...the capital is squandered through outrageous fees, the ubiquitous bezzle, and now the insolvent public coffers.

Our crises stem from the giant vacuum that we've created, born out of our widespread base greed, which due to our ideology forces illusory capital through the system in pursuit of short-term gains. The fucks make a deal and they get their commission: it matters not one wit whether the deal turns out to actually produce wealth or go belly up and lose money for the company after the fucking schmuck already cashed his bonus check. Now tell me why the douchebag who convinced some other sucker who has no clue WTF is going on deserves his money up front for selling a nonsensical security/derivative and absolving himself/his company of the risk...I dunno...I respect drug dealers much more than anyone in finance...as long as they aren't lacing their shit...that's just code of the street though...see...that's what I'm sayin...you get a dealer who comes in and laces their shit or cuts weak blow..........what's gonna happen?? he goes out of business, gets run out of his territory or some crazy fuck with nothing to lose kills him and eliminates the competition......the problem with finance is they make up absolute artificial bullshit (i.e. they lace the shit they sell) to try to explain things that nobody can ever understand because the goddamned system is too fucking complex....it simply can't be modeled but everyone sells their shit and everyone bets because everyone else does and it's a fucking casino and that's all there is to it.

you do what you want bro. i'll take the high road. honestly though, i don't hold it against you and that's the truth. i know i talk a ton of shit constantly but that's because all i know how to do is look at shit with a critical eye and use my brain every second of every day. i don't believe anything until it makes sense. and if it doesn't make sense then i don't believe it. like i've said before i respect your faith but i just want to make sure you (and everyone else in your camp) realizes that it's all based on faith. it's just a belief. it has no real connection with society beyond the delusional attribution of wealth to paper. i understand that you personally work your ass off to do your best...it's not you i have a problem with bro, it's the system. there's just no way to rationally categorize things according to our current organization of society. i just want everyone to be careful and not just listen to the fucking banks like everyone has...because you see one of the most important things that happened in the Great Depression is that people struggled, experimented, and were forever resolved toward seeing reality as it was. They went back to basics and their lives were forever changed. we aren't prepared to change shit, and it's mainly due to the lobbying efforts of the finance industry combined with the continued conflicts of interest (government fucks are guaranteed cush jobs in the private sector as soon as they leave office) between government and the fucking finance industry...fucking bernanke....fucking summers...fucking geithner...fucking paulson...fucking bair...fucking CFTC...fucking OTS...y'all OWN it man.

so i can't and won't trust it. trust it if it makes you feel better because you've got a nicer house and a nicer car to take your kids to school at a nicer school--i completely understand wanting to do anything and everything to give your fam the best in life...i just see life differently man....and the way i live means that, for me, i'll live much more peacefully knowing i'll not further burden the world by exacerbating the problem stemming from our absurd reliance on the fake finance industry. your industry exists merely because society at large is stupid and/or lazy enough to let you exist.

If we all stopped paying our bills nobody could make us start paying them again. That's on the real. But yea, I understand, the beast supports you and your fam...and you're too close to that sitch to be objective...you have to freeride on the parasite as far as you can at this point, because even if you did come around to seeing the inevitable futility of your industry, you should suck them dry for as much as you can sock away before they die and leave. I just hope everyone invests in useful things...you know...things other than paper or the rights to someone else's paper...or the rights to someone else's paper if another someone else happens to not give us the paper they owe us...please.

It's inefficient and patently stupid. It exists solely to concentrate power. It's so clear...how can you not see?

"Finance" is absurd in its current configuration. It should not be revered nor worshipped, as it has for the last 20+ years, because it's merely a simplistic distraction to allow certain groups to extract wealth from one location and efficiently transport it across vast distances. The catch is that those who use paper (i.e. a mere promise of wealth, not actual possession of REAL wealth) do very little to produce actual wealth...the capital is squandered through outrageous fees, the ubiquitous bezzle, and now the insolvent public coffers.

lol

simply - there's a service that's provided....it comes at a cost...you can't expect a service then not pay for it...if you don't want to pay for it, continue to keep your cash under your mattress...either way, the industry will continue to exist because the overwhelming majority understand and they don't want something for nothing.

just read the rest of your composition bro and it was truly kick ass...there's some real thought and feeling in this and should be considered one of your best works...serious....loved it.

i'll just say that i completely understand exactly what you're saying...exactly what you're feeling and seeing...i do...i absolutely understand and actually agree with most you've said.

but you should know that it's neither a right nor wrong issue...the majority of the public are not like you where they hold on to their ideals and disregard the 'system' and the 'establishment'...you my friend are of the unique, minute minority...and i respect that...the majority understand what needs to be done in order to survive...in order to maintain...in order to retire...the majority cares not to rely on the gov't and social security...the majority wants to accumulate wealth in order to survive...it's not a contest...it's not about competing with your neighbor...it's about providing and it's about living....so what the majority does is they make provisions for themselves by making sure their money is making money for them....make your money work for you...that is all...however way you do it is your business...you wanna buy land? do it...you wanna buy a business? do it...you wanna buy a mutual fund? do it. the system exists to provide you options...the system is there for you to utilize...hating the system is your prerogative but you should know, LOTS of non-industry insiders have benefited from the system...the system has provided a lot of non-industry people with wealth and with comfortable lifestyles and retirements....if you're not utilizing it, you're not benefiting...fair enough and again, that's your call and i most definitely respect your decisions.

if anything, your beef should not be with the system...so what the system is rewarded whether they did well or not...the last 20 years was great....lots of non-industry people benefited by the system and milked it for all it was worth...lots of nouveau rich who've scored high and cashed out because of the system...bravo to them...the system does not guarantee winners...the system doesn't guarantee wealth...the system guarantees opportunity...opportunity to provide and opportunity to prepare for retirement...opportunity to succeed...the public need curb their greed and behave within the parameters of their own situations...the public confuses the opportunities the system provides with opportunities for wealth....greed kicks in and bad things happen.

the system is a much needed tool and if people wanna stick their heads in the ground about it, so be it...the industry is focused on providing a service suitable for each and every investor...the industry, i'm sure, is not focused on pulling people's heads out of the sand.

lol the funniest thing is that I wrote that sucker when I was completely and absolutely unsober.

I appreciate your thoughts on this stuff and I'm glad I didn't go too far and piss you off completely (was worried about that, being wasted and all). Ultimately you're right in the sense that the system only exists because the vast majority of people want it to exist the way it does. I just get tired of the feeling that very few people understand it in a meaningful way but they will bet their entire future on the continued existence of some paradigm that they likely don't comprehend very well at all.

But in the bigger picture my problem fundamentally lies with people because the system is made up of people on both sides of every deal. And you're right: there are winners and losers constantly being decided on either side of any deal. The system has, in general, done a good enough job finding balance to perpetuate and grow itself. I just hope people realize how much of it relies on a confidence game.

I definitely agree that you gotta let your money work for you over time. I just think it's pretty risky to let your money do a job that you don't really understand. That's not to knock innovation, per se, but rather to say that innovation needs to be understood before anyone starts making a huge new kind of bet. Think about: the state gaming commission doesn't just let casinos put in a new game without thoroughly vetting it first. That shit is regulated. Because you just gotta do it.

Truth be told I think I get so riled up about this stuff partly because I feel like we're missing our chance to make needed changes in smart ways. Sure, we're tweaking here and there but we aren't focusing on changing paradigms usefully.

Oh well, what are ya gonna do? If the fraud, lies and obfuscations don't get curtailed, I doubt I'll be in the market much during my lifetime except for pure speculative bets, almost for entertainment if nothing else. As they say: never bet more than you can afford to lose. Other than that, I'll stick to things I can understand more and things I can control more...land like you said, entrepreneurial ventures, local businesses, local groups, etc.

Good talk man...really appreciated your thoughts.

i really appreciated it too.

in the end...we now know that the investing public need be more educated on what they're participating in and people need to understand when to say when.

as long as there's thirst for it, there'll always be more esoteric, more exotic, more complex vehicles/strategies for those looking for more than just plain vanilla stuff...if there's demand, there'll be supply.