Saturday, January 17, 2009

MUCH ADO ABOUT MADOFF


Ah, the "great men" of Wall Street are in a tizzy. "He's a sociopath," they cry as they beat their breasts and look towards the heavens. "He tricked us!"

That he did.

He harmed a great number of people. Innocent citizens whose entire savings were wrapped up in Madoff investments lost everything. Charities that helped the poor and those in need were left scrambling to survive and continue their good works. Make no mistake, Madoff's actions were those of pure malice. I feel for the innocent ones who were caught in his web.

Do I feel for the "great men" of Wall Street? Not so much.

These "Master of the Universe" are not so upset at the type of actions that Madoff took as they are at the fact that these actions were done to them. You see Madoff did to these titans of Wall Street what the titans of Wall Street have been doing to we, the average American, for lo these 30 years or so: he conned them.

What I resent, however, is the sanctimonious and cynical hand-wrining by his brethren on Wall Street. For well near 30 years now, we the American people have been subjected to the very same actions with the very same effects by countless denizens of that Financial Hades. We are a debtor nation and our economy is in shambles because of the same acts of greediness and heartlessness, the same acts of so-called financial wizardry that rewarded short-term avarice, insubstantial industries, and mendacious corporate heads.

We are told that the "market" prices in all information, that the market is savvy, that it sees six months ahead of the economy's present state. Well, if that were so, then how to explain a recession that already has lasted a year with a bull market that didn't catch up and become "bear" until more than a year after the downturned occurred? Not very persipicacious if you asked me.

We've endured the Internet bubble and the mortgage bubble, the astronomical valuations of corporations that have yet to turn a profit. We watch as the market soars on days when unemployment figures rise by nearly a half-million. We watch stocks go up when corporations post enormous losses because those losses were supposedly "not as bad as the market thought they would be." That's a bit like finding out that a loved one has died, but feeling happy because they were only hit by a truck when they could have been hit by a train.

Wall Street is obsessed with the most recent quarter of profits to the exclusion of that which builds strong companies and industries: long-range planning. This short-term thinking has hijacked the American economy and turned us into impulse financiers, only looking for what satisfies our obese cravings now, even if it will leave us hungry for a long time later.

Madoff is only a symptom of the sickness of the Wall Street Man. The only difference between Madoff and the others of his kind is that instead of relying complicated financial instruments like derivatives to pick our pockets, he did it the old-fashioned way: with a wink and nod.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

ADVENTURES: HIDDEN DRAGONS TO SLAY


The day began in glittering light and then fog descended upon the oasis. Syren Sea had spread her quilt of thick air across the heavens. Night crept in shamefully with soft, dark, glowing shoes like an embarrassed offender exposed to her victims. The new year had come.

Let those who have ears to hear, listen: The Jabberwock will be exposed, the dragon will be slain. The battle with the Beast of Seven and Ten is here. That which is done in the darkness will be exposed to the light and extinguished. It will take time, but it has begun.

Some people don't think dragons exist anymore, but they're everywhere. They live within the heart of the American Psyche and the American citizen. The dragons don't always hiss fire now-- at least not in public. Now they wear fancy suits and smile a lot and have great slogans. Dragons are charmers. This makes them all the more difficult to identify and slay.

In the meantime, I'm polishing up my sword while polishing off some champagne. That's the American Way, isn't it? The Lady Joker and The Queen of Diamonds are coming over in a bit. Three is a magic number. Things should get interesting. They say they're ready for dragon-slaying too. I'm gonna need all the help that I can get.

Stay out of harm's way, Cristo. Papa's gonna show you how to fight and win. Just remember what ol' Dr. Jung said:

"Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit."

[ "Bidden or unbidden, God is present."]