PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

[FRED]

The risks posed by the out-of-control, politically controlled FIRE Economy are going mainstream. Our favorite quotation from Kuttner:

"But the SEC-- does have a wonderful tradition as an independent regulatory agency. However, the commissioners are appointed by the President, they're confirmed by Congress. And the budget is legislated by Congress. Whenever Arthur Levitt, who was the distinguished predecessor of Bill Donaldson, tried to be an aggressive regulator, Congress threatened to cut off his budge. So the forces against regulation in the public interest, as good as the SEC is, are stronger than they had ever been."

Full interview with transcript here.

[Rajiv]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

I am embedding the full interview

[MEDIA]http://www-tc.pbs.org/media/wnet/moyers/journal/1127/BMJ1127_crash_320.mov[/MEDIA]

[housequake]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

Those guys sound like socialists by today's standards.

[FRED]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

Those guys sound like socialists by today's standards.

I agree and am not sure who to credit for that. Everyone expects water, food, and automobile safety–to name a few items–to be regulated by the government, but suggest that financial products safety be in any way regulated and you have to get out the garlic to fight off the free market vampires. Even getting people to think of financial products as products is tough.

After the credit superfund cleanup of the Risk Pollution that resulted from lack of regulation, regulators will go overboard and we'll get too much, a new Glass-Steagall Act on steroids.

[lb]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/heari..._-_kuttner.pdf

I haven't been around much so I don't know if anyone has posted that link. It's the testimony he was giving at the beginning of the clip.

[zoog]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/heari..._-_kuttner.pdf

I haven't been around much so I don't know if anyone has posted that link. It's the testimony he was giving at the beginning of the clip.

Yeah Rajiv did the other day.

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...17593#poststop

[medved]

Re: PBS' Bill Moyers with Robert Kuttner and ex-SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson

I agree and am not sure who to credit for that. Everyone expects water, food, and automobile safety–to name a few items–to be regulated by the government, but suggest that financial products safety be in any way regulated and you have to get out the garlic to fight off the free market vampires.

Our "free" markets can be compared to a guy, that is absolutely free to do anything he wants. Except, his oxygen supply is controlled by a secretive Federal Oxygen Monitoring Commitee. It can reduce oxygen or pump it at a huge pressure whenever it wants. Some freedom.

The vampires definitely benefit from this arrangement, but so do professional dogooders, constantly complaining about failures of the free markets. Both vampires and dogooders conveniently forget, the system can hardly be called free anymore.

m.