Monday, March 9, 2009

Shareholders' Revolt

I have been listening to both, no all the sides on the current economic adventure and one thing is becoming clear. Our government, to use a Charles Dickens term is a ass!

For example I have been hearing all the leaders and pundits say that the banks should be allowed to go under and take the shareholders with them. They claim that when someone buys a stock they must realize that they are taking a big risk and they could lose money. This is of course true but they are leaving one thing out of their ostrich-like argument. Most of the people who lost money in the stock market cannot afford to lose money. And to make matters worse with over 8% unemployment many of them have been laid off recently and no longer have worthwhile incomes they could use to make up the losses.

And to say that they should have known better is not only unfair but untrue. Now you may argue that an investor should check out the company whose stock he wishes to buy before actually plunking down his money for some shares but we are leaving one important thing out of the argument, the SEC.

That government agency is supposed to regulate public companies and make sure they are doing things legally. In other words they are supposed to find the Madoffs of the world and shut them down BEFORE they do their immense damage. They are supposed to figure out that mortgages are being given to total deadbeats or unfortunate people on welfare who cannot afford a house and then those mortgages are being sold and sold and sold until no one knows who owns what but all the intermediaries have made fake fortunes.

In other words the a-holes of the SEC are supposed to do the jobs for which we pay them so handsomely. BUT THEY DID NOT!

And since we the little investors, the backbone of the entire stock market system did not realize that our government was so inept we can not be held accountable for allowing our 401Ks and retirement funds to implode. We were kept in the dark!

BUT WHEN THE SELF SAME BASTARDS WHO RAN THE ECONOMY INTO THE GROUND NOW GET BAILED OUT AND THE LITTLE INVESTOR IS TOLD HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER WE ARE GETTING CLOSE TO A REVOLUTION!

If this were a different country there would be dismembered heads rolling in the streets. If the guillotine were still in use we would not be wondering if $800 billion dollars were enough to assuage the Ken Lewis' and Vikram Pandits of the world but rather into what size coffin should their headless bodies be placed.

But we are all lucky that this IS America and that those disgusting filthy pieces of greedy shit are allowed to live but do not blame the individual investors around the country who, believing in their government tried to do the right thing by investing in America!!!

Think twice before you allow any company that was brought down by immoral, greedy, and totally corrupt CEOs and board members to go bankrupt in this environment and hurt the little Main Streeters any further. Instead save the companies and the shareholders but place the true culprits behind bars.

Just like a murderer is not allowed to benefit in a book deal when writing about his crime the heads of those companies must not be allowed to take ONE PENNY away from the failed company let alone obscene bonuses in the millions.
And we should be allowed to go back two or three years in order to get enough money back from them in order to pay for the damages they caused.

I am not suggesting revolution. I am suggesting JUSTICE!

No comments: