I must admit to a level of apathy in my belief that true transformative change can occur, considering our current campaign finance structure.

Thanks for your sharing your knowledge and insight. Much appreciated.

When the Interstate Commerce Commission was formed initially to regulate the railroads, which, through control of transit routes from the agricultural centers in the Midwest and West to the populations centers in the East, Was impoverishing both farmers and consumers to enrich themselves, J.P. Morgan, who formed the Northern Trust railroad monopoly with E.J. Harriman and John Rockefeller, was said to have remarked “good, now we can use the ICC to rig prices for us”. It took Teddy Roosevelt- a political giant – to resolve this problem in the public interest.

Steve Rattmer is a career long wall street investment banker. You know what they say, the more things change . . .

Things have not changed

Not sure if you caught yesterday’s NYT’s editorial by Steven Rattner, a counselor to the Treasury secretary in the Obama administration. He suggested that we strengthen regulation on the banks rather than split them up. He noted that it wasn’t the concentration of the banking system but rather its irresponsible management that took over exuberant risks, enabled by poor regulation.

While Dodd-Frank legislation stemmed from the fiscal crisis, Rattner notes that it is weak and “the possibility of future catastrophic failures has not been eliminated, but nor would it be by Mr. Weill’s proposal.”

He added, “In a world of behemoth banks, it is wrong to think we can shrink ours to a size that eliminates the “too big to fail” problem.”

Rattner calls for a Dodd-Frank “do-over”. He believes that simply reinstating “an out-moded concept like Glass -Steagal” or calling for “bank split up” is merely a distraction.

Interesting take.

Personally, I would also like to see some prosecutions.

Regardless, what I find most alarming is that the Republican response is to underfund Dodd-Frank and weaken it. In fact, the general Republican answer to our economic problems is to clamor for less regulation. This is quite appalling to me and should remind us all who’s side the GOPer’s are really on.

Also in the WSJ today was a piece by Stephen Moore, WSJ editorial member, on the topic of “Obamanomics”. Moore is the kind of simplistic sycophant with platform and megphone who trumpets the glories of free market capitalism, deregulation and tax reduction with the fervor of an evangelist. According to Moore, Milton Friedman would have defeated the socialistic ideology of the Obama administration with the power of his ideas, which he believes raised India and China out of poverty. Among Friedman’s ideas was the notion that we should dispense with the Food and Drug Administration, which he believed was responsible for the death of millions by withholding approval of drugs until they were proven safe and effective. According to Friedman – and Moore- the pharmaceutical companies should be free to pump whatever they wanted into the public and consumers would decipher which ones were effective and safe. This is the kind of delusional thinking that is driving the economic policies of the Republican Party these days.

Friedman, for all his brilliance, never left academia to work in any industry. Likewise for Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, economists who engineered the first large hedge fund with former Salomon Brothers bond trader John Merriwether. John Keynes, by contrast, was a successful financial speculator, a successful practitioner in the markets, who warned of the implications of the rushing debt imposed on Germany as an adviser to the British government after World War One, and who helped devise the fiscal and regulatory policies that led the U.S. of the Great Depression.

Personally, I would leave the academics at the college gate and heed the advice of Weill, Reed and Keynes.

Marylou- Really no analysis. Not even speculation. Just my paranoid skepticism, particularly when it comes to religion and Woodstock’s zoning regs. Both put on a good act, until you pull away the curtain.

So now the financial system will remain in it’s cautionary mode as this next scandal shakes out – and as the Chinese, U.S. and European economies continue to slow.

I believe you. I’m reading the article in the villager and thinking all along.. So this is just an excuse to not pay property taxes.

Meeting Hall in the basement?
Only 50 Parishioners?
Kindergarten? (sounds like a profit maker to me)

Then he says… I’ve setup churches all along the east coast.. Ahh.. just move along, pay no taxes, make some money and move on.

We’re going to turn you into a Progressive yet.

When you start to realize that we, the middle working class, are being duped by the 1%, that they seek to divide and conquer us through social issues and scare tactics, you will then come to the conclusion that the liberals have been right all along and that the myths about liberalism which are perpetrated by those who are greedy are done so for one reason alone:

They don’t want you to become inflamed by the truth.

Pastor/Real Estate Appraiser McCormack has it all figured out. Here’s what you do:

1- Get yourself an official on-line Minister certificate (just google and you will see how easy it is.)

2- Find a good deal on a house (foreclosure perhaps) in a town with loose PNZ regulations.

3- Change the home from “residential” to “house of worship” and watch your tax bills disappear.

4- Put a cheap sign up and an ad in the Shopper’s Guide. All you need is about 10-20 suckers (they’re a dime a dozen).

5- Stress the importance of sacrifice to these god-fearers, reminding them that they are sinners and need to repent (guilt goes a long long way in manipulating people) as you gently subordinate them to tithing 10% of their income. This should cover the mortgage.

6- When the real estate market improves in a couple of years and the “church” property has gained substantial value, you tell the sheep how blessed they are that their congregation has outgrown this humble abode. Its now time to move into a new promised land- a larger building that glorifies god.

7- You sell the “church”, make a profit, hand over the “new project” to the youth minister and bid the sheep godspeed.

Think I’m making this stuff up? Just do another google search: “church ponzi scams”

“Where is the outrage from fiscal conservatives and the Tea Party?? ”

Hey, I’m outraged because I pretty much agree with your analysis of the flawed LIBOR rate.

By using an artificially low Libor, the government saved the banks millions of dollars at the expense of taxpayers.

Where is the outrage from fiscal conservatives and the Tea Party??

In yesterdays Villager, I was dismayed to see that Woodstock conservative Tom Pandolfi lays blame on immigrants and welfare recipients for our nation’s woes with nary a peep about those who crashed our economy sending millions into unemployment- while continuing to exploit the system for their own advantage.

But heck, with a 9th church coming to Woodstock, we can all just pray ourselves out this problem.