Tag Archives: Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street Has It All Wrong!

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It should not be Occupy Wall Street it should be Change Wall Street. And change does not start in New York City it starts in Washington D.C.

“Changers” must identify politicians who protect Wall Street interests and convince them to pass legislation that puts teeth into regulations. Or, vote them out of office.

Stop companies from paying fines for executives without admitting guilt. Greed-ridden corporate executives are guilty of committing crimes that have devastated millions of people and not one of them has gone to jail.

Why should the executives worry? They can rip-off investors with impunity thanks to their protectors in Washington. Like I said change starts in Washington.

Come on people. How are you going to accumulate assets for retirement if you can’t trust the system that invests your money. Use your votes to get rid of corrupt politicians. Elect politicians who will crack down on Wall Street greed and corruption.

Occupy Wall Street’s Real Focus

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Bruce Maiman wrote a brilliant article in the Sacramento Bee titled “Occupy Protest Should Focus on the Banks”.

In his article he said protestors should strike their tents and work on formulating an agenda that is focused on equal treatment under the law. As a start, the banksters who caused our economic meltdown should go to jail. No other executives in any other industry in America could have gotten away with paying a fine for committing a massive fraud that hurt millions of people and caused trillions of dollars of damage to our economy. All because the executives wanted to make more money and they knew they had no risk of prosecution.

You have to own a lot of politicians to get away with the crime of the century.

I particularly liked his comment “The real haves and have nots in the U.S. is not based on money. It is based on who has government representation”. The banksters are a major special interest group that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars a year to senators and congressman. They have a lot of entrenched representation. Investors and the middle class have no representation.

This is why people protest and the media writes stories about abuses, but nothing ever really changes.

Let’s face it, Americans may vote, but they are powerless to stop the frequent abuses of power that occur in Washington and on Wall Street. Representation is reserved for powerful institutions that funnel substantial amounts of money to politicians so they can stay in office.

You cannot change Wall Street without changing Washington.

Bruce Maiman is right. What a cause for the Occupy folks. Let’s hope they are smart enough to figure this out.

How do we get involved?

Bankers Think Bankers are Paid too Much

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A recent UK study showed even bankers believe bankers are paid too much.

What is true in England should also be true in the U.S.

What blurs the facts in the U.S. is our definition of bankers. In the good old days, they provided traditional bank products: Savings, checking, loans, etc. Also, In the past, bankers were not well-known for their high pay. However, in more recent times, banks also own broker/dealers, Registered Investment Advisory firms, investment bankers, corporate finance operations, money managers, and mutual fund families.

This is the new world of banking. Banks want to derive as much revenue as they can from their customers. The bankers who make this happen are very highly compensated – in fact, you could say they are the new face of Wall Street greed and excess.

This is not going to change. Bankers are not going to volunteer to reduce their compensation. There is no regulatory authority that is going to force them to change their compensation practices. And, public outrage is short-term. As soon as the economy is producing jobs this outrage will go away. Bankers know this about consumers.

Maybe we should work in the new banking industry.

Can anyone solve this problem?

Are Investors Powerless to Change Wall Street?

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This is a great question that has no easy answer.

We know investors need the services that are provided by the financial services industry. We also know, compared to Wall Street, investors really are powerless. This does not bode well for meaningful change.

Wall Street executives are protected by influential politicians who pass regulations that protect the executives from prosecution when they defraud investors. Instead of jail time for executives, Wall Street companies are allowed to pay fines without admitting guilt.

Can investors stop these two corrupt entities from working together?

Investors are voters. They can get rid of the politicians that pass regulations that protect Wall Street executives. However, history says this is not likely to happen. Investors believe they are powerless so they accept the consequences of corrupt business practices with barely a peep.

A more practical solution is for investors to stop buying products from major Wall Street firms. They should begin using the services of small, independent Registered Investment Advisory firms that are required to put their financial interests first. These firms do a better job than their Wall Street counterparts for less money.

Investors may not be able to change Washington, but they can stop doing business with Wall Street Robber Barons that have long histories of cheating investors to maximize their own incomes.

If you won’t use the ballot box, then vote with your assets. Move them to investor friendly, independent firms.

This would be a worthy cause for Occupy Wall Street if they can get their act together.

Wall Street scams are legal

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A lot has been written about Wall Street greed and the damage it has done to the U.S. economy, the millions who have lost their homes, the millions who are unemployed, and the millions more who can no longer afford to retire.

What has not been written about is the Wall Street executives who made the decisions to package toxic assets into securities and sell them to investors. Committing this type of fraud on such a massive scale has enabled these executives to earn billions of dollars of compensation.

Not one of these executives has gone to jail. That’s because they are protected by corrupt politicians who benefit from Wall Street donations that keep them in office. Consequently, these executives had no significant downside risk when they made decisions that damaged millions of Americans.

It is very, very wrong. Millions of middle class investors should support a serious Occupy Wall Street that is focused on real issues versus discontent that is spawned by unemployment and bankruptcy. It will take a much louder voice to change a system that only benefits Wall Street executives and Washington politicians. They are organized and they are powerful. Investors are not.