Perhaps the mess we’re in (the recession, forclosures, war, etc.) is the future. It will be in a word, interesting, if the countries who have bankrolled our economy for so long call in our IOU’s.

It’s somewhat like the older folks convinced that a Reverse Mortgage is great because they can spend all their wealth now and die broke. They leave *nothing* for their kids.

Use it all now. Live big. Live today, think nothing of the future.

But, we need government leaders, no rapers. And, we need corporate leaders to do the same.

Question is (I suppose), if the sole purpose of a corporations is to make money and the major stockholders are in favor of Reverse Mortgages, then what’s to stop them from outvoting the other stock holders and cashing out whenever they want — leaving everyone else in the lurch?

I respectfully disagree. The current trading currency with OPEC is the petro dollar, aka US dollar. The OPEC nations still hold the US dollar presently as the World Reserve Currency. And the OPEC countries have several choices in how to spend these devaluing dollars. 1. buy up USA real estate, businesses, US debt/treasuries/bonds, NASDAQ, DOW, shareholders in investment and commerical banks, and build enormous palaces in their countries; Dubai as an example but still doesn’t change the fact that it’s hotter than Hades there. Petrol had always been enormously expensive in Europe due to taxation and the euros value (until recently). Iran, Venezuela, and Russia don’t peg the greenback to their black gold. Explains why Iran and Venezuela are the current war venue targets.

One result has been a prolonged decline in the dollar’s value, because there simply isn’t much worth buying from the US except future revenue streams, and now even those are admitted to be mostly worthless

I respectfully disagree. The devaluation of the dollars is due to the Federal Reserve(less), that’s an oxymoron, controls the valuation, devaluation, inflation, hyper-inflation of the US currency and Helicopter Ben keeps on dumping soon to be trillions onto the perpetrators of the current unraveling ponzi scheme. And the Japan carry trade of nearly 0% loans which helped create the current crisis in the subprime mortgage market and the hidden hell hounds derivatives that’ll make the subprime look like a walk in the park. The US FEDeral Reserve Note is backed by Good Faith and Credit. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It’s now backed by debt and all those foreigners such as China, Japan, and Europe holding the greenback in their reserves. Remember what Nixon did to France who helped finance the Vietnam War and wanted to be paid back in gold as the dollar devalued?, Goodbye Bretton Woods, it sucks to be you France. See Nixon shock wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_Shock

Daniel Webster, speech in the Senate, 1833 “We are in danger of being overwhelmed with irredeemable paper, mere paper, representing not gold nor silver; no sir, representing nothing but broken promises, bad faith, bankrupt corporations, cheated creditors and a ruined people.”

face it, when you own stock in a company, you are paying for someone else to do the dirty work for you to make money. cuz that’s what it’s about……when they say ’please the stockholders’, how do think they’re doing that? what do you think they’re doing to do that? you are ethical, but you own stock. you want it to make money, and turn a blind eye to what that company is doing to make you money.

When you tell someone you want 10% return per year, then maybe they go out and build something to sell for profit. But, when you say you want 30% return per year, maybe they start thinking about using their corporate power to mug and steal. Worse yet, when you say that’s not enough and you need 50-75% return per year then maybe they start thinking about stealing from the government or cannibalizing the company itself (think Enron).

The focus on short-term profits and a very high ROI put pressures on people. The offering of stock options to execs makes them part of the conspiracy and then it’s off to the races.

Warren Buffet doesn’t pay based on stock options, because he believes CEOs should have no direct effect over stock prices and doesn’t want them playing those games.

Pretty obvious indictment of boom & bust economics and endorsement of sustainable growth — and he is very very good at proving he knows what he’s talking about.

Now, if we could convince some other people to work toward long-term growth. Maybe we need some god-father of Japanese corporatehood to give a big speech. Leaving aside the fascist aspect of Japanese economy (wherein banks and companies are tightly tied together with business), they know how to work for the longer-term.

My question is, do you think their [ Bear Stearns ] becoming a public company somehow made them more reckless in their investment in subprime mortgages, or whether that had any effect at all? I guess I’m asking if investing your own money makes you more careful than investing other people’s money?

Fantastic question!

We’ve been looking at a lot of odd-ball activities and outcomes in the corporate world and it seems absolutely certain that it needs to change (both for each individual corporation and for the international system). Why and how are serious questions.

Why? Well, your question about motivations and inhibitions on how they invest monies is pretty fundamental. If they only see the quarterly bottom-line or their own stock options, then they’re not focused on the firm’s wealth and the long-run. That focus throughout the American system is pushing hard to become a line of falling dominoes.

How? In the abstract it is to change the focus onto growing everyone’s wealth and not just a few individuals. Specifics should flow from a general idea such as that.

I suggest one governmental change is to reduce taxes on corporations (yes, I know that’s contrary to the usual) to make them focus more on growing the firm’s wealth. And, in conjunction with that, I suggest taxing at higher rates to shift more of the wealthy individual’s incomes to the government where it can be used on infrastructure (education, roads, regulation, etc.).

Other ideas for internal changes to corporations?

The Mordor Orks* at the white house want to blow up another ME country….problem is the Orks have ONLY A MONTHS SUPPLY OF BOMBS remaining. The Ork military is stretched, worn and needs re-supplying. So logisically Iran/USA war is not a go as our troops would have little cover to extract themselves from Irak. Not that Bushco and his Ork comrades wouldn’t love to bomb them ants as Admiral “your hope” Fallon described the Iranians to “smitherines”. (If only this was a comic book.)

*Mordor the industrialist in The Lord of The Rings. Created during the battle for world domination by Germany and the USA indusrial/military complex during WWII. The Ring is the ring of Power which the Neocon industrialist used to destabilize the Oil barons of the ME.

The Main Stream Media was used as a propaganda tool by Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, leader of the NSDAP’s propaganda machine. One of his first acts was to deprive the populus of education by burning the books. The privatization of public schools under Bushco is a milder form along with radio GaGa and TV indoctrination but the attack on public education is agressive and reading is down.

The SS took over the Gestapo 1939 and became more secret by dropping the black uniforms, infighting. Some compare the NSA/CIA and the Blackwater tactic of fear and collaboration ala 5th column spies like the Vichy to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany. The fascist element is unmistakable.

The neocons have become super rich in the last 7 years as Bushco has opened the coffers of the US treasury to them, rolled back and exempted them from taxes and cheated investors out of trillions.

Fascism is alive and well around the world thanks to laissez faire capitalism. The Orks are a force to be reconed with. There is plenty of subjects for new topic threads but probably most have been done and deserve stronger analysis.

Stuggle Hard!!! Big Brother is watching you. From above and on all electronic messages. When the citizens are being spied on it is time to raise the security alarm to the highest level of neocon alarm.