Topic: Wall Street
The Spell of Wall Street
“Seek first to understand, then be understood.” -Anonymous Understanding Wall Street mentality is a bit like understanding military mentality. There’s something utterly profound when brothers in arms pull together in the heat of battle and persevere. Wall Street fancies itself to be like the military. The place is rich soil for military quotes and references and “war stories”. Making money in adverse conditions is viewed as an act of valor, a display of incredible courage. Many in a decision-making position … Read More
Honest Conservatives
It is possible, although decreasingly so in American politics, to admire, if disagree with, your political opponents. I keep a dwindling collection of conservatives, who are not preoccupied with vengeance, destruction, pledges and sexual politics. I call them “thinking conservatives” and perhaps the matters where we disagree would come down to economics and foreign policy. David Frum is on that list. So is David Brooks. William Buckley, the lucid founder of conservative magazine National Review, whose son Christopher Buckley famously … Read More
Republicans – A Party without Judgment
Capt. Willard: “They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.” Col. Kurtz: “…Because it’s judgment that defeats us.” – John Milius & Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now. In the run up to a debt ceiling debate last summer, I wrote this on my wall: In the battle between the Tea Party and Wall Street I’m betting on Wall Street. How naïve I was back then. How much faith I put, wishfully, into Republicans’ … Read More
Think Wall Street Suits are the 1%?
Think Again.
Remember how in the original Wall Street movie Gordon Gekko, while riding in a limo with Bud Fox, describes what it means to be rich? I’m not talking about $400K-working-Wall-Street-stiff-flying-first-class-and-being-comfortable. I’m talking about being rich enough not to waste time. Then he points a finger at a homeless person and a man in a suit on the sidewalk and says something like “there’s no difference between the two.” I agree. There’s no difference between the current day protesters and most … Read More
Whose Street is it Anyway?
I have a lot of thoughts about the current “occupation of Wall Street.” To put it simply, I believe that the protesters are right – corporate greed has royally screwed not only our economy, but our humanity. Whether you find capitalism to be the perfect economic system or not, there’s no denying that it has been manipulated and abused in order to benefit the wealthy few. Just look around – you shouldn’t need a chart to understand that those are … Read More
