A Fancy Bucket
On the flight home today I got my hands on a copy of yesterday’s Guardian and wanted to bring attention to an article by Larry Elliott about the ongoing economic crisis that I thought incredibly well written…
“This was the week the world changed. It started with the US authorities trying to rescue Lehman. It ended with the US taxpayer preparing to pick up the tab for the mistakes of Wall Street’s elite.
It started with the prime minister sipping cocktails with financiers in Canary Wharf. It ended with the government slapping a ban on short-selling and Gordon Brown pledging to clean up the City. Britain’s biggest lender was rescued, and the Chinese government lined up to take a 49% stake in Morgan Stanley, one of the last US investment banks left after a week of carnage.
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Hank Paulson, the Goldman Sachs tycoon who became US treasury secretary, have done more for socialism in the past seven days than anybody since Marx and Engels.
Over and above the extraordinary individual events, there was the capitulation of the prevailing economic model. History will show that the great postwar experiment with financial deregulation lasted from the first oil shock in 1973 to the third oil shock in 2008.
Between those years the constraints on capital imposed after the Great Depression were whittled away, leaving a world of easy credit, complex financial instruments, stratospheric salaries and supine regulators.
Like a spoiled child, what big finance wanted, big finance got.”
For Those That Were Wondering
For those wondering what I was doing in Toronto this weekend, I was playing a private show on Toronto Island. The weather was nice, it was a good time.
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September 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
glad you enjoyed yourself! you should have stayed one extra night though, tomorrow at Massey Hall is the Sigur Ros concert:D.
September 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
glad you had a good time while in Toronto.
And i have to agree the article is very well written , Like a spoiled child, what big finance wanted, big finance got.” is so true!
September 21st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Recolo
September 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
ah! I played toronto island once during wakestock! Very cool spot. Matt, did you get a private ferry ride?
September 21st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
That IS a fancy bucket..
September 21st, 2008 at 6:13 pm
When is the Live at Massey Hall coming out???
September 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
This house of cards we live in….is it tumbling down? I haven’t heard this level of pessimism with regards to the markets in a long while. Yet the restaurants and shopping malls are still full… at least in our neck of the woods… Interesting article to be read in Maclean’s titled “Edge of Disaster”.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
How does one arrange for a private show?
September 21st, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Yeah, how does the private show thing work? Do you have an agent or do we email you?
September 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
[quote comment="65987"]glad you enjoyed yourself! you should have stayed one extra night though, tomorrow at Massey Hall is the Sigur Ros concert:D.[/quote]
If you are going to Sigur Ros, I am supremely jealous =(
September 21st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
[quote comment="66014"][quote comment="65987"]glad you enjoyed yourself! you should have stayed one extra night though, tomorrow at Massey Hall is the Sigur Ros concert:D.[/quote]
If you are going to Sigur Ros, I am supremely jealous =([/quote]
I am going! im sorry you didnt get tickets! if my friend bails i will surely give you mine. I have a feeling they will be back sooner this time though.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:49 pm
“History will show that the great postwar experiment with financial deregulation lasted from the first oil shock in 1973 to the third oil shock in 2008.”
I said about the same thing thursday or so. Something about the first public display of the real powers in this world. I was right on the verge of buying a bunch of GM stocks. ( remember: What’s good for GM is good for america.) It was down to $10.05. The 52 week high was $42.00. My daughter is 17. I figured to buy maybe 500 shares and let her cash them in in 10 years or so.
I’ve preached a mixture of capitalism and socialism for 40 years. But it has to benefit the guy in the street as well as the elite. I just hate to see central governments of any type get more power! I don’t trust the bastards. Rant off.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
As soon as I saw the bucket, “I shot the Sheriff Lyrics” came to mind:
Reflexes got the better of me
And what is to be must be.
Every day the bucket goes to the well,
But one day the bottom will drop out,
Yes, one day the bottom will drop out