Political Economy & Economic Life: The Blurred Lines that Matter

Welcome to TishTrek - THE JOB BLOG!

I commented on "Global Economic Downturn: A Crisis of Political Economy" as a 'pending' member of the Economist Group on LinkedIn today:

This week is our Crisis of Political Economy - Part II:

A 20+ year corporate strategy executed by Wall Street firms was to make sure their executives (past & present) had a systemic presence & financial decision authority in every facet of the U.S. government, (See partial list below***). This agenda damaged the U.S. economy & rocked world markets to their core because the success of this mission completely merged the relationship, the lines & the issues of political order and economic life in the United States.

Most taxpayers going about their daily business were blinded by 'talking points' & they bought into 'scripted explanations' that willfully omitted important facts intended for non-economist voters. During clandestine times - like this - it is always a goal "not to quite tell the full story," (Economist Group member Matthijs R. Koot referenced this universal theme in his EIU comment today as well).

Wall St execs (especially Goldman Sachs...) brilliantly & intentionally leveraged the power of the U.S. government, the World Bank, the EU, Regional Banking Commissions, etc, etc to bolster self-interests and the interests of their high net worth customers & institutions, (Traditional lobbying had almost become passe' in 2000 because it is time-consuming & the desired outcomes could not be controlled or guaranteed in the evolving era of electronic trading & high-end transactional services, so banking leaders figured out that being a Washington DC powerbroker & insider was 'the' solution to create the legislative competitive advantage their businesses needed ASAP!).

To achieve all the goals tied to Wall Street's economic self interest during the systemic & intentional mortgage/subprime/CDO/Counterparty events, it required unprecedented & massive assistance from the U.S. governement and it demanded the exclusion of the interests of taxpayers & society as a whole, (These people planned & executed the mortgage-backed agenda before, during and for 8 years following 9/11). OMG.

In the end, they collected awesome commissions, created iron clad counterparty & employment contracts, moved & invested the inflated profits to hedge funds, stock loan, equity research, outsourcing, info technology contracting, retained search et al LLCs owned by affluent corporate friends, former colleagues in their socio-economic league &/or relatives. It was sad & simply terrible to watch people dismantle the companies that the 'Greatest Generation' had handed to their children to help propel America forward.

At the same time, they put all their risky bets, as well as the debts and failures of their Wall Street companies and their counterparties on the backs of U.S. taxpayers, their children and grandkids. They destroyed some of the greatest global companies on the planet, wreaked havoc on the world economy, robbed the financial security of innocent unsuspecting citizens at home & abroad, left millions of hard working people without jobs, left non-profits with unemployed & financially strapped donors, and the list goes on...

When electing politicians, hiring executives, and/or during confirmation hearings of gov't officials, look for leaders who understand that a balance between political order and economic life is key when the health, welfare, and financial security of people the world over is @ stake. Everyone who did this to the world economy knew they were doing it, but unfortunately they were not raised to 'care.'

***(Treasury Secretary, Chairman of the Fed Reserve, State Government, Banking Committees, etc. - (Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, Paul Volcker, Paul Paulson, Jon Corzine, & giants of Wall Street et al).

If you don't know our collective history; then history is destined to repeat itself again & again & again... That's why we're here.

Best regards,
TishTrek