The stunning reality is that five years into the financial meltdown, it's business as usual on Wall Street - outlandish rewards for insiders with downside for almost everyone else. Occupy Wall Street protesters are right - something is wrong - but they're not sure what. Here's what I say: A rigged game affects not just the 99 percent, but everyone, and with global repercussions.
I recently had a chance to explain these problems on "Street Soldiers," a radio program devoted to keeping inner-city residents "alive and free." It's not the usual forum for an independent investment adviser who has managed more than $1.5 billion in assets for clients from the 1 percent. The radio show host wanted his listeners to hear from a Wall Street "soldier" who had broken ranks to publicly challenge his industry's out-of-control practices. Maybe I could explain what is wrong on Wall Street and why CEOs get eight-figure bonuses while hardworking Americans lose their homes and jobs.
Make no mistake - as I told the listeners - I'm a hard-core capitalist. But capitalism has been hijacked, and I'm infuriated. For capitalism to work, people who assume risk should reap the rewards of success, but they also must suffer when losses occur.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/28/EDQN1MHHJI.DTL#ixzz1ib6d9TXW
Not so long ago, I believed in the 'too big to fail' mantra. The behavior of Wall Street and large banks since they received their bailouts makes me wonder. The bailouts probably saved our economy from a depression, but now we need to move on to phase two, punishing those who almost brought our economy to depression and who did ruin many peoples' lives.
