I get it – people are angry. Very, very angry. I’m angry too. And Wall Street sure makes a great scapegoat, hence the Occupy Wall Street protest. Wall Street is a symbol of the “greed and corruption” that took over America and caused this whole mess.
But let’s take a minute to examine the facts and see if we can’t find some better scapegoats:
But how about this: You’re to blame too. That’s right, you. Why? Because you’re not investing in America! You’re irrationally scared. Why have there been 25 months in a row of redemptions from mutual funds? Why are P/E ratios relative to yields at their lowest levels ever? The stock market right now is irrationally low. Bond yields are at 1% (give or take) and the S&P 500 is yielding 2.3%. That wide a spread has never happened before. So please, get your money out from under the mattress, and stop un-investing in America.
And finally, people are saying the problem in the euro zone is a “repeat” of Lehman. On CNBC this week, I had to explain that Greece is a country, and that Lehman Brothers was a bank. You can’t liquidate a country, not very easily at least. The euro zone has problems but let’s put them in perspective:
So, I’m confused, whose fault is it? And where do I go “occupy” if I want to vent my anger? The choices: FASB, Governor Cuomo’s office, the Federal Reserve, hedge funds, and mortgage lenders (who were thrilled with the new Fannie Mae lending standards so they loaned out as much as possible).
What about Germany? What about Greece? What about the White House? President Obama has so confused the healthcare system, and created such confusion around mandatory payments from corporations that everyone is now afraid to hire. Two trillion dollars in stimulus and we’ve lost millions of jobs. How can that be? Guess what: there’s also $2 trillion in cash sitting in reserves at the banks. It never hit the money supply!
There are millions of private businesses out there that aren’t hiring because banks aren’t lending. Why aren’t they lending? Because they’re afraid of political uncertainty. If a bank is going to be politically targeted it needs all the money it can get. Plus, the Federal Reserve is paying banks to hold money. Why? Because we asked for it! We wanted the banks to stop being so greedy so we decided to encourage them to hold onto more money and not lose it all. The Fed does that by paying them.
Deep breath. There’s no scapegoat here. We’re all in this together, and we’re all (somewhat) at fault. So rather than planning an occupation, let’s focus on solutions:
Meanwhile, please stop being so angry. Stop “occupying” places. Let’s be friendly and focus on solutions. Let’s be creative and focus on how we can use that energy for invention, innovation, and ultimately jobs.
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In 1999 clinton signed the repeal of glass stegal,did this play a role?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 30 7
Passed by a Republican controlled congress.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 28 9
does it matter whether it was a republican or democrat that passed the bill. They both are in charge they both get the blame.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 27 1
I think i should make EXTRA CLEAR: I support the protesters. I want them to be even MORE effective. I just want them to protest in the right place, against the correct culprits, where they will be truly be heard. I describe this more in a recent post on my blog:
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/10/ask-james-morality-atheism-occupy-wall-street-entrepeneurship-and-more/
Hot debate. What do you think? 6 6
You can’t say you support the protesters if the next thing out of your mouth is implies that they should do a complete 180 on the very concepts they are protesting about. That’s like suggesting that students protesting cuts in education funding would do better by advocating the elimination of all public schools.
Oh, and stop shilling for your blog! You’re like that villain from Contagion who’ll say anything as long as it gets him more hits. Come on, show a little integrity.
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Go idea. Blame poor people. Best of all they don’t have the internet, so they don’t know it’s their fault.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 65 41
Thanks for the comment but I just want to make sure: did you read my article? Does Andrew Cuomo, the Federal Reserve, hedge funds, and banks qualify as poor people. Those were among the people I think are involved and none of those parties live or work anywhere near Wall Street.
My goal in this article is to identify the real culprits and where they actually are. And also to point out the actual demographic of who really works on the actual Wall Street, NY
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 14 4
We’re not all at fault. Some of us are just wage slaves too poor to put any money into the market at all. If by all you mean, everyone middle class and up, sure, but I’d be hard pressed to find a way to blame society’s problems on the working poor.
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Very eloquent. Could you please write a similar plea to the Tea Party? (See if you can penetrate their fact-proof bubble)
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike: 27 49
James is long and has been very wrong.
#getmoneyout
http://www.getmoneyout.com
Hot debate. What do you think? 22 21
Thanks for the comment. In terms of my private finances I invest in angel investments and not public companies so as to avoid any conflict of interest with my writings. I believe in the highest ethical standards when writing about these issues.
Second, not sure what your comment has to do with article. Please read my above comment. (Or re-read article.) I don’tbelieve I discuss the market at all in this article.
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Obviously you didn’t read the chapter of Freakonomics where they show that money has very little effect on elections.
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Wow – the writer does not understand “homo economicus” at all.
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