Quote of the week
This actually dates to January, but I only just now happened across it, so you get it today. A guest post at ClubOrlov, credited to Frank, this is called “Credo in $”, and if there’s a prayer breakfast in Washington, almost certainly this is what they proclaim:
I believe in worldwide Ponzi schemes and universal gullibility. I believe that reckless lending can be cured by reckless borrowing and that fraudulent borrowing can be healed by fraudulent lending. I believe that a housing bubble fueled by loose credit can be corrected by easing credit. I believe that each trillion of hallucinated dollars that disappears in a puff of Wall Street smoke then always reappears magically from behind a Treasury Department mirror.
I believe in America’s almighty financial geniuses and monetary officials, who destroy wealth indiscriminately and indefinitely, and whose kingdom shall have no end. It is divine justice that those who cause financial catastrophes are rewarded with public money, while innocent bystanders are punished in their stead. I believe that central banks can print all the money anyone will ever need. I believe that if one stimulus package does not work, the next one surely will.
I believe in the redeeming power of financial complexity. I believe that hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds are righteous to enter into incomprehensible contracts having convoluted ownership and no inherent value. And I believe that opaque, secretive companies which pretend to insure those investments are offering a valuable service, even if this requires the use of public money.
I believe that economic stability and confidence will return when every failing business is bailed out, with no failure too small to be left behind. I believe that all dying institutions shall be consolidated, merging the smaller basket cases with the larger ones. The lion and the lamb shall lie down together in a new spirit of national competitiveness.
I believe that the end of days shall come when there is only one institution left, comprehensively unified, far too big to fail, owning everything and controlling nothing. All shall come and supplicate before its holy ATM machines, for they are subtle and quick to anger. It is in this one true financial institution that I put my faith, truly gigantic, truly bankrupt, amen.
(Found at Tasty Infidelicacies.)
paulsmos »
18 April 2009 · 8:39 am
It is divine justice that those who cause financial catastrophes are rewarded with public money, while innocent bystanders are punished in their stead.
I believe you’re a left wing toady whose bought into the populist meme that the evil financial institutions took complete advantage of the angelic unwashed, forcing them to purchase homes they had no business owning. You can thank the Community Reinvestment Act for that little turd of social engineering. There is a reason that low income neighborhoods look the way they do…..and don’t give me any of that libtard “evil whitey/evil business” bullshit either. Damned few had income during the depression and the vast majority of neighborhoods didn’t fall into a morass of squalor. In this neck of the woods, you must acquire a home the old-fashioned way…you earn it. {apologies to John Houseman}
Moira Breen »
18 April 2009 · 11:12 pm
Whoa, Paulsmos, I do believe the point flew right by you here. Take a a more discerning look at the current mess and you will make out that “innocent bystander” comprises the many people who have squat to do with the CRA or imprudent mortgages. (Hint: this group includes those who “earned their homes the old fashioned way.” Or are you under the misapprehension that the responsible haven’t been getting screwed six ways from Sunday by the gang of crooks in D.C.?) Damned if I can infer any reference to “evil whitey” or a defense of the denizens of squalid neighborhoods in the above quote of the week.