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Was cocaine abuse by bankers behind the financial meltdown? (Original Post) autorank Apr 2013 OP
More like crack abuse by the Republican contingent in Congress jmowreader Apr 2013 #1
The very best crack! autorank Apr 2013 #12
I wouldn't be surprised in the least meow2u3 Apr 2013 #2
Cool economic autorank Apr 2013 #11
Dr. Nutt reteachinwi Apr 2013 #3
That's true autorank Apr 2013 #8
Quantum mechanics. reteachinwi Apr 2013 #14
Stop and frisk on Wall Street. Downwinder Apr 2013 #4
Forget about drug testing welfare recipients. Drug test the banksters instead meow2u3 Apr 2013 #5
THEY are welfare recipients. Downwinder Apr 2013 #6
Maybe they'll start pulling over luxury cars on the Jersey Turnpike autorank Apr 2013 #9
I'm not an economist. If someone were making a film, that all would probably be part of the story. mojowork_n Apr 2013 #7
That's probably why you got it right autorank Apr 2013 #10
Hey, I know... mojowork_n Apr 2013 #13
IOW, a credit union? freedom fighter jh Apr 2013 #17
I was thinking of "It's a Wonderful Life" and the competing American visions. mojowork_n Apr 2013 #18
No. Unconscionable greed and the illusion of power are far more powerful drugs. n/t Egalitarian Thug Apr 2013 #15
Are You Asking If All Our Pension Funds Went Up/Are Going Up Their Noses? Me. Apr 2013 #16
well if cocaine can produce a Sgt Pepper movie by robert stigwood datasuspect Apr 2013 #19
New implement autorank Apr 2013 #20

jmowreader

(50,447 posts)
1. More like crack abuse by the Republican contingent in Congress
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 09:40 PM
Apr 2013

Gee...who'da thunk that if you write a law that lets derivatives traders do whatever the hell they want (it's called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act), they'll do whatever will make them the most money whether it makes any sense at all?

meow2u3

(24,743 posts)
2. I wouldn't be surprised in the least
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 09:43 PM
Apr 2013

Coke abuse is the reason the greedy get greedier; they have to get their next fix and powder cocaine is not exactly cheap.

autorank

(29,456 posts)
11. Cool economic
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:41 PM
Apr 2013

You take the same substance, change the packaging and rename it and you broaden the market to an amazing extent. How many bankers would do crack (and if they did, they'd call it "free basing&quot

autorank

(29,456 posts)
8. That's true
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:36 PM
Apr 2013

He's a heavy hitter but who knows where he got his info on the drug habits of bankers.

" He is currently Chair of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and Past-President of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), Vice-President of the European Brain Council and President of the British Neuroscience Association"

http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/d.nutt/

From The Independent article:

Last week he attacked the Government over the laws dealing with magic mushrooms, ecstasy and cannabis, which he claims hinder medical research. Magic mushrooms were banned in 2005.

Prof Nutt said he deems the laws surrounding mushrooms "absurd" and "insane" and says it makes it hard to procure one of their ingredients - psilocybin, which is used to treat depression.


 

reteachinwi

(579 posts)
14. Quantum mechanics.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 11:04 PM
Apr 2013

I read in a source I would rather not reference on DU that much of the "masters of the universe" bullying was invented by physicists who turned quantum mechanics statistical methods of handling large amounts of data to Wall Street, believing they could make a killing. Makes you wonder what other foppery will come from the "big data" crowd.

meow2u3

(24,743 posts)
5. Forget about drug testing welfare recipients. Drug test the banksters instead
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:05 PM
Apr 2013

You're bound to get far more positive tests.

autorank

(29,456 posts)
9. Maybe they'll start pulling over luxury cars on the Jersey Turnpike
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:37 PM
Apr 2013

Bentley's, Lambo's - must stop and search.

"Do you mind if I search your car sir?" lol

mojowork_n

(2,354 posts)
7. I'm not an economist. If someone were making a film, that all would probably be part of the story.
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:36 PM
Apr 2013

As summed up at the end of the article.


The whole thing sounds like a drug crazed event, doesn’t it? A bunch of self-proclaimed geniuses realizing that they’ve ruined their business come up with a crazy plan to save their firms (most of them) and their lifestyle. They get one their own, who just happens to be Secretary of the Treasury, to bankroll their mistakes (and worse) and they just keep going while the rest of the country struggles on for years to recover.


If you're talking about "self-proclaimed geniuses" there were all those 'financial engineers' who thought they had a blueprint for the economic equivalent of cold fusion. They went down to some Florida or Caribbean resort (okay, maybe there was a pharmaceutical angle) and they were going to teach everybody else their revolutionary theories, and take the "less advanced" financial theorists to school. (Can't remember the book, a Brit. writer for the Financial Times. Brown cover. I picked it up for 10 minutes at a friend's house.)

But from what I recall, it wasn't just a real estate/mortgage/derivatives bubble. The price of a barrel of crude was up over 150 bucks. Then those prices just totally tanked. Down to 35 or 40 for a time? That index that measures orders for international container shipping, ocean freight. It had gone off the rails and tanked, signalling a crash, even before the rest of the economy did.
The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was still "on the credit card," not on the books. Instead of taking their earnings and putting them back into some kind of productive activity, the war profiteers were making bucket shop bets.

How much money is still hidden away in off-shore accounts? 30 trillion? Did you see the reports about the size of the money pile that's in "private" banks?

http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=365

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/exposed_a_global_offshore_money_web_20130404

As much as anything, sheer avarice, arrogance and unrestrained financial piracy brought the house of cards down five years ago. Too many people taking advantage of unsustainable, paper-chit-from-a-crooked bookie, big and quick pay offs. Like Tony Soprano in cahoots with the regulators and at the end, they make sure they've pulled all the copper pipes (and every other asset) from the ruins of all those HUD-approved buildings.

The Libor scandal, everything Matt Taibbi has written about the vampire squid, HSBC paying the 1.9 billion "fine" for laundering drug money and nobody goes to jail?

People took to the streets to protest. (There was that whole "occupy" thing.) Then it just kind of goes away, and people go back to paying attention to which Kardashian is doing who.

...Maybe it's all of us, regular average citizens, that have some kind of pharmaceutical issues.

autorank

(29,456 posts)
10. That's probably why you got it right
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:39 PM
Apr 2013

Economists, for the most part, enabled this mess.

So true, what you said: "As much as anything, sheer avarice, arrogance and unrestrained financial piracy brought the house of cards down five years ago. "

They knew it was coming and they made their plans to come out OK and hose the rest of us.

Mission accomplished.

mojowork_n

(2,354 posts)
13. Hey, I know...
Mon Apr 15, 2013, 10:52 PM
Apr 2013

Let's all of us regular folks pull our money from Potter's Bank.

Pass the hat and get everybody involved and invest it all in the Building & Loan.

...It would be couch cushion money.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jamie-dimon-dong-slaps-inquisitive-analyst-in-hilarious-exchange-20130227

freedom fighter jh

(1,782 posts)
17. IOW, a credit union?
Tue Apr 16, 2013, 06:46 AM
Apr 2013

I am making that change in my own life.

Years ago I opened an account at Wachovia because it was within easy walking distance of my house. Wachovia then became Wells Fargo and I started hearing horror stories about WF's unfair mortgage practices. When the guilt became overwhelming, I opened a credit union account.

Now I no longer have to support the greed machine.

mojowork_n

(2,354 posts)
18. I was thinking of "It's a Wonderful Life" and the competing American visions.
Tue Apr 16, 2013, 08:20 AM
Apr 2013

The robber baron, Ol' Man Potter, and George Bailey. The way the town changed
after George 'had never been born' and it became Pottersville.

But yeah, I opened a credit union account, too. Only it feels like too little, too late.
Jenna Jameson, the porn star, summed it up before the last election. Talking about
the Obamal/Romney option, she said, "if you're a rich person, the Greedy Old Pigs
are better for you." There are fewer of them, but they have all the money.

It's their town, now.



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