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I think I may be taking the current political situation too seriously, but when I start getting left-wing propaganda from ConsumerReports.org, I just can't let that go without some type of a response. I will leave it to you to decide if I need to take a breather.
I received this unsolicitied email from what appears to be the Consumer Reports PAC. ( must lead a sheltered life, but I had no idea that they had a PAC. I also can't fathom why they would need one--other than maybe to secure their income stream.)
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Dear Steven,
What happened to getting a straight-forward home loan, a fair credit card, and respect for the value of the money we deposit?
Over the past twenty years, the big Wall Street financial companies devalued personal responsibility, fair play and thrift and substituted high risk, mind-numbing complexity, and excessive bonuses.
We're in the deepest recession since the Great Depression, with tens of millions out of work, because the incentives in our financial system changed. Financial firms reward people who gamble with borrowed money and show big paper profits for short-term gains — no matter what the long-term cost.
The Senate this week released a financial reform bill, and the banks' top brass know their big bonuses are at stake. Make sure your Senators know their responsibility to voters is at stake.
Tell your Senators to bring back responsibility, fair play and thrift.
Banks dangled too good to be true offers in front of people who refinanced from a perfectly good loan into a risky one. Brokers got higher commissions for hard-selling risky, costly mortgages — like those where the payment didn't cover the interest and the loan actually got bigger over time.
The banks booked higher profits on those crummy deals, then sold the risky loans to investors. When it all fell apart, the mortgage brokers, bank CEOs and the Wall Street traders got to keep their fat bonuses, while millions of families lost their homes or their retirement accounts.
It's been more than a year since the economic meltdown, and needed changes are stalled. While politicians debate about which government agency should do what, there are a handful of common sense rules that would straighten out the incentives and reinforce the right values now:
E-mail Congress now to stop squabbling and fix the problems that got us here!
Wall Street's financial titans oppose these reforms, and they're spending tens of millions lobbying and advertising against them. To them, that's just pocket change compared to the billions in bonuses they have at stake.
But this is a fight we can win because your anger at the banks is well known. Now they need to know that you are paying attention and you expect real progress — real reform with real teeth, and rules that will apply fairly to everyone.
Sincerely,
Jim Guest, President
Consumer Reports
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So, after fuming about it for a while, I decided to respond:
Mr Guest,
I am sorry, but you must mistake me for a idiot. Either that or you are the idiot. Corporatism and government interference in the free market has 'devalued personal responsibility, fair play and thrift.' For profit companies in competitive industries have and will always use every possible mechanism to achieve their goal: profit.
Only government--big government--has the ability to give preference to favored companies. Only government has the power to make the playing field un-level, and thus short circuit the only true referee of participants in every market: competition. I find it difficult to blame the companies for exploiting government when they can. Your mistake is that you think giving government more power, making it bigger, more dangerous and more easily exploited, will somehow fix it! I cannot believe that someone could reach your position and not realize corruption originates in government, not the other way around.
Do you really think that government bureaucrats are more intelligent and more capable than the best in private industry? If so, you have not been around many bureacrats.
Do you think that government is the ruler of private industry? No! Competition is: Why do you think businessmen take advantage of every opportunity to enlist (read lobby or bribe) government's assistance in limiting competition?
Do you think that the government-created cartel in rating agencies--Moody's, S&P, and Fitch--had anything to do with the horribly inaccurate ratings that were given to the CDO, MBS, etc? I think it is easy to see: no competition means no quality.
How about the Federal Reserve which created the bubble to begin with?
How about Fannie, Freddie, et al. Which created the market in mortgages? Before that, most mortgage lenders & bankers (banks, S&L's, etc.) held the mortgages they funded to maturity. With the government created mortgage market, now brokers simply had to sell them. No risk.
So how about you do some research before spouting garbage--especially in spam.
Sincerely,
PS: Please cancel my online membership. Take me off any of your mailing or contacts lists. I don't do business with organizations who would make a socialist/fascist/progressive like you their President.
So, was I too hard on him?
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