This behaviour is criminal. We are talking about deliberate concealment of financial transactions that aided terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation and large-scale tax evasion; assisting in major financial frauds and in concealment of criminal assets; and committing frauds that substantially worsened the worst financial bubbles and crises since the Depression. And yet none of this conduct has been punished in any significant way."
Charles H. Ferguson, Heist of the century: Wall Street's role in the financial crisis, The Guardian, 20 May 2012
"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes."
Andrew Jackson, On the Second Bank of the United States, 1832
"This morning on another financial network, more directly beholden by Wall Street interests, Michael Lewis was interviewed, and it was the turn of the anchorpersons themselves to roll out the indignation on behalf of the industry that cuts their paychecks, and variously attack and parse the offending statement, 'the market is rigged.' They had a go at it, and then changed the subject.
But the same anchorperson who compared Wall Street traders to children, who cannot help themselves except to try and break mom's rules, took a different tack this morning. Today we heard that Wall Street traders have no moral imperative, no operative sense of right and wrong. That is, their only task is to make money in whatever way that is possible, even if it means cheating, lying, and even creating false opportunities to defraud other people.
A good trader suppresses any sense of morality and law, except as an obstacle to be overcome. When they cheat and steal it is the fault of the regulators, because they are not smart enough and fast enough to stop them. And these are the same people that we claim should therefore be self-regulating.
But the most shocking thing was that Michael Lewis agreed.
"I don’t regard high-frequency traders as villains. It is like blaming the lion for eating the antelope. They are wired that way. I think the system is screwed up to exploit opportunities, exploit glitches in the system. They’re not wired to say that this is moral or immoral; they aren’t wired to say is this good for the world. They don’t think that way.”Ah the noble lions. Or perhaps more appropriately jackals, based on how they feed in the dark on the weak. Remember this the next time someone asks a financier for their recommendations on public policy and first principle social issues.
The irony of course is that this description is that of functional sociopaths at best, psychopaths at worst. They are 'wired' to seek self-gratification without regard to moral considerations, conscience, or consequences.
Rather than just saying the market is rigged, the anchors and Michael Lewis agree that the market is now founded on sociopathic behaviour, whose primary directive is to game the system and defraud the other market participants in the most clever ways that they can. Not by producing anything, not by contributing anything real to society, but by being very successful conmen. And all the parties nodded their heads in agreement.
.JPG)
What a hell of a way to set up a critical social system, to seek out and incent sociopathic behavior."
Jesse, Moral Blindness: When Money and Confidence Die It Will Be Televised, 2 April 2014
"The central trait of sociopathy is a complete lack of conscience, which is very difficult for most people to get their heads around, because those of us who do have a conscience can't really imagine what it would be like if we didn't. Most people think that deep down everybody has a conscience, and it turns out that's just not true. -
Usually sociopaths will look down upon us for that very reason - that we're gullible. We're weak. One person told me that he thought he was the only honest person because he would admit that he didn't have a conscience and everybody else was clearly faking it."
Martha Stout, The Sociopath Next Door
"The true alternative is a failure extending over time from the economic to the political system. Just as too few predicted the financial crisis, it may be that too few are today speaking frankly about where a failure to deal with the aftermath may lead. In this situation, let me suggest, the country faces an existential threat. Either the legal system must do its work. Or the market system cannot be restored.
There must be a thorough, transparent, effective, radical cleaning of the financial sector and also of those public officials who failed the public trust. The financiers must be made to feel, in their bones, the power of the law. And the public, which lives by the law, must see very clearly and unambiguously that this is the case."
James K. Galbraith, Why the 'Experts' Failed to See How Financial Fraud Collapsed the Economy, Alternet, May 26, 2010
"Nemesis, the goddess of retribution and vengeance, the punisher of pride and hubris, waits impatiently for her meeting with us."
Chalmers Johnson
And so 'risk on' it was.
Stocks were rising and went out on the highs.
Gold and silver rallied.
The Dollar rose slightly.
VIX fell.
Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.
FOMC next week.
Have a pleasant evening.
