Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gopher]

Thank you for clarifying that you do not subscribe to that worldview. But surely you recognize its global spread, Mises. Take, for example, Commondreams' and Adventurer's "analysis" here.

[mises]

Anyways, the OP posed a question. Is HP the right man for this job. I think the answer is a clear no, and the appointment of this 35 year old nobody over Bill Gross (who is a serious somebody) suggests that he isn't merely incompetent (lost his competence upon entering public service) but that he is self-serving.

[Gopher]

OP does not pose any questions. OP repeats a sensationalist, propagandistic "story" that opponents -- on the left and right -- have aimed at H. Paulson. They want to maneuver him out of office so that they might hijack the bailout process and get whatever it is that they truly want to get so that they might serve their own ends, which they cloak here as "the people's" ends to add "credibility" to their position(s), whateve they may be.

Sad state of affairs.

[bacasper]

Of course, a major architect of the crisis should not be in charge of its repair, especially not with the obvious conflicts of interest, to answer your rhetorical question. That he has lied to us by omission in failing to warn us and prepare for this eventuality sooner certainly disqualifies him for the position.

And while it is true that the captains of capital are transnational in scope, much blame can be placed on the US with their predatory selling of Treasury bonds to foreign interests which, if they default as it seems they will, now threatens to bring down the entire world economy.

Call it for what it is: a looting of the US Treasury to benefit large financial interests with money which would have been better spent helping directly threatened homeowners, and is at the direct expense of the US taxpayer.

What is going on here is the privatization of profit along with the socialization of risk. Great idea. How can I open a bank?

[Adventurer]

Look, there has been a problem over the past decades with people emanating from the private sector having too much say over the government instead of technocrats, economists who are not beholden to certain interests, and Paulson's connection to Goldman Sachs is kind of disturbing, because he comes from that corporate culture that has left America in this mess. Warren Buffett and people like the likes of Templeton don't come from that kind of culture. You have also had the head of the EPA not actually really acting for the environment. There needs to be more objective people out there who have a history of making sound decisions like Buffet and others like him.

Yes, America is in a crisis, and perhaps a new direction is needed. We will see after this election because this is a repeat of the S&L but in a worse way, and it is the fault of both parties who have betrayed the trust of the people. And who is supposed to foot the bill? The CEO of Lehmann? I don't think so. This is very serious, and simply blaming the people who contaminated our milk so to speak won't solve anything, but looking at how the government allowed this to happen and the behavior of some investors should be examined to rectify the problems.

I am not saying Paulson and the FED can't stear the ship. They have knowledge to do so. They know Wall Street. However, they should have also anticipated the problems. A person with some economic background and knowledge of the rules regarding investments on such a macro level should be able to anticipate potential grave problems. I think they knew the risks, but they didn't want to do anything about it.

[Gopher]