tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post4727208952068734428..comments2024-03-29T02:00:55.623-04:00Comments on Corporate Justice Blog: Occupy Wall Street V: Diagnosing And Attacking The Symptoms Of Our Collective DiseaseSteven Ramirezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16741346526253732489noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-30456723574333443102011-12-09T22:01:01.275-05:002011-12-09T22:01:01.275-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Alex19http://www.visualcv.com/laithsalmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-66418165833023176452011-10-22T19:05:05.911-04:002011-10-22T19:05:05.911-04:00I agree, I didn't mean to hijack the thread in...I agree, I didn't mean to hijack the thread into the healthcare debate. I guess, my opinion is that government is subservient to various industries to a large enough degree, that we can accurately call our current form of government has evolved into full blown Fascism. I think this explains why Bush-Obama policies are identical on the major issues (wars, bailouts, "police-state policies").<br /><br />Neo-Liberalism and Neo-Conservatism are really the result of someone like Obama coming into office, and realizing that if he wants to do something like Healthcare Reform, he has to compromise his plan so the corporations win.<br /><br />You touched on a lot of good topics, so I hate to go to Healthcare when your article was about much more than that. <br /><br />I enjoyed your commentary on "Race and Financial Cris." It is such a complicated topic. I think for awhile conservatives were arguing its the borrowers fault, but I think as time as past, most of them admit that the subprime crash was due to "predatory lending." <br /><br />I know quite a few people who worked in subprime, and they were making serious money. Lot of middle class people were making 6 figures for the first time rubber stamping loans. I know 25 year-olds who were making 100k loving life back then. <br /><br />Everyone was exploited in this system. The rich created the predatory lending with their low standards (almost no standards), the middle class sales people's greed was exploited (the ones I knew fully admit, they knew something "wasn't right" while this was all going on).<br /><br />While I 100% believe the system was corrupt and immoral, the borrowers cannot escape blame. <br /><br />If we own anything we own our own lives and are responsible for ourselves. I think with the borrowers it was a mixture of exploting those not affluent enough to understand their fiances, but probably even more so the social pressure that society puts on one to own a home. <br /><br />I say this critique of the borrowers, fully being thankful, that I was a first year law student in 2008, single, and under no pressure from the world to say you gotta own a home. But hell, if I was married and had a kid, and wanted him to go to a nicer school, or something, that damn well could have been me. <br /><br />So I'm not talking down to these borrowers, but merely pointing out how the situation I imagine many faced. <br /><br />That being said, one has the responsibility for his own life and unfortunately life's lessons teach us the hard way that we can't depend on those in power to look out for us, be it a powerful corporation or a government entity who purports that their "regulatory standards" are in place to protect us. <br /><br />- Steve NewboldAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-24599244960898571802011-10-22T17:52:49.984-04:002011-10-22T17:52:49.984-04:00Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment and observa...Anonymous,<br /><br />Thank you for your comment and observations about Neo-Liberalism. I too don't want to rehash the whole healthcare debate, however, I think you might be on to something. As corporate earnings reports have indicated private insurance companies have been the true winners in Healthcare Reform. With impunity, and no logical or justifiable rationale, these private actors have raised our premiums to maximize their profits. Big Insurance wins big in this instance. I think you are also correct--The Tea Party Movement might want to stop labeling Healthcare Reform as "socialism," but rather start looking at it as a form of Neo-Liberal corporate welfare.Joseph Karl Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03663885334430832561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-48656293263850628992011-10-22T17:43:51.124-04:002011-10-22T17:43:51.124-04:00Anonymous,
Thank you for your comments. In my ta...Anonymous,<br /><br />Thank you for your comments. In my talk at Oregon entitled "Race and the Financial Crisis: Sorting Myth from Reality" I talked about the mythical Conservative explanation of minority borrowers and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 as the main causes of the Financial Crisis. I pointed out that it is dangerous to assign blame in one direction when trying to analyze and account for such a complex event. In the wake of the Financial Crisis, public and private actors have pointed fingers of blame at each other, but have failed to acknowledge their own culpability. In this discussion I talked about a variety of factors that helped contribute to the Financial Crisis. In essence, I ended by providing my Top Ten List of causes of the Financial Crisis. Here's my Top Ten List:<br /><br />• American society's propensity to rack up enormous debts on many levels that were difficult or impossible to repay—The Consumer Culture;<br />• Widespread failures in regulation and supervision;<br />• Dramatic failures of corporate governance and risk management at systemically important financial institutions;<br />• A combination of excessive borrowing, risky investments, and lack of transparency among financial actors;<br />• Governmental and political unpreparedness and inconsistent response to the crisis as it unfolded that caused uncertainty and panic in financial markets (i.e. bailing out Bear Stearns while allowing Lehman Brothers to fail);<br />• Systemic breakdown in accountability and ethics in the financial system—short-term profit maximization tied to compensation and shareholder profit;<br />• Mortgage-lending standards and mortgage securitization practices that lit a pipeline of contagion (i.e. NINJA loans);<br />• Unregulated over-the-counter derivatives trading and the creation of other exotic financial instruments (i.e. Credit Default Swaps);<br />• Failure of the credit rating agencies to perform their duties in an unbiased fashion—Pay-to-Pay practices in securitization transactions; and<br />• The repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, and the tearing down of bank firewalls with the passage of Gramm-Leach-Bliley.<br /><br />Again, thank you so much for your comment.Joseph Karl Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03663885334430832561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-84563776267278139962011-10-21T13:24:54.095-04:002011-10-21T13:24:54.095-04:00Great Article on Neo-Liberalism!
You could also...Great Article on Neo-Liberalism! <br /><br />You could also say that Obama's Healthcare Reform falls under Neo-Liberalism. The so-called Tea Party argues it is socialism, and that argument is completely absurd! <br /><br />The Healthcare Reform forces us to buy from mega-corporations. <br /><br />I'm not arguing against the fact that everyone deserves Healthcare. Please don't interpret this post as starting up that whole debate. <br /><br />I'm merely pointing out (1) The current plan for better or worse, benefits big business in the medical industry (2) The Health Care resisters/protesters (Tea Party or what have you) are clueless in identifying what they perceive as the problem.<br /><br />The correct protesting would be towards a Fascist Corporate Control System and not Socialism. <br /><br />This is just an observation at the nature of the system and is not intended to weigh the pros and cons of the system. Perhaps the corporate control system is the best, perhaps its not. I'm just pointing out the winners. <br /><br />- Steve NewboldAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1194375569044391746.post-85957339040732768702011-10-21T11:49:48.211-04:002011-10-21T11:49:48.211-04:00Professor Grant:
This is a powerful post. Thank ...Professor Grant:<br /><br />This is a powerful post. Thank you for writing it. What were your main points in your Oregon Law lecture "Race and the Financial Crisis: Separating Myth from Reality"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com