This is why I stopped investing in securities decades ago. I always figured that if those smart guys in New York were willing to sell it to me, I probably couldn't afford to buy it.

Goldman Sacks: Paragon of Integrity

This is why I stopped investing in securities decades ago. I always figured that if those smart guys in New York were willing to sell it to me, I probably couldn't afford to buy it.

Goldman Sacks: Paragon of Integrity

Just one more big chink in the armor of the idea of diverting part or all of social security savings into the stock market, an idea I strongly favored a decade ago.

After seeing the investment industry meltdown in the last 15 months, the apparent causes that lay in the Wall Street culture of unadulterated and to this day unabated greed, in the inability of, or lack of desire for, Congress and the regulators to protect the integrity of the investment community, and in apparent continued lack of desire for the community to police itself, and the lack of resolve for Congress and the Treasurey to clean up the Too Big Too Fail phenomenon and further potential for Wall Street abuses, I will never support the privatization of a government mandated retirement program.

If the government is going to mandate a retirement program, i.e social security, (which I strongly support) then I demand that the Full Faith and Credit of the United States Government underwrite that mandated investment. I might feel different if we had sane goverment safety controls in place like Glass Steagall. But as long as Wall Street and the Bankers own Congress and have their alumni running the Treasury, I'll pass on any privatization attempts. Too bad, because on paper and in a well-regulated market world, partial privatization offered some real potential benefit.

I'm sorry that my private retirement investments are left to the whimsey of the corrupt market. As long as Wall St is allowed to run free I would divest my investments in favor of more conservative vehicles. Unfortunately, contractual obligations don't permit me that lattitude.

Just one more big chink in the armor of the idea of diverting part or all of social security savings into the stock market, an idea I strongly favored a decade ago.

After seeing the investment industry meltdown in the last 15 months, the apparent causes that lay in the Wall Street culture of unadulterated and to this day unabated greed, in the inability of, or lack of desire for, Congress and the regulators to protect the integrity of the investment community, and in apparent continued lack of desire for the community to police itself, and the lack of resolve for Congress and the Treasurey to clean up the Too Big Too Fail phenomenon and further potential for Wall Street abuses, I will never support the privatization of a government mandated retirement program.

If the government is going to mandate a retirement program, i.e social security, (which I strongly support) then I demand that the Full Faith and Credit of the United States Government underwrite that mandated investment. I might feel different if we had sane goverment safety controls in place like Glass Steagall. But as long as Wall Street and the Bankers own Congress and have their alumni running the Treasury, I'll pass on any privatization attempts. Too bad, because on paper and in a well-regulated market world, partial privatization offered some real potential benefit.

I'm sorry that my private retirement investments are left to the whimsey of the corrupt market. As long as Wall St is allowed to run free I would divest my investments in favor of more conservative vehicles. Unfortunately, contractual obligations don't permit me that lattitude.

For a truly depressing (and horrifying) look at Wall Street and globalization/privatization around the world in the last 50 years, read Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine". I had to put it down a number of times because I was getting physically ill at the stuff that she documents.