In my November 2007 post, I quoted the last two paragraphs of the book
' The Great Crash 1929 ' by the late John Kenneth Galbraith. Well here they are again.
" Wall Street, in recent times, has become, as a learned phrase has it, very 'public relations conscious'. Since a speculative collapse can only follow a speculative boom, one might expect that Wall Street would lay a heavy hand on any resurgence of speculation. The Federal Reserve would be asked by bankers and brokers to lift margins to the limit; it would be warned to enforce the requirement sternly against those who might try try to borrow on their own stocks and bonds in order to buy more of them. The public would be warned sharply and often of the risks inherent in buying stocks for the rise. Those who persisted, nonetheless, would have no one to blame but themselves. The position of the Stock Exchange, its members, the banks, and the financial community in general would be perfectly clear and as well protected in the event of a further collapse as sound public relations allow,
As noted, all this might logically be expected. It will not come to pass. This is not because the instinct for self-preservation in Wall Street is poorly developed. On the contrary, it is probably normal and may be above. But now, as throughout history, financial capacity and political perspicacity are inversely correlated. Long-run salvation by men of business has never been highly regarded if it means disturbance of orderly life and convenience in the present. So inaction will be advocated in the present even though it means deep trouble in the future. Here, at least equally with communism, lies the threat to capitalism. It is what causes men who know that things are going quite wrong to say that things are fundamentally sound.''
The book was first published in 1954, and provides a detailed account of the events leading upto the 1929 crash and the consequences thereafter.
The last paragraph, sums up the situation in which we find world markets today.
Banks failing after markets close on Friday, Bailout packages announced on Sundays & bailouts and deals without any long term solution in mind.Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and now maybe Lehman Brothers: all too big to (let) fail!!!Well
the times they are a-changin!!http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/times-they-are-changinThe current leadership had better sit up and take notice, before they steer our ship right off the cliff !!
Countrywide Financial - Bear Stearns - Freddie Mac - Fannie Mae - Lehman Bros - AIG...and a few more big names all set to join the list.
Investment bank CEO's may blame the short sellers and try to calm panic stricken investors, but it appears that the overleveraged CDO, CDS mess is derailing the US economy at the moment.
Jim Rogers on the Bailout
The 
