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The biggest offenders though, look to be AIG and Goldman-Sachs, to the point that the crimes of the other groups are almost immaterial until the two major offenders have been dealt with.
I like Taibbi even though he is a bit over the top. The biggest offenders are the bought and paid for politicians on both sides of the isle that allowed this to happen. Big business has proved time and time again that they must be watched like a hawk, despite the piteous bleatings of the libertarian set. Not managed, just made to operate in a fair and honest manner. I've always suspected that Reagan killing the high marginal tax rates led to a tidal wave of dishonesty and greed. It became much more worthwhile it to cheat lie and steal.
bmwman91
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2012 Jun 4, 6:50am
I'll definitely agree that Taibbi has a bit of a gonzo writing style. It is entertaining at least.
Yes, the politicians certainly did a great deal of enabling. Taibi lays most of the blame on Greenspan ("The Biggest Asshole In The Universe"), who was a pseudo-politician. The problems we have come down from the highest, most powerful corners of business & government, for sure.
Vicente
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2012 Jun 5, 4:44am
Taibi lays most of the blame on Greenspan ("The Biggest Asshole In The Universe"), who was a pseudo-politician.
Greenspan was never a politician of any sort.
He considered himself a "mole" for Ayn Rand.
The gnome destined to impress "Mom" and reshape the American economy by her lights. Without of course being open about it, because he considered himself a "double-naught spy" and the Peepul couldn't handle his truth.
And his game worked so well, it infected the Clinton administration and quite of lot Democrats since then. To this day, most of them worship corporations and financial people and think we should let them run everything.
Thanks for reminding me about this book I bought it, and it's sitting in my "to read" pile for a while now.
bmwman91
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2012 Jun 5, 5:08am
It is a pretty good read, depending on your tastes. If you have read, and enjoyed, Hells Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, then you will enjoy this. If you dislike profanity and witty cynicism, you probably won't get past page 5. If you do like that stuff, but consider yourself a dyed-in-the-wool Tea Partier, just push through chapter 1 & it's fine after that. He DOES bag on mindless progressives almost as much he does on mindless conservatives.
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I picked up this book a month ago and started reading it last week. I have always liked Hunter S. Thompson's writing style, so Matt Taibbi's writing has sort of a natural appeal to me. Anyway, I thought that I knew about a lot of the things that led to the financial melt down in 2008, but it turns out that I didn't know jack. The scale of greed, incompetence and outright disregard for everyone else is staggering. I used to get mad about government entitlement spending, and while that is a problem, it certainly is not THE problem that needs dealing with right now. Everyone holds some amount for the RE debacle (consumers, loan officers, banks, securities companies, ratings agencies, securities insurance agencies). The biggest offenders though, look to be AIG and Goldman-Sachs, to the point that the crimes of the other groups are almost immaterial until the two major offenders have been dealt with. Fretting over the other offenders is akin to worrying about wasting electricity because you left the bathroom light on while your house is on fire.
Has anyone else here read the book? If not, I highly recommend it. The first chapter seems a little off-topic since it discusses the 2008 election and Tea Party, but it was informative and relatively fair in its criticisms in my opinion. He also rags on liberals for some of the things that they support, so he doesn't just rag on the Tea Party. He also mentions Ron Paul a little, and not in a negative way, which is about as close to an endorsement as you can get from a self-identified lefty such as Taibbi.
I am currently half-way through the book and plan to finish it during my business flights over the next week or so. If anyone wants to borrow it when I am done, they are welcome to. Certainly, it needs to be taken with a small grain of salt since it is written in a somewhat editorial style, but it does provide actual numbers and factual information as well.
Th book:
http://www.amazon.com/Griftopia-Bankers-Politicians-Audacious-American/dp/0385529961/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338834004&sr=8-1
#crime