Stocks enter the final hour with modest gains, the latest Fed Beige Book on regional economic conditions shows economic activity increasing modestly, housing demand was goosed by the expiring Federal tax credit, commercial real estate remains week while some pick up in consumer and business spending along with tourism and slowing inventory investment rounded out the report.
Today marks the 5th anniversary of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s now infamous statement that real estate was experiencing a little “froth in some local markets” but was not in a “bubble” during a speech June 9th, 2005. Bernanke followed that with statements today indicating that while prices had firmed a little, distressed inventory and a lack of available credit to builders was weighing on the housing market. Out of touch with reality, contradictory and clueless come to mind as both Fed Chairs demonstrate that they don’t grasp the fundamentals of supply and demand nor affordability.
One of the more glaring inconstancies I’ve noted of late relates to the governments, regulatory, legal and media responses to BP’s Deepwater Horizon Oil rig fiasco and environmental disaster and the response to the financial meltdown of 2007-2008 which continues to this day. Not to trivialize the environmental and economic fallout from the gulf spill as it is likely to go down in history as the nations worst environmental accident.
Both events feature self-regulation, lack of enforcement of existing rules, inept and or asleep at the wheel regulators, caviler corporate cultures happy to ignore potential risks and a chain of events that resulted in, and continue to do so, substantial economic dislocation.
Since the accident April 20th, 2010, over 6,000 lawsuits have been filled against BP, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder promises an aggressive criminal investigation of BP and its contractors for their actions, just some of the statements made by President Obama include. Over 17,000 National Guard mobilized to help with the clean up, the involvement of Homeland Security, promises to make BP and related parties pay for economic damages and injury claims, SBA deferral of business loan repayment schedules for those businesses affected, mobilization of medical and scientific personal to assist those involved in the clean-up process. Promises to change laws, stiffen regulations and make sure this never happens again and insuring that those at fault will be held accountable along with a full and vigorous accounting of the events. Everybody’s favorite from the Today Show “know whose ass to kick”, there are many more and I’m sure countless other actions that could be added to this list, and rightly so.
But, when it comes to the financial sector that visited economic ruin not only on the nation but also the world. We have a handful of lawsuits, a number of failed criminal investigations little if any accountability and worse trillion Dollar bailouts, continued bonuses for the banksters, some of which was paid by the taxpayer and continued employment in many cases of people who have demonstrated, compliments of the losses they have presided over, that they are incompetent. I could go on and on but think you know the story fairly well by now.
When those at the top set the example for the rest of us to follow and that example is as perverted, morally and intellectually bankrupt as that which we have today. It begs the question, just where does the leadership, and I’m not just referring to the government, figure this is going to end up? Because most people know wrong from right, can distinguish just from un-just and recognize when they are being sold down the river for the benefit of those responsible for this fiasco and with the help of our elected representatives who have forgotten that America is about democracy by the people for the people. Because they are corrupted by the obscene largesse of the lobbyists, after all who in their right mind would spend 100’s of millions to get elected to a position that at best pays a little over ½ a million per year because it sure as hell doesn’t pencil out.
Hi and welcome to The Profit Motive, I’m your host Caleb Lawrence. Once upon a time in America the media acted as the watchdog of the corporations and the state. In the modern era it’s all about ratings and profits, opinion has been substituted for news and frequently is presented as fact. 
