As the lawyers like to say, res ipsa loquitur, both literally and arguably legally too (the lawyers here might pipe up as to how Timothy Geithner’s conduct at the New York Fed and Treasury fits the standard of negligence embodied in the res ipsa doctrine. Of course, one issue is that negligence was so pervasive among regulators that Geithner could argue his way out by invoking “whocoulddanode.”
Another saying that applies is “History is written by the victors.”
Also notice that one has to pay for the privilege of being propagandized by Geithner.
More details here. Hat tip Kevin C.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oJ8tXeUDP8
Saved you all tuition.
It’s not what you say, but how you say it. `*c0ncerned forehead*`
Course homework will be submitted via TurboTax.
I wonder if they reveal the secret ingredients of runway foam.
Some people might be tempted to try that at home, foam up the driveway then run across the yard and dive with their arms outstretched, expecting a gentle landing and smooth glide.
I hope it works as well for them as it did for the banks! Ouch. Just thinking about it hurts.
I’m surprised that his demanding duties as president of Warburg, Pincus allow him so much time away.
Adding to my previous post on a fee. If you are logged in and click the link about financial aid, you get this and more information on getting aid:
Course Certificate
The Global Financial Crisis
Total
$49.00
“Coursera Financial Aid is a special program to give Coursera students in all economic circumstances the chance to earn Course Certificates.
Financial Aid was designed specifically for those who face significant economic hardships, so that these individuals with genuine needs may be given the chance to earn a Course Certificate at no cost.”
– – –
You can take the class for free for your own education, but to get a certificate proving you took and passed the class, there is a $49 fee. Somehow Coursera verifies it is you each time you take a test online, by uploaded pictures, videos, and also by comparing your keystrokes.
An interesting Syllabus (at the link). It certainly looks like it’s laid out in a fashion where Geithner will be able to get out his side of the story as he wishes people would believe it to be. Although there’s no indication that any questioning would be allowed (and certaininly not any public questioning).
…. and for the other side of Geithner’s story see the transcript of Starr v USA
I see your point, but the front page conditions visitors to expect to pay for the course. And I have no idea who honors these MOOC certificates now, but until the idea fell out of fashion, the “course credit” aspect was seen as the point.
Isn’t it also at Yale where McChrystal’s teaching that course on counterinsurgency where students have to sign a confidentiality agreement before attending? Yale should change its motto to “he who controls the present controls the past.”
He who controls the presents, like Santa Claus. Another infantilization of culture, as if we needed one?
Really excellent fascism requires the biggest possible lies be told vehemently and with full moral conviction, what really lives in the hearts of these men however, in their private moments, lying in bed at night, is a depressing marker of man’s capacity for cruelty, his utter disregard for the welfare of his fellow man, and a truly abundant capacity for cognitive dissonance. Did Obama know? Did Timmy know? Of course they did, and they do.
The axiom that all men are created equal is relatively new to Western culture, not gaining much secular traction until the mid-18th century. Plato’s Great Chain of Being inserts a noble class between the commoner and the gods, which has informed most theories of social organization since. It’s quite possible that Obama and Timmy, being nobles, consider the underclasses a different species altogether and are simply living out their Platonic duty as nobles to manage and husband the livestock.
That kind of thinking did not work out so well for Louie XVI and the Ancien Regime. Personally, I think they lay at bed wondering if they can get all the guns confiscated before the big collapse occurs.
Yale should offer Geithner a cup of hemlock.
I hope Neil Barofsky’s book Bailout will be part of the supplemental reading suggested for Week 8!
I recently came across a 1933 translation of a Dutch book indicating that in 1933 Warburg (personally not his firm) gave Hitler several million dollars at the beginning of the his rise. I thought to myself how interesting that Geitner is now the head of a firm that was originally headed by a man described as Hitler’s banker.
At the bare minimum Geitner could be convicited of insider trading when he leaked fed action to banks in 2007 which resulted in various bank trading desks making several hundred million dollars over a two day period. Please note that is how you get a chairmanship of firm like this.
I queried the syllabus for the terms “loot” and “fraud”. Finding none, and given the extreme ego-driven bias of one of the instructors, it is quite clear that participants will learn nothing, save for the face-saving propaganda spewed by Mr. Geithner. Perhaps Michael Hudson and William Black could offer a similar course in which we might actually learn something.
It is easier to see what is going on if we put things in a historical perspective.
Is Capitalism the first social system since the dawn of civilisation to trickle down?
Since it is based on self-interest this seems highly unlikely.
It would be drawn up in the self-interest of those that came up with the system, i.e. those at the top.
The 20th Century saw progressive taxation to do away with old money elites and so looking at the playing field now can be rather deceptive.
Today’s ideal is unregulated, trickledown Capitalism.
We had unregulated, trickledown Capitalism in the UK in the 19th Century.
We know what it looks like.
1) Those at the top were very wealthy
2) Those lower down lived in grinding poverty, paid just enough to keep them alive to work with as little time off as possible.
3) Slavery
4) Child Labour
Immense wealth at the top with nothing trickling down, just like today.
The beginnings of regulation to deal with the wealthy UK businessman seeking to maximise profit, the abolition of slavery and child labour.
At the end of the 19th Century, with a century of two of Capitalism under our belt, it was very obvious a Leisure Class existed at the top of society.
The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions, by Thorstein Veblen
The Wikipedia entry gives a good insight.
This was before the levelling of progressive taxation in the 20th Century.
It can clearly be seen that Capitalism, like every other social system since the dawn of civilisation, is designed to support a Leisure Class at the top through the effort of a working and middle class.
After the 20th Century progressive taxation the Leisure Class probably stay hidden in the US. In the UK, associates of the Royal Family are covered in the press and show the Leisure Class are still here with us today.
It was obvious in Adam Smith’s day.
Adam Smith:
“The Labour and time of the poor is in civilised countries sacrificed to the maintaining of the rich in ease and luxury. The Landlord is maintained in idleness and luxury by the labour of his tenants. The moneyed man is supported by his extractions from the industrious merchant and the needy who are obliged to support him in ease by a return for the use of his money. But every savage has the full fruits of his own labours; there are no landlords, no usurers and no tax gatherers.”
With Capitalism it’s better hidden:
The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863:
“The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests.”
Everyone works in their own self interest even economists.
Malthus – supports the vested interests of landlords and so finds nothing wrong with parasitic landlord rent extraction.
Ricardo – supports the vested interest of bankers coming from a banking family, sees problem with feudal landowners but not bankers that create money out of nothing
The Austrian School – Austrian aristocrats, of the European Leisure class, support investor’s interests. Anti-Government as they are trying to do away with the old European aristocracy. Give preference to those with money:
You are free to spend your money as you choose.
No money, no freedom.
Money is freedom.
Most classical economists differentiated between earned and unearned wealth.
The Austrian Aristocrats benefit from inherited wealth and hide the distinction.
As members of the European Leisure class, they liked to invest and make money from the hard work of others while doing very little themselves.
A monetary system devised by bankers where they create money out of nothing and lend it out charging interest to make a profit.
When you come up with a system you make sure it works for you.
How is the legal system loaded?
Why do people use expensive barristers/legal teams?
It increases your chance of winning the case.
What if you can’t afford expensive barristers/legal teams?
You decrease your chance of winning the case.
It’s loaded.
Comments above not very relevant as I have put them in the wrong tab window.