First principle of markets: Failures must be allowed to fail. The only organisation that should be "too big to fail" is the government.
Second major oversight: Accounting has failed. There is no transparency or accountability in the financial systems. We *still* don't know where the end of the current financial crisis is because the unAccountants have been allowed to hide the truth.
The fact that billionaires are bailed out while the poor continue to get nothing from the "booming" economy is not just evil, it is very, very stupid.
The rich are only allowed to be rich because the poor play by the rules. Social revolutions are *very* unpleasant for the well off, and are inevitable unless the wealthy start being merely greedy again.

Time for a bit of Democratic Communism :D

The rich saw the rise in "monitory organisations" and so bought up the media, advertising and education systems and have used them to brainwash the population to think like the wealthy elites even though they are dirt poor. That is if they even think at all. Witness todays craving for wealth and celebrity and the humiliations people will subject themselves to on the off chance of "making it big".

People somehow, for some reason see the rich as untouchable and that it would somehow be morally wrong to take from them. How did it work in the old days? Im sure Rockefeller and his ilk werent happy to have their giant monopolies broken up and Im sure it made them less wealthy than they had been. So why cant we do the same today? Break up the big multinationals. Return them to local control. Make them small enough that they can fail and not pull the rest of us down with them. If a business cant keep up or isnt providing a service people want or is corruptly run then it deserves to fail and to prop it up would seem to me to be madness.

The democracy of the market is the democracy of the dollar. The more dollars you have the more votes you get. There is no democracy in business. All firms are run as absolute totalitarian dictatorships. The owner/s and their proxys are absolute lords and masters of their property including, for eight hours a day, the bodies and souls of their employees. The sham that is voting once every 3 or 4 years is a pale imitation of what inclusive and participatory democracy really is.

Amazing. Almost 3,000 words on the Mega Crash without even a single, passing mention of its long-term and systemic cause i.e., the derivatives trade. Keane alludes vaguely to a "bursting credit bubble", repeatedly, but he may as well refer to the dynamics of boiling mud in Rotorua, or distract us with some natural-disaster metaphor like an earthquake, tsunami, volcano, etc.

Of course, this is no "natural" disaster at all. The monetarists' calamity fits perfectly the original definition of "tragedy" i.e., a disaster caused by the stupidity and arrogance of people who should have known better, or at least listened to those who did - instead of ignoring them for decades, and even blacklisting, censoring, and fitting them up on trumped-up charges.

And this gem: "the scale and depth of the bursting bubble are simply unknown". That coming from a professor too! The comment is exactly the type of rubbish that should make Keane feel ashamed to the point of resignation from his job. For "scale and depth" of the imperialists' globalization bubble, try around USD 1.5 QUADRILLION in derivatives debt. For Australia alone it's around USD 15 Trillion...

Another word noticeably missing in Keane's piece: "BANKRUPTCY". Not once, not even a whisper. Yet the entire financial sector is bankrupt, and the only way to salvage "democracy" (or any other functioning, non-regressive political system) is to effect bankruptcy reorganization NOW!

Lastly, Keane should lose the "nutty/lefty professor" cliche-image, and get a haircut and put a tie on instead. After all, misleading spin like his does such sterling "Royal Society" service for the establishment's hedge and equity fund industries. Is that where he's heading? A chancellorship at the University of the Cayman Islands perhaps?

Talk about shutting the Barn door after the horse has bolted !

Why didn't you publish your book before the whole thing went pfhut .

What a Wally , how do you think everybody will pay for your book !

Thanks to those many readers who made independent contact and offered such intelligent advice and serious comments on my piece on democracy failure and the great global recession. I see that ON LINE opinion attracts the Awkward Blog Squad: those who are lightning-quick to react, never read what's been written, get things wrong and (of course) are nevertheless cock sure that they know everything about the topic. OOp definitely deserves much better readers. For mil-observer there's some bad news: the 'nutty/lefty' professor hasn't accepted a chancellorship in the Cayman Islands but has instead decided, from July of next year, to come home to Sydney University, where I'll be glad to meet and debate with you, sporting a tie and wearing shorter hair, of course...

No "bad news" perceived from here, but plenty of petulant sarcasm instead. It actually affects me very little whether or not people like Keane take direct payoffs from hedge fund parasites a la Carribean money-laundering havens.

To Keane: Keep up your servile and obfuscatory work for such corrupt, oppressive giants as the IMF and (now) FSB. Appears to be how you got your job in the first place, and keep it until now.

Btw, I decline any offer to meet. I've met your type many times before - found the discussion never worth my time, just as your wages are never worth my taxes.

Interesting arguments on all sides .In the case of Professor Keane perhaps hope springs eternal - a perfectly natural human emotion and I guess none of us would be here without it.

Unfortunately,the economic crisis is the smallest gorilla in the room and the most amenable to some taming.The largest by far is the population overshoot which is closely associated with resource depletion,particularly energy,and environmental degradation.Add the mystery gorilla,climate change,and we have a perfect storm approaching.

We are on the cusp of an epochal change.Trying to recreate or modify conventional industrial systems will not work.Most,if not all of our leadership do not seem to be aware of this.Neither do the majority of the citizenry.Until there is an awareness of the magnitude and nature of the problems then there will be no effort put into solving them.

There will be a resolution but it will probably be along the line of Malthus.

It's always amazing how a financial crisis or upset will bring out the socialists and anti globalists baying with 20 20 hindsight that capitalism has failed.

Even in the depths of the crisis the economy is better under capitalism than it ever was under the socialist utopias.

The source of the problem is not derivatives or hedge funds (which have been around since roman times), but the simple fact that banks were enabled to make unrestricted loans by the Democratic (socialist) party under Clinton who removed the regulations. The 3 decades of wild growth were spurred on by the resulting cash flow.

The cure is to revert to a regulation regime that controls this. The result will be a slower recovery, but will set the grounds for a more sustainable growth into the future. An international oversight body would not be a bad idea either. (to watch the watchers)

i was going to quote from proffesing mr kean this morning when i read his tripe[buzz piece]informing us of his version of a cure[via yet another imf oversight agency...lol

but i cant be bothered reading the tripe again, john should be well aware the inf is the big problem, aPPART FROM AN IMF SUBAGENCY HOLDING THE REAL SHARES[THAT ALLOW US TO SPECULATE ON wether the shares rise and fall[for a fractional bet, that has cost many their houses[here in his homeland],

as well as the imf controled isda[international swaps and derivitives[and substantial gold holdings ill begotten from the likes of argentina et al..who went bankrupot following the imf orders[and paid in gold the very gold the imf now is putting up for sale]

as well the imf fund GLD ,who via a mere 100 tons of the stuff issues gold certificates 3 times all the gold ever mined eachh day[in lue of trading in the real gold, not to mention etf's also linked to the imf, i would have expected a more honest expose by one who claims to know[you john]

there is so much stiff tied up in the nationalised banking scam, its time those who know stopped selling us puff pieces and gave the real facts behind the creatures of jeckle island..[no doudt he [if he respinds at all will claim ignorance of many of the initial speak i use[and this is a so called expert[training the next generation..lol]

anyhow john if you dont got any idea i have done some research for you
most are allready posted on this forum

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=2663
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=8796
feel free to rebut here or there mate[noting it took 8 hours waiting to post this here[its great this 5 post limit], but you john opnly need focus on one post [this one] so mate please explain?

oh and welcome home...lol
couldnt cut it in the big smoke eh?

Apart from OUG's sanity, there are toxic hallucinations and mysticism here.

ShadowMinister (S&M) assumes opponents of usurers' bailouts must somehow be "anti-capitalist", "socialist", with "20/20 hindsight"! Another outlandish S&M call is the presumption: "It's Clinton's fault for ditching Glass-Steagall", thereby perpetuating other cliched ideas like "US Sub-Prime caused a GFC".

But this is a whole systemic breakdown. Greenspan opened the off-balance-sheet derivatives trade after the '87 Crash; we've seen bubble after stinking bubble ever since. The Roman Empire is only relevant for ideological comparison: Globalization wants to enslave and degrade as many people as possible, imitating Rome's bestial, decadent imperialists.

That leads to the next prospective bubble so eagerly sought by the parasitic usurers (neither fair nor accurate to merely call them "capitalists"). They want ETS/CRTS/fart tax, whatever (check OUG's links). Consider the absurdity: World Bank stooges like Stern and Garnault, and hedge fund speculators like Al Gore, spruik mantras like "the world faces catastrophic effects of climate change", etc. But join the dots here: these guys had no clue about how to make a properly functioning and genuine economy, while events emphasize that fact with each passing month since July 2007. Yet we're meant to trust their "judgement" on the entirely different field of climate science! And this when global temperatures are cooling with increased ice mass?

And what inspired Manorina's contribution? A Tarot card reading, or deep, prolonged contemplation of a certain Chakra, or a Tibetan chalk mandala picture? Hmmm, "people are the problem...invoke the animal spirits instead", and Adam Smith's institutional, imperialist colleague Malthus.

Puke.

There's no polite way of putting it: compared to the Professor and the commentators, OUG and myself are 100% right on this and a couple of light years ahead of them. We speak for the sincere, healthily motivated, but oppressed majority. These others, by contrast, spruik and spin to benefit a depraved, tiny monetarist elite. It's immaterial whether they're wrong because they're simpletons or just deluded and brainwashed by their corrupt social conditioning. What matters is that readers identify the cultural and intellectual degradation driving their spastic thoughts on these important issues.

MO and OUG, it is nice that you have found each other, since the rest of the world is delusional and only you are right. Perhaps you could mount barricades against the ravening hordes of conspirators that are determined to take over the world.

In the interim, I along with many others would prefer to rely on the conventional economics that was ignored by those who precipitated the crisis, and most of the other bubbles.

Regulation is required to ensure that it is difficult to stray too far from recognised criteria, and to limit the damage caused by these bubbles.

S&M's another sucker for usurers' spin. What? He wants to "regulate" something that has been comprehensively dismembered and plundered, with debt claims now extending many decades into the future.

Kinda like handing a chastity belt and "home birthing" manual to a sobbing and bleeding rape victim.

BANKRUPTCY NOW
INVESTIGATE AND TRY THE CORRUPT
MAKE THE STATE DO ITS JOB

extracted from
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Even-Jack-Bauer-couldnt-stop/story.aspx?guid={BE0D1772-A628-454D-80BF-C4484CEBA7DF}

American government is now run by the 'Goldman Conspiracy'

..Portfolio magazine:"exposed"the"Goldman Sachs'conspiracy'to take over the U.S. financial system."..Read it in this context:America's financial sector has exploded from 19% of corporate profits in 1986 to 41% today,..They know why Wall Street must control Washington.

Malone focuses on the incestuous"conspiracy"of Goldman alumni in Treasury,Bank of America,Merrill Lynch,AIG,Citigroup,Washington lobbyists and politicians.

Scene 2.Huge conflicts motivating Wall Street's 'Trojan Horse'
The Hammer's conflict of interest was invented purely to increase drama,..please remember that he worked at Goldman for three decades after serving under Nixon.He got $38 million his last year as CEO in 2006 before becoming Treasury Secretary.

Then during the market meltdown six months ago the $700 million personal fortune he built at Goldman was threatened by Goldman's huge $20 billion derivatives exposure at AIG:Suddenly his responsibilities at Treasury merged with a strong self-interest in protecting his personal fortune....AIG was "saved."

Scene 3.Wall Street's'quiet coup'also runs world's banking system
..in"The Quiet Coup,"Simon Johnson's great article in Atlantic magazine...A former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund,..Johnson also warns that America's"financial industry has effectively captured our government"and is"blocking essential reform."

Scene 4. Wall Street used the meltdown to take over America's government
Matt Taibbi,.."The Big Takeover,..how Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution.."As complex as all the finances are, the politics aren't hard to follow.

By creating a crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand,the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future... in the age of CDS and CBO,most of us are financial illiterates."

Wall Street "used the crisis to effect a historic,revolutionary change in our political system..transforming a democracy into a two-tiered state,one with plugged-in financial bureaucrats above and clueless customers below."
part 2
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Even-Jack-Bauer-couldnt-stop/story.aspx?guid={BE0D1772-A628-454D-80BF-C4484CEBA7DF}