Can We Say It Now?

Yesterday, Bloomberg.com ran a story titled, "Bailout Hasn't Checked Wall Street Risks, Warren Says."

My first response was, "Duh, and this is news."

Did anyone really think that the geniuses who made millions running their companies into the ground; who nearly brought global financial markets to a crashing halt; and who were bailed out in spite of their misdeeds were really going to change their ways.

Why should they?

Obviously, the message that they received from the TARP bailout was that their system worked. At least it did for them. And after all, since Wall Street drives the economy, they are all that matters, right?

In her article, Lorraine Wollert reported:

" Elizabeth Warren, a chief watchdog of the government’s rescue of Wall Street, said the $700 billion bailout hasn’t stopped the “culture of excessive risk-taking” that led to the financial crisis.

The Troubled Asset Relief Program also has “injected an unprecedented level of pricing distortions and moral hazard into the marketplace,” Warren said at a hearing today of the Congressional Oversight Panel on TARP, which she leads.

“Uncertainty persists about the stability of our financial institutions and whether they can survive without the benefit of government assistance,” Warren said.

The oversight panel heard testimony from economists about the effectiveness of the program. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner must decide whether to extend the rescue program beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of the year.

Warren said banks are relying on government aid and consumer lending to make money.

“That’s not a sustainable profit model,” she said.

So can we finally say it?

All together now:

An economy based primarily on debt and credit and very little production of tangible goods simply is not sustainable.

But this is what we have. A service economy that runs on debt and credit. An economy built on: financial schemes; health care for profit; outsourcing production; illegal labor: and most of all, GREED.

We just didn't learn our lesson. So now prepare yourselves for the rollout of TARP 2.0 aka TARP Reloaded.

In the following video from FireDogLake Elizabeth Warren provides an honest assessment of this situation.

I certainly don't have all the answers for fixing this problem. But I do agree with Albert Einstein who is quoted as saying, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

And if TARP Reloaded fails, don't hold your breath for TARP Revolutions. That would be a contradiction in terms.