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	microclimate 2009-10-25 12:57 am UTC (link)
	We needed (more) proof? (Reply to this)

	rennyn_alerothi 2009-10-25 01:18 am UTC (link)
	Do you mind if I repost this? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	pyratejenni 2009-10-25 07:06 am UTC (link)
	Sure, go ahead. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rennyn_alerothi 2009-10-25 07:24 am UTC (link)
	Thanks. Because this is just appalling, and makes me wonder if these people are even based in the same reality as the rest of us. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	telegramsam 2009-10-27 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	I'm pretty sure the answer is "no". These people live in some fairy tale land where the universe revolves around them and nobody else's needs or suffering matter in the slightest as long as they can fill their pockets up. Somebody ought to remind them you can't attach a U-Haul to your hearse.... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rennyn_alerothi 2009-10-27 10:08 pm UTC (link)
	My favorite part is how it's apparently our fault because we are obviously lazy or didn't make the right choices or take enough risks, according to some folks. My question is, if they're deliberately or selectively nuts, or if they're just evil sociopaths. Probably II. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be."

telegramsam
2009-10-27 11:58 pm UTC (link)

Honestly? I think it is a kind of mental illness. It's one thing to want to be financially secure and maybe even leave a little something behind for your children, but the extreme greed and lust for wealth that some of these people display is truly is a kind of insanity.

Frankly, I think there is a level of wealth where it becomes positively obscene if you aren't doing anything positive with it (giving to charity, etc or at least taking care of your company's employees and customers first). I think there was some guy who said something about heaven, camels and needles once that seems apropos. Even if you don't believe in heaven, I don't think it's possible to be a decent human being if all you care about is hoarding up wealth like a fat dragon on a pile of pilfered treasure. What an empty life that must be.

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	more like Economics 055... persona 2009-10-25 03:15 am UTC (link)
	How repulsive. (Reply to this)

	southbitch 2009-10-25 04:19 am UTC (link)
	For greater prosperity? Really? I hate those people. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	hauen 2009-10-25 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	My first thought was... WHAT PROSPERITY? Have these morons looked at what they did to the economy lately?! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	tetradecimal 2009-10-26 03:59 pm UTC (link)
	I'm a little confused. Does "prosperity" now mean "usage of computer programs to buy and sell to gain profit while adding no actual value"? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	snarkhunter 2009-10-25 04:49 am UTC (link)
	Wow. Dude in that picture is practically a parody of Evil Rich White Men. How I wish he were. (Reply to this)

	rodo 2009-10-25 05:08 am UTC (link)
	Wait ... aren't rewards something you get after you did something right? Not after you totally screwed up in hope that you won't do that again? (Reply to this)

	queencallipygos 2009-10-25 05:51 am UTC (link)
	He added that he knew what inequality felt like after spending his childhood in a mining town in Wales. Both his grandfathers were miners who had to retire from work through injury. ....So, what does that mean, that's how he figured out who to screw over? "My grandparents both were poorly treated, so now I know I should screw over the people just like them"? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	frequentmouse 2009-10-25 06:06 am UTC (link)
	Sounds more like a way of rationalizing feelings of entitlement to me. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rennyn_alerothi 2009-10-25 07:27 am UTC (link)
	I think it's more like, 'HOW DARE YOU PEOPLE TALK ABOUT BEING MISTREATED. I KNOW WHAT HARDSHIP REALLY LOOKS LIKE! I GOT TO SEE MY GRANDPARENTS WORKED TO DEATH BEFORE I WENT AND VICTIMIZED FOLKS JUST LIKE THEM. YOU OUGHT TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES, YOU WHINERS!' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	littleshebear 2009-10-25 09:43 am UTC (link)
	Ooh, my great-uncle had his pelvis completely smashed in a shaft collapse. The guy who headed the rescue team to get him out was his brother-in-law (he later died of emphysema because of all the crap he breathed in down there). Does that mean I can get a Government handout? Because I'm a speshul snowflake just like him! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mizii_marzen 2009-10-25 12:27 pm UTC (link)
	And I live in an old mining town in (what was at the time) Lancashire. I fail to see his point, too. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	derryderrydown 2009-10-28 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	I live in an old wire-making town in (what was at the time) Lancashire. I suspect we're nearby... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sisterelwood 2009-10-25 07:56 am UTC (link)
	Does this surprise anyone? Anyone? (Reply to this)

lovecoconuts
2009-10-25 08:55 am UTC (link)

Question: If they don't give out bonuses or higher bonuses, where does the surplus cash head to? The owners or share-holders?

If yes, the share-holders get a bigger piece of the profit pie if they don't have to give out bonuses - I think I'm more inclined for the rest of the bank's 30k+ employees to get bonuses.

What I'd prefer though is that they lower their interest rates or service charges, etc. since indeed their profit is so large they can give out such large bonuses.

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chikane
2009-10-25 09:35 am UTC (link)

where does the surplus cash head to?

If this were actual capitalism, and not the current state (which we mostly got by a lot of lobby work), the "surplus cash" wouldn't actually be surplus cash. It'd have to be saved to secure the current financial practices.

What happens here is that the banks take high-risk actions. Every other company would have to back these up with money. The banks don't - because the taxpayer will jump in for them and thereby save the bank.

Oh, and don't think the banks have somehow gotten better. They're back at the same high-risk stuff they were before the crash. That's where their current money comes from.
And the fun part is: They're still not backing it up. That's up for the taxpayer.

After the crisis is before the crisis. Hooray.

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	lovecoconuts 2009-10-26 03:37 am UTC (link)
	Forgive me, I forgot that we are talking about banks and their digital profits. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	watersword 2009-10-25 11:38 pm UTC (link)
	Nononono, the money isn't real. You're assuming — using Earth Logic — that money exists. It is a theoretical concept that the company thinks it has produced, in digital form, so they move it, magically, into a different realm of space-time, where there are no taxes on rich white people. Capitalism: modern alchemy! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lovecoconuts 2009-10-26 03:34 am UTC (link)
	Ohhhhhh! Yeah, I remember that bit from the financial crisis. All those imaginary profits. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pariforma 2009-10-25 01:33 pm UTC (link)
	I'm beginning to think we should teach people like him how to tolerate riots and public hangings. Why do we let the rich and powerful get away with this shit, anyway?? (Reply to this)

	lady7jane 2009-10-25 02:28 pm UTC (link)
	Don't worry, guys. It'll all trickle down eventually, I'm sure of it. Just yesterday I found a penny on the street. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	ivyette 2009-10-26 03:13 am UTC (link)
	I found one too! See, this HAS to be proof. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sharps 2009-10-25 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	I feel sick. I want to relocate to the nearest non-Solar System planet. (Reply to this)

	lexingmouse3 2009-10-26 09:08 am UTC (link)
	OK, I'm anti-DP, but times like this I contemplate public hangings. (Reply to this)