Posts tagged “Hank Paulson”

The lost armada of consumerism

The ghost fleet lingers off the coast of Singapore

Image: Richard Jones/Sinopix

Thousands of ships float off the coast of Singapore and Malaysia. Never before photographed, this armada exceeds the U.S. and British navies combined.


You are looking at the largest and most secretive gathering of ships since humans returned to the seas. Well, that is the impression of the Daily Mail’s Simon Parry in his fascinating article and I’m hard-pressed to argue. They are parked off the coast of Singapore and Malaysia, crewed by solitary Indian sailors, rusting away while the world economy languishes. This is the hidden reality politicians and economists don’t like to share: things are not getting better. If they were, these ships would be underway.

First we find out about the trash continent, now we have this lost armada of consumerism. What else is just languishing out in the ocean, hidden in plain sight?

Thanks, Jill!

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Factoid: S&L Retribution vs. Bailout Retribution

…between 1990 and 1995 no less than 1,852 S&L officials were prosecuted, and 1,072 placed behind bars. Another 2,558 bankers were also jailed, often for offenses which were S&L-linked too.Gillian Tett
Assistant Editor, Financial Times

This, according to a Department of Justice report. How many jail sentences have you seen meted out to bankers during the last couple years? I can only think of one, Bernie Madoff. I am willing to admit some escaped the radar, but this is hardly justice. The S&L crisis cost taxpayers roughly $124 billion and netted thousands of incarcerations. My how our society has changed.

Via Jon Taplin’s blog

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Please read Matt Taibbi’s latest article. It’s very important.

I cannot overestimate how important it is that all of us, from the young to the old, National Review readers to Bravo watchers, read this article. The reach of its material touches each and every one of us, no matter how engaged in the broader world we think we might (or might not) be. Ostensibly, it is about the investment bank Goldman Sachs. In reality, it highlights the task ahead if we, as human beings, are to overcome the megalithic obstacles placed in front of us. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you will definitely want to punch someone in the face.

As Taibbi says,

It’s not always easy to accept the reality of what we now routinely allow these people to get away with; there’s a kind of collective denial that kicks in when a country goes through what America has gone through lately, when a people lose as much prestige and status as we have in the past few years. You can’t really register the fact that you’re no longer a citizen of a thriving first-world democracy, that you’re no longer above getting robbed in broad daylight, because like an amputee, you can still sort of feel things that are no longer there.Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone

You simply must read this excellent piece of Journalism. That is all.

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