The End of a Platinum Era

I definitely believe that we are at the end of a golden age, make that the Platinum Age. One where platinum began to replace gold and brown and robin's egg blue became the fashion instead of the preppy green and pink. There are a certain type of "elites" on Wall Street who believed the party would never end. And yet they voted for the end, by electing officials who will radically change our way of capitalist society. By electing the folks who did not utilize the regulations that were already in place. By the unsettling Paulson who swings the world this way and that, with only a "TARP" to try and cover things up. How about accountability? How about taking your lumps for a bad bet?
Anyhow, I really enjoyed the article I read by Michael Lewis and recommend it to you all. Here it is. He describes what happened, in layman's terms, in the securitization markets. He neglects to include the "bad actors" in our government. The thing that everyone must understand is the huge conflict of interest for the rating agencies. They had to rate the products of the banks who paid them. The same banks paying them to make sure insurance companies and pension funds could by them. I think that the statues Congress crafted insisted there would only be rated by Moody's, S & P and Fitch. A monopoly of sorts. Adding fuel to the fire were the Barney Frank's of the world who insisted mortgages be given to folks who couldn't pay them back--for political gain.

Anyway, enough ranting. And read. I will give you all my sources for my rant later. No time now. Still trying to figure out how on earth to make a living AND pay the 69% tax rate I will have as a small NYC business owner under Obama. Let's pray for him. He is all we have. And I personally hope he is the Messiah after all.