Yet Still More On Bear Stearns

Why write so much about Bear Stearns? To me they are a symbol of what is currently wrong with the United States. When you put making money above all else you are dooming yourself, as well as others around you. Just ask the compulsive gambler. I don’t make this comparison lightly. Strip away all the bright lights, big city Wall Street trappings of Bear Stearns, and what remains are a bunch of compulsive gamblers. Albeit, compulsive gamblers who are paid to be compulsive gamblers. What a twisted racket. The worst part of all of this is that they weren’t just playing with their own money. Is giving the compulsive gambler more money to gamble with a good thing to do? No. Then why is the government giving more money to Bear Stearns? Money that the government doesn’t really have, by the way.

Ethics and morals. Isn’t that what George W. Bush ran his first campaign on? I’d laugh, but it’s just not funny. Right now, impeaching Bill Clinton over a sexual indiscretion and one lie seems farcical. Especially when compared to the moral bankruptcy and lies of George W. Bush, his administration, and yes, Bear Stearns.

Add fear to the mix and all hell breaks loose.

Moral bankruptcy, fear, and lies got us into Iraq. Moral bankruptcy, fear, and lies caused the downfall of Bear Stearns. So it seems perversely fitting that one immoral liar is bailing out another immoral liar because they are afraid. And like the situation in Iraq they are rushing into it without thinking and without considering the moral high ground. By placing this bet on Bear Stearns the government is risking becoming a compulsive gambler itself. Oh, wait a minute, they already crossed that line with the invasion of Iraq.

In Rescue Me: A Fed Bailout Crosses a Line Gretchen Morgenson has some good questions:

What are the consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in? Will the consequences be an even weaker currency, rampant inflation, a continuation of the slow bleed that we have witnessed at banks and brokerage firms for the past year?

Or all of the above?

Stick around, because we’ll soon find out. And it’s not going to be pretty.

There is one question I would add to this list of questions posed by Gretchen Morgenson. What are the moral consequences of a world in which regulators rescue even the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed helped create the titanic credit mess we are in?