Clinton's SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, and Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan led a long, lonely fight to address corruption in the accounting industry and Wall Street long before there ever was a bubble.
The 'gasoline on the fire' that produced the bubble was the 'free money from the taxpayers' that the non-expensing of stock options provided. By taking immediate tax deductions for the massive amounts of stock options issued by corporate America - yet not having to report the expense of this massive stock watering to investors - companies such as Enron and Microsoft and Global Crossings got to defraud investors, and skip paying any taxes.
THIS was the problem, and Levitt/Greenspan/Rubin's Clinton-era reforms were shot down by a coterie of Senators and Congressmen (Lieberman, Dodd, Gramm, Armey, Breaux, etc.) who benefited from massive campaign contributions from Wall Street and the big accounting firms.
They sold out the health of the American markets, sold the taxpayers down the river, and allowed this bubble to grow and burst.
If you want to blame someone, blame the right people! There are plenty of Republicans AND Democrats responsible.
Clinton, Levitt, Greenspan and Rubin tried to save us from this mess before it ever happened.
Those Fat Cat-representing 'Republi-crat' (might as well say: "Plutocrat-representing") Senators and Congressmen should all be recalled from office... this entire disaster was made possible by THEM! |
