In an ironic twist of fate, exiting private mega-wealth, fund-manager Andrew Lahde immortalized himself with the funniest flip of the bird on the way out the door in recent memory, that included the claim that everyone would be forgotten and that great minds would legalize marijuana.
Lahde left, intimating that he had amassed an '8 figure' fortune, gleaned off the backs of the ... well, to borrow an older phrase, "the smartest people in the room".
Anyway, for this blog, this is what is relevant:
First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it.
There are new winds blowing in the country, bigger than even Obama himself and his movement. They have a new force, because they run through a channel, the internet.
I think the Congress knows this; but, the old-grooves are worn deep, and I suspect that they have not adapted, yet.
Update: Just occurred to me that, in the context of Lahde's note and the punditry cries for a new Wall Street, that Nomura just hired back Lehman's I-bankers, many with a $1M signing bonus ... :
"Reuters: While Nomura was proceeding the process of moving people, UBS has hired four Lehman investment bankers covering oil and gas in Asia, while Lehman's power team jumped ship in favour of Merrill Lynch. (Reporting by Junko Fujita)"
