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Contrary to his detractor's beliefs, The Gadfly has never stipulated that capitalism, in and of it's own essence, is inherently evil. On the contrary, capitalism, when practiced at the hands of decent, ethical and humble individuals can be a force of worldly good.
And therein lies the rub. Unfortunately, Americans seem to have handed over the reigns of the capitalism dog and pony show to some of the worst human beings in the country, and the collective abdication of that responsibility, the responsibility for guarding the nation's economic prosperity and future prosperity, is now coming back full circle to bite us all in the ass with an unsympathetic vengeance.
Observe:
Once upon a time, hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert was living a Wall Street fairy tale. His fairy godmother was Ayn Rand, the dashing diva of free-market ideology whose quirky economic notions would transform him into a glamorous business hero.
For a while, it seemed to work like a charm. Pundits called him the “Steve Jobs of the investment world.” The new Warren Buffett. By 2006 he was flying high, the richest man in Connecticut, managing over $15 billion thorough his hedge fund, ESL Investments.
Stoked by his Wall Street success, Lampert plunged headlong into the retail world. Undaunted by his lack of industry experience and hailed a genius, Lampert boldly pushed to merge Kmart and Sears with a layoff and cost-cutting strategy that would, he promised, send profits into the stratosphere. Meanwhile the hotshot threw cash around like an oil sheikh, buying a $40 million pad in Florida’s Biscayne Bay, a record even for that star-studded county.
Fast-forward to 2013: The fairy tale has become a nightmare.
Lampert is now known as one of the worst CEOs in America — the man who flushed Sears down the toilet with his demented management style and harebrained approach to retail. Sears stock is tanking. His hedge fun is down 40 percent, and the business press has turned from praising Lampert’s genius to watching gleefully as his ship sinks. Investors are running from “Crazy Eddie” like the plague.
That’s what happens when Ayn Rand is the basis for your business plan.http://www.salon.com/2013/12/10/ayn_rand_loving_ceo_destroys_his_empire_partner/
The 2008 world-wide economic crash and subsequent (and ongoing) U.S. recession can be laid squarely at the feet of the Ayn Rand loving Eddie Lamperts of Wall Street and the U.S. financial services/banking sector, and corporate America.
These people have demonstrated over, and over, and over again that they cannot be trusted to act in good faith on behalf of the United States and all of the American people's interests. And they most damn well certainly should not be entrusted with ensuring the well being of the lifeblood of our children's and grandchildren's economic futures.
At some point, even the Teabaggers are going to come around to this stark reality - although, sadly to say, it very well might require something along the lines of the total collapse of the country's socio-economic infrastructure and the modern day equivalent of The Great Depression for it to finally sink in to their stubborn brains.
----TFG
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