10 dirty tricks to jump-start a new bull, fast!

[girl gone mad]

10 dirty tricks to jump-start a new bull, fast!
How Wall Street lobbyists, PR hot shots will limit reform, brainwash America
By Paul B. Farrell, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Ten-dirty-tricks-Wall-Street/story.aspx?guid={34D0B6E7-FEDC-4193-8F18-71D97715997B}">MarketWatch


Yes, America wants an economic recovery. A brand new bull. And nobody wants it more than Wall Street. It gets rich off bull markets. Yes, Warren Buffett may be buying, but the odds are against Wall Street now.

The financial sector's in the tank: Stocks are huge losers. Earnings stink. Bonuses are down. And if they ask for TARP money, CEO salaries get capped, there are no lavish conferences and you fly commercial -- very humbling for a big boss used to making a million bucks a week.

Still, Wall Street wants a new bull more than you do. Why? Bulls breed megapayoffs.
Yes, Wall Street's running a handicap race on a bad playing field, a rotten economy. Yes, the pressure's enormous. But if Wall Street wants to get its hands back in the magic cookie jar soon, it has no choice. It must get super-clever super-fast and jump-start a roaring new bull for the rest of America's 95 million investors, quickly.

Get it? Wall Street must deliver a new bull market, fast and soon.

How? By hook or by crook. Whatever pragmatic or Machiavellian power plays work. Why? Wall Street's got huge incentives at the end of this rainbow: Citing Watson Wyatt, the Economist says money management is a golden goose, with $64 trillion managed by professionals at the peak of the last bull. Assuming Wall Street controlled a third for an average 2% fee, there's roughly $400 billion at stake.

So Wall Street's army of lobbyists will have to pull off some fancy tricks, many at odds with today's demands for "change" by the president and political reformers. But now's the time to act, with the new TARP rules and an $800 billion stimulus bonanza on the way.

Look beyond the bad news. Remember, Washington's run by 40,000 lobbyists not 537 elected politicians. I'm betting lobbyists will use the following tactics to neutralize activists and limit reforms. That way, behind the scenes Wall Street keeps control with its business-as-usual tactics, schemes, scams, hustles and wheeling and dealing.

Here are the 10 "dirty tricks" Wall Street lobbyists likely will use to help jump-start a new bull market:

1. Gridlock helps the rich get richer

Sure, Wall Street bet on Obama and he won a big majority and mandate. But remember, Forbes 400 richest, CEOs and K-Street lobbyists as well as Wall Street insiders, all get richer when Washington's in gridlock. The GOP's stonewalling is already leading the way, so lobbyists start hedging bets, contributing to a partisan war and more gridlock.


2. No Glass-Steagall revival

3. Keep rating agencies ‘official’

4. Limit new derivative regulations, keep ’shadow banking’ alive

5. Offload toxic debt into a government-owned ‘bad bank’

6. Support executive pay limits — in public, anyway

7. Create accounting standards loopholes

8. No limitations on SEC hiring

9. Invest heavily in lobbying

10. Major PR brainwashing: Yes, yes, a new bull is coming!

Read his http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Ten-dirty-tricks-Wall-Street/story.aspx?guid={34D0B6E7-FEDC-4193-8F18-71D97715997B}">analysis of each of these tactics.

[GoesTo11]

1. Great article.

why waste a good crisis, right?

[girl gone mad]

2. I already see several of these in play..

but at least the bad bank idea seems to have lost favor, for now.