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Looking over some of the new financial regulation proposals and listening to politicians–which I never advise doing–there’s a new vibe about money and greed in the Beltway.

Gone are the trust in markets and the notion that people can self-regulate. Now, our officials are saying our trust free enterprise has been misplaced and has been squandered into greedy financiers who pushed hard for quick bucks, at the risk of long-term growth. For proof, all you have to do is look at the economic collapse, they say.

The new theory is that people should limit their reward-seeking. Turn their attention to long-term growth. Anything else is just greed.

The question that remains is: will this new outlook be any more successful than its ideological predecessor?

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Automated Trading, Investing, Money, Online Investing AI, Success, US Economy fat cats, politicians, regulation, rewards, risk, risk management, washington d.c., wealth

Many people were horrified by Bernie’s Madoff theft of over $50 billion of investor money. They thought that the SEC and the government would protect them from such a massive and obvious scam. It’s true that he will probably spend the rest of his life in jail. However, that won’t help the people who lost all the money.

What many people don’t know (or choose to ignore) is that the Medicare and Medicaid liabilities are 1,000 times greater than the Madoff scam. These liabilities are currently estimated at $62 trillion. It’s gotten to the point that these sums are so big that we can’t even imagine them.

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Money, US Economy debt, deficit, government, Madoff, medicaid, Medicare, politicians, ponzi scheme

Most politicians sell themselves as people who do the right thing, and who are going to solve the nation’s problems. But if you stop to think about it, it’s pretty obvious that they are not really interested in solving problems. It may not be true for all politicians, but I think it’s true for most.

Is it because they are evil? No, not at all. It’s a simple matter of being part of our political system. Consider an elected official who has great dreams. He (or she) wants to solve the country’s biggest, most challenging problems. Suppose they take massive action, and their policies are very unpopular. Before their changes have time to have a big effect, they will be voted out of office, probably within a year or two. Now, the new person is going to come in and undo some of what the last official did, and blame all the current problems of that other person. Since the previous polician is already unpopular, those critiscims will stick.

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US Economy elected officials, elections, government, politicians, popularity, president

It seems that the Internet is capable of revolutionizing every aspect of human life. Originally, it changed the way people shopped. Then, it made it possible for everyone to have their own magazine, and called it the blog. Now, it introduces transparency and accountability to the political system!

The PolitiFact website tracks over 500 promises made by Obama, so far. And, it keeps a running total of every promise he has kept, forgotten about, or compromised on! This allows everyone in the world to see just how honest the president of the America is!

George Bush Senior was famous for for promising “Read my lips: no new taxes.” It was easy for the American public to remember and recognize the sound bite. And it was easy to notice when he raised taxes.

But the Obameter allows everyone to track every promise in great detail. There is an explanation of exactly what the promise is, and what action Obama took to make it happen.

So perhaps this will usher in a new era of accountability for politicians. In the old paradigm, politicians would say anything to get into office, do whatever they wanted for four or eight years and then move on with their lives. I hope that old paradigm is gone. Perhaps in this new paradigm of transparency will give us a new level of honesty from the political system.

Accelerating Technology, Internet, US Economy Bush, Internet, Obama, Obameter, politicians, taxes

American society has traditionally been split into three groups: the poor, the middle class, and the rich. But after looking at today’s article about Geithner, it seems that there are actually four classes. Why? Because the politicians live outside the rules that everyone else plays by.

Think about it. Geithner is going to become the Secretary of the Treasury, but he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes a few years ago. I’m not saying that he should be disqualified because he didn’t pay his taxes, but I am suggesting that it provides clues about how our country works.

People who work for and own businesses are concerned about making money. It’s their job to make sure that there’s enough money to pay all the bills, and there’s profit left over for the owners or shareholders. But not so with government. Government employees and politicians are concerned about spending as much money as possible, and have no desire to improve the financial situation of the country. Just consider the fact that we already owe $10 trillion, and by all estimates, the borrowing is going to accelerate at an unprecedented pace.

Since presidents and politicians are often in office for less than 10 years, they don’t have any real motivation to solve financial problems. It’s much easier to be popular and just push the problems into the future. And that’s how we’ve gotten to have a $10 trillion national debt.

Perhaps the solution is a constitutional amendment that says that within a certain time, our national debt will be paid back. For example, each year, 5% of the national debt could be paid back. In this way,each politician would have to work within the bounds of financial responsibility.

Money, US Economy a deficit, government, middle-class, national debt, Obama, politicians, poor, rich, Tim Geithner