Here's what happens when capitalism is deregulated

Enron

Remember the 2005 Documentary, Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room?  [It's currently available on Amazon Prime, & probably elsewhere as well.]  Remember Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling?  Remember the criminal fraud?  Remember how many people lost their pensions?  Remember the concealment of Enron debt?  Remember the rolling blackouts in California due to the fraudulent manipulation of available energy by Enron "Traders", and the high price of electricity?  Remember how several Enron Executives each secured a Golden Parachute retirement just before the company bankruptcy?  It's all detailed in this riveting film.

Enron was founded in 1985 at the height of the Reagan-Thatcher Neoliberal DEREGULATION ERA.  The Execs in high positions soon developed totally bizarre financial derivatives/instruments/systems for Trading fossil energy.  Later, they appeared to be making massive profits for the company...because they were hiding massive debt.  The whole ponzi-like house-of-cards eventually collapsed.  The lives of hundreds of thousands of people (not only thousands of Enron employees, but employees in other companies, and consumers) were damaged significantly.

The 2007-09 Crash

Remember the 2015 film which dramatized the (commonly called) 2008 Crash, The Big Short with Christian Bale as Dr. Michael Burry?  Weird (and unregulated) private financial derivatives*** caused a financial meltdown felt around the world.  Real estate companies, banks, Wall Street Traders, bond rating agencies, and others all contributed to creating the fiasco.  The groundwork for it all developed during the Clinton Administration CORPORATE DEMOCRATS ERA and the Dubya Bush DEREGULATION ERA.  Millions of people were severely impacted.

***During the Bill Clinton Administration/Presidency, an attempt was made by Brooksley Born (Head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission - CFTC - and an American Hero) to have such derivatives regulated by the CFTC.  Wall Street, Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, and many other Clinton Admin officials fiercely and savagely opposed her efforts, and they won.  Too bad for Main Street, again.  Even today OTC financial derivatives are barely regulated, especially those used by securities & insurance firms.

Bottom Line

When combined with various public functions and facilities in a Mixed Economy, and when closely regulated, I believe Capitalism is a valuable economic system.  Unregulated, or even deregulated just a bit, Capitalism is a monumental disaster and an extreme danger to Main Street.  History supports such a contention.  Too bad for Main Street that the incoming Trump Crew is planning to push for unprecedented deregulation.  Too bad, indeed.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

"France's Start-Up Nation is a Neoliberal Hell"

 https://techwontsave.us/episode/206_frances_start_up_nation_is_a_neoliberal_hell_w_nastasia_hadjadji?emci=10369721-2fd0-ee11-85f9-002248223794&emdi=fdc8a869-ebd0-ee11-85f9-002248223794&ceid=6171896

The neoliberal Macron, elected in 2017, has more or less teamed up with portions of the neoliberal High Tech Industry to transform France into something akin to a "start-up" corporation.  [It began as only efforts to attract High Tech investment, but morphed into working toward the instituting of a full-blown Corporatocracy.]  For details, copy & paste on a new page (or do a Search for the title) the link above.

In the name of "efficiency", the team (so to speak) is working to privatize public services and basically dismantle or drastically reduce France's social safety net.  That's the common objective and function of neoliberal policies instituted by Establishments in most "democratic" countries all around the world.  

What boggles the mind is this:  in the past several/many years, neoliberalism and the associated corporate globalization have shown themselves to be an abject failure relative to benefits to Main Street.  The failure has been ecological, social, and economic, never mind psychological and political.  If you're in the top twenty percent (or so) of income earners, then the whole thing has been great for you.  The rest of us have not fared so well.

Except in my country, the USA, most of the world has recognized the harm done by privatization, deregulation, austerity for Main Street, job insecurity, reduced retirement benefits, monopolization in High Tech, stagnant wages, and the like.  So, it's no wonder to me why Main Street in France and elsewhere has been protesting neoliberal policies and the continuing transfer of wealth to the Upper Crust.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

Two Differences Between the Last Crash and the Coming Crash

1.  Because of only window-dressing laws/regs (supposedly to prevent another Crash) instituted during the Obama Era, and deregulation during two years of Trump & Crew,

2.  the metrics for the coming Crash now are worse than were those for the last Crash; thus, the next Bust most likely also will be worse.

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https://youtu.be/9F_sxkSHmCo ...

a very poignant & informative video.

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For those who believe there is no imminent Crash coming, all you have to do is look at the time intervals between the Booms & Busts from the 1973-75 severe Recession up to Present Day, and you'll see that we're overdue for the next Bust.  No one has suspended the Boom-Bust Cycle.  If anything, Busts have become more numerous since the establishment of the Fed Reserve in 1913...and the "Nixon Shock" (abandonment of the Gold Standard) in 1971.  

The DC politicians plus the Corporate Media either are lying or they're significantly ignorant when they tell us everything is rosy.  [Very few in the Corp Media have sounded any warning bells at all.]  The Asset Bubbles now are worse than they were just before the 1929 Crash...& those numbers are proportionate, i.e., inflation is taken into account.  Prediction:  the Big Bust will be no later than the end of 2020.  It possibly could be later, but I really doubt it.

Plan accordingly.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Plutocracy Continues in the USA

Below is my email reply to an organic farmer friend regarding his comment (in an email) on my last post here on this site.  He & I agree on the Plutocracy, but differ as to the contributions to that by Repubs and Dems.  He thinks the former are much more responsible than the latter.  My reply below is edited somewhat.

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I mostly agree with your comments.  But, even though FDR's Populism was significant, he was not ideal.  Even he admitted that sometimes he had to side with Big Biz.  Plus, I agree with Chomsky's thoughts on Nixon---because Tricky Dick was an opportunist, and because he sensed the mood of the people in the early '70s (except for the Vietnam issue), he became---for the wrong reasons--- the last of the New Deal politicians (in a way).  

I know it sounds outrageous, but think about it.  Nixon signed into Law (he could have vetoed these):  OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Act/Administration, 1970), NEPA (Nat'l Environmental Policy Act, 1970), the precursor to the Clean Water Act (the Fed Water Pollution Control Act of 1972), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972), the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974---proposed by Nixon, signed into Law by Ford), the Endangered Species Act (1973), and he created the EPA in 1970, after signing NEPA.

Repub actions aren't all bad.  Plus, though they do it less than Repubs, Dems gerrymander voting districts, too...and Dems manipulate Primaries, too... and Dems suppress Populist candidates, too.  And until a few years ago, Dems in Congress also practiced Insider Trading on Wall Street.  Dems also have an interventionist Foreign Policy, and Dems also often are warmongers and Empire Builders.  And Dems also support questionable regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Honduras (never mind corrupt Netanyahu's Israel).

The whole system is rotten, not just the Repub side of the overall Plutocracy.  Those who keep blaming "the other side" are not helping to correct the situation.  All they're doing is prolonging the squabble and distracting from the overall problem, which is Plutocracy/Oligarchy/ Empire Building.  It's not about Republicans or Democrats; it's about Plutocrats...and they're found in both major Parties.

It all continues with the ultimate Plutocrats, Trump & His Crew.  What few crumbs he has thrown to everyday people are vastly outweighed by his favoring of the Oligarchy.  Plus, the deregulation blitz ultimately will harm us both financially and physically.  The Don continues with his blatant lies, and apparently, some people believe every word he says.  On the Dem side, Schumer & His Crew continue to pretend to be Populists...when in fact, they are Plutocrats and/or puppets of the Plutocracy.

Then, too, we now have the Mega Banks and Mega Hedge Funds more empowered than ever before.  A number of fairly well known & reputable people have stated in the past that if the public ever discovered how the Big Banks really operate, then there would be a revolution in the streets tomorrow.  By the way, keep in mind that a revolution does NOT have to be violent.  A massive, national boycott of Mega Banks would do wonders toward restoring the Financial Sector to sanity.  We don't do it essentially for only one reason--- convenience.  Shame on all of us.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"The Clown Who Plays King" - NY Daily News

The NY Daily News recently commented on the Clown King, Trump.
My reaction is---

He's got 'em all fooled.  They don't seem to realize that it's all about enriching himself even more via the Presidency.  He has played the Clown his entire life simply to get attention.  

Mega Bankers bailed him out in the '80s only because they figured the name "Trump" would get them more than his complete bankruptcy.  Then they put him on an allowance and nursed his failing business ventures back to some degree of health.  

Those Bankers are very pleased now.  Deregulation of the Financial Sector is the flavor of the day in DC.  All this other stuff, though important, is distraction and deliberate misdirection by The Don & Crew.  The Elites/Crony Capitalists/Plutocrats win again.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Moyers, Black, Obama, Holder, Trump & Crew, and Mega Banks

All you need to watch is the 1st 11 minutes & 40 seconds to see how the Mega Banking "Cartel" (rather than people with sub-prime mortgages) was the cause of the last Financial/Economic Crisis, and how/why the failure of the Obama Admin to prosecute Mega BankERS (not Banks) has set up the next overdue, soon-to-be-here Crash.  [Trump & Crew most likely will not do the same thing that Obama & Holder did not do.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXWaAQpofqE&amp=&index=28&amp=&list=WL

Bill Moyers is well known...Bill Black not as much.  He's a brilliant academic in Law & Economics, as well as a former bank regulator.  After the Savings & Loan scandal of the 1980's, Black's team investigated & made about 1,000 criminal referrals to the Justice Dept.  All resulted in successful prosecutions of Bankers, rather than Banks (which are fictitious "persons" & only can be fined, not jailed).  Even fines in the billions of $$$ are considered merely a cost of doing Biz by the "Cartel".

It's all coming our way again.  This time, not only home mortgages, but also car loans & home rental receipts have been bundled up & then chopped up to create "securities" sold by Wall Street.  Plus, bizarre financial derivatives (bets on those securities, and bets on those bets, and bets on those bets, etc.) are back in the game with virtually no regulation.

Don't believe DC's propaganda that "everything is going great".  Everything is going pretty much where it went from 2007 through 2009.  Get ready...all it will take is one glitch, one Black Swan event, or one who-knows-what and the whole system again will be in chaos.  At least, the probability of that is extremely high.  Trump & Crew's deregulation blitz is making it all the more likely.  [I believe that in many areas of society, there are too many regulations; but in the case of the Financial Sector, there are too few.]

Not only my opinion.  Be Prepared