We agree on something Arch!
In sheer numbers perhaps 10% are moooching, 89% working their ass off, and the top 1% benefiting from friggin in the rigging. Or fill in your own numbers maybe the 10% is 5% or 20%, I dunno. But I do know that the Top 1% know how to play the system in an extremely sophisticated way that puts three card monte operators to shame.
And I think the shareholders of Lehman Brothers, guys like you on the loading dock maybe had Lehman exposure through mutual funds in their 401K, would be better off today if you, Arch had been CEO of Lehman.
As a conservative guy, you would not tolerate the excessive leverage based on garbage CDOs that Lehman held. But Dick Fuld figures lets ramp up short term profits and he gets outlandish yearly bonuses in the good years that he gets to keep. And he gets these big bonuses granted by his asshole buddies on on the board and rubber stamped by compensation consultants who know they have to play ball to get business.
And all this crap is legal.
It's a game. The rules of the game are devised by the rich and powerful. Guys like Fuld played the game well. These guys aren't evil, can't blame them for their competitive spirit and will to win. But guys like that add no value to society. Same same as drug dealers collecting welfare checks cause they're technically unemployed.
These guys effectively gambled with YOUR money Arch. If they win they get big bonuses that they EARNED. If they lose the government bails them out. To me that's welfare for the rich and powerful. World class moochers.
Why in their right mind would the middle class agree to these rules?