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(No, not referring to Muggsy The Lump, next door . . .)
Looks like both major party candidates have turned Populist, blaming the current economic trauma on Wall Street greed and Big Business. Umm.
Hey, folks, poking through the mutual fund holdings, I owned a minuscule fraction of AIG, ditto for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those outrageous energy company rip-off profits? Own (through the same set of mutual funds) a selection of BP and Royal Dutch Shell and others. Stick it to the rapacious drug companies? I have some Pfizer stock, currently selling for about half our "basis price." Ditto for a regional bank, mortgage melt-down villain. Mega-conglomerates? Our "stable" GE stock is down about a third this year.
And we ain't rich, except by Bangladeshi standards.
Those "fat cats" are us. We the people. If you have a 401K or IRA or pension fund, that is your retirement income.
Those despised "institutional investors"? Pension funds. Insurance companies, trying to cover the damage claims for Ike. Mutual funds, with millions of shareholders each.
Unless you demographically-challenged youngsters want to pay for Social Security at a level that us old people can actually live on, you'd better hope the stock market recovers.
Also, if you really want a villain, try taking a look at the Federal deficit and the value trend of the US dollar. Money that is simply burned (or blown up) for no production of material goods.
Looks like both major party candidates have turned Populist, blaming the current economic trauma on Wall Street greed and Big Business. Umm.
Hey, folks, poking through the mutual fund holdings, I owned a minuscule fraction of AIG, ditto for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Those outrageous energy company rip-off profits? Own (through the same set of mutual funds) a selection of BP and Royal Dutch Shell and others. Stick it to the rapacious drug companies? I have some Pfizer stock, currently selling for about half our "basis price." Ditto for a regional bank, mortgage melt-down villain. Mega-conglomerates? Our "stable" GE stock is down about a third this year.
And we ain't rich, except by Bangladeshi standards.
Those "fat cats" are us. We the people. If you have a 401K or IRA or pension fund, that is your retirement income.
Those despised "institutional investors"? Pension funds. Insurance companies, trying to cover the damage claims for Ike. Mutual funds, with millions of shareholders each.
Unless you demographically-challenged youngsters want to pay for Social Security at a level that us old people can actually live on, you'd better hope the stock market recovers.
Also, if you really want a villain, try taking a look at the Federal deficit and the value trend of the US dollar. Money that is simply burned (or blown up) for no production of material goods.
