This is a part, perhaps small, but a part of why there only soft pressure from wall street and big business for the GOP to raise the debt ceiling for a couple of years in one fell swoop. These guys intend to profit on the loss of America's wealth and a rise in interest rates.
If you don't know what selling short is, I borrow a stock from someone, I promise to return it later. The action is treated as if I sold it first, and I am buying it later, you can see the only way to profit is if I buy it later at a lower price than I sell it for now, so the the market must fall if I am to profit, it it does not fall, I have to pay extra to fix the bet, I lose. Another way to say this, if the company and the country do well, I will lose, but the worse the company or the nation's fortune the more I can make off the downslide. Selling short is not yelling fire in a theatre, it's putting your money on the altar and praying for fire in the theatre. Members of government should not be allowed to sell short.
I concur. In fact, I think upom election that members of Congress should be required to place all investments in some sort of a blind trust to avoid any conflict of interest.
ReplyDeleteTake heart - Cantor, and Boehner both could be gone in 2013 if those checks don't sow up on time..
Sarge
Sarge,
ReplyDeleteI wish they would put their assets in a blind trust and be barred from even so much as a quarterly report. This selling stocks short indicates what his intentions are, they are to drive the wealth of this nation lower and into the hands of a few.
Capitalism is only a couple hundred years old, the feudal system lasted for a thousand, and like some disease we thought we stomped out, it is creeping back to life. Ignore the cruel inequalities and crushing poverty, just looking it as a economic model, you have to conclude it works and it can endure. Brace and lubricate yourself, your position in the emerging feudal economy is already assured.
OK, they are taking the college loans out of their budget now, that appears to be what will get enough tea bags to vote with the sad tangerine. Do these fuckers actually hate the US, hell this is like a terriorist attack, take all but the rich kids out of college, turn em lose on the job market without the degree.
ReplyDeleteHe has $15,000 invested in a mutual fund that contains short long term Treasury Bonds. I don't think he's selling anything at the moment. It's like placing a bet that the T Bills will lose their value. When they do, the short price will skyrocket and he will profit on the bet that there will be a default.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, let's hope that Cantor doesn't come up short.
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