[Pictured: He served under three Presidents including as Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary, Robert Reich. Aka: Deming fan #2.]ZD's PREFACE: Everyone knows Zuma Dogg studied under the tutelage of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the forefather of "Methods for Management of Quality and Productivity." Well through my study of Deming's 14 points, one of the "disciples" ZD came across VERY early on, in the early '90's was Robert Reich. He is one of those guys, who over time, has proven to ZD time and time again that HE is the one guy on the talk show panel worth listening to. And since Deming has passed away (in '93), Bobby Boy is the main guy out there who (although he does not refer to Deming, or "teach" the stuff)...he's the guy who is right up there with ZD when it comes to applying this stuff.
AND HERE'S SOMETHING VERY GOOD ON THE $700,000,000 bail-out that you may enjoy. I have had Robert's blog on "google alert" since I started LA City News wire...but now, it's time to start featuring some more of it, given the situation.
What Wall Street Should Be Required to Do, to Get A Blank Check From Taxpayers
The frame has been set, the dye cast. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, presumably representing the Bush administration but indirectly representing Wall Street, and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, want a blank check from Congress for $700 billion or possibly a trillion dollars or more to take bad debt off Wall Street’s balance sheets. Never before in the history of American capitalism has so much been asked of so many for (at least in the first instance) so few.Put yourself in the shoes of a member of Congress, including our two presidential candidates. The Treasury Secretary and Fed Chair have told you this is necessary to save the economy. If you don’t agree, you risk a meltdown of the entire global financial system. Your own constituents’ savings could go down with it. An election is six weeks away. Besides, in the last two days of trading, since rumors spread that the Treasury and the Fed were planning something of this sort, stock prices revived.
Now – quick -- what do you do? You have no choice but to say yes.
But you might also set some conditions on Wall Street.
The public doesn’t like a blank check. They think this whole bailout idea is nuts. They see fat cats on Wall Street who have raked in zillions for years, now extorting in effect $2,000 to $5,000 from every American family to make up for their own nonfeasance, malfeasance, greed, and just plain stupidity. Wall Street’s request for a blank check comes at the same time most of the public is worried about their jobs and declining wages, and having enough money to pay for gas and food and health insurance, meet their car payments and mortgage payments, and save for their retirement and childrens’ college education. And so the public is asking: Why should Wall Street get bailed out by me when I’m getting screwed?
So if you are a member of Congress, you just might be in a position to demand from Wall Street certain conditions in return for the blank check.
My five nominees:
1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.
2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?
3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street’s outsized political power – especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?
4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.
5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?
Wall Streeters may not like these conditions. Well, you should tell them that the public doesn’t like the idea of bailing out Wall Street. So if Wall Street doesn’t accept these conditions, it doesn’t get the blank check.
ROBERT REICH...ZUMA DOGG LOVES YOU! Here's some of my Deming stuff including my review of his 14 points that he appreciated, said was "well done" and thanked me for it. (I sent it to him for a critique before publishing and to give him a chance to mark it up with red ink...so I was quite shocked!)
Robert Reich's Blog (Almost as good as Zuma Dogg's)
Zuma Dogg's Blog (Better than Richard Reich's!)
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