...in the dictionary, and this might be on that page.
This is an entry in the "Other Comments" section of the March 10, 2007 issue of Forbes, a regular section in which the publisher attempts to highlight other recent articles and editorials which further the Forbes credo that all that's really needed is an ever-lighter tax load and predictable, pro-business policies for the uber-wealthy and all will be right for the rest of you serfs... At some point... Eventually. Trust us. We're the financial and economic professionals.
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Strong, Stable Dollar -- The elephant in the living room -- the topic Washington won't broach -- is the dollar itself as a powerful but unused monetary policy tool. In his recent 500-page memoir former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan barely mentions the wide swings in the value of the dollar - probably the most important economic and investing variable in the last decade -- and their causal connection to first deflation and now inflation. The best stimulus policy is a sound currency. -- DAVID MALPASS, chief economist, Bear Stearns, Wall Street Journal
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A sound currency is the best stimulus policy? Really? Of course! It's so simple! Hank, order me up a slice of one of them "sound currencies" and we'll put this whole "financial crisis" thing to rest.
This is why I cancelled my subscription to the Wall Street Journal. What utter self-serving tripe.
How about enforcement of anti-trust laws in mega-bank mergers? Remember how Citicorp arrogantly announced its $140 billion dollar merger with Travelers in 1998 and just began operating as one company without waiting for formal Justice Department approval, despite banking/insurance prohibitions still on the books at that time?
How about functioning bond rating agencies?
How about ANY regulatory oversight of hedge funds?
How about bank CEOs and chief economists avoiding strategies involving holding THIRTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS in "value" in derivative securities (an amount equal to the United States GDP) with only $11 billion in assets?
It's pretty tough to secure a "sound currency" when banks are producing fiat money by operating with a .08 percent reserve ratio of real assets to garbage and bank CEOs are laughing all the way to their own vault as the government assists in the fraud.
Mr. Malpass, maybe if you had spent a little more time (any time?) fulfilling your own fiduciary duty to Bear Stearns stockholders in the weeks prior to March 17 instead of writing an op-ed column for the WSJ, you might not have had to sell your company for a bogus $2.00/share price in a Federal Reserve Bank sponsored fire sale hastily arranged over a weekend to avoid a true bankruptcy that would have likely triggered a worldwide financial collapse.
