If all the world's hedge fund operators, tort lawyers, politicians, headline-hogging prosecutors and world improvers were laid to end to end... how far would they reach?
We don't know... but it sounds like a good idea.
A McKinsey report (PDF) commissioned by United States Senator Charles Schumer and Bloomberg reports that settlements of securities class actions have been rising every year for several years. In 2005, the total bill hit $3.5 billion, a number that doesn't include $6.2 billion in WorldCom-related settlements alone. In 2007, settlements in Enron-related suits will add about $7 billion more. All of which is causing capitalists to look at American in a new light.
It used to be that 'political risk' was something that caused globally minded entrepreneurs to eschew dangerous Third-World countries. Now, political risk is a major factor discouraging companies from doing business in American.
A CMR report: "Foreign companies commonly cite the U.S. enforcement system as the most important reason why they do not want to list in the U.S. market."
The economy is getting old. Parasites are all over it.
Lawyers, regulators... Wall Street... Washington... the idea is no longer to expand production and build wealth. The idea-du-jour is simply to redistribute wealth - from the lumpen to the elite... from the old manufacturing economy to the new financial economy... and from the future to the present (by loading up future generations with debt).
George W. Bush, the Army of Heaven, Osama bin Laden - they're all reactionaries... trying to stand in the way of the Next Big Thing... which is MONEY. Most people today don't really care about world conquest. What they care about is getting and spending. We want money and we want it now.
According to James Oliver, almost everyone in the English speaking countries now suffers from 'affluenza'. Have you fallen victim? If you agree with the statement: "My life would be better if I owned certain things I don't have now," according to Oliver, you're part of the new Money Generation.
But if you are afflicted, don't worry too much about it. A cure is coming, whether you like it or not. Again, it's called a Credit Contraction.
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
