Today’s government leaders are little more than puppets of the “Happy Conspiracy,” thanks to huge campaign donations and vast army of lobbyists now outnumbering elected officials over ten-to-one, they can minimize and suppress all reform efforts and foster a management-favorable culture, a pattern we saw first in both corporate governance and mutual fund reform legislation efforts. The Enron/Worldcom scandals resulted in the Sarbanes/Oxley reforms. Paralleling the scandals in Corporate America, over thirty mutual funds were involved in their own scandals. But the fund industry and its lobbyists fought off Congressional reforms, with the help of their pro-management SEC. Shortly after the Senate Banking Committee suddenly and summarily killed the Mutual Fund Reform Act of 2004—which would have been the first real reform since the Investment Company Act of 1940, after long hearings and huge public support we might add—we published our final column of sixty-eight on the two-year reform effort, it was an “open letter” to the Senate Committee in April of that year. And it keeps just getting worse. (More)

Yes, the new “Clash of Civilizations” is being fought on American soil. We saw this coming when we wrote about America’s oil addiction and the sparring between Amadenajad and the Christian Right back in 2006. The press loves this kind of juicy warmongering even more than the Book of Revelations and End of Days stuff speculating on a WWIII between Christianity and Islamic nations. But watch out: The fallout, the collateral damage from this home-grown “clash of civilizations” will further sabotage the free-market capitalism that’s been tied for decades to the ideologies of Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, Greenspan, Bush and Reaganomics. And worse, damage the economy and the American dream for generations. 

What’s the future? Start with Max Blumenthal new book,  Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party. This could be a manual written by General Petraeus about an accelerating military conflict. But it’s Blumenthal’s next chapters that will capture the real drama of the clash. We get a hint in ”Obama, The Fallen Messiah” on his website where Blumenthal also exposes the liberal left’s side of this homespun cultural war that’s become more religious than political, and more dangerous: (More)

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” That thought crossed my mind while reading about the bizarre dance between Obama and Paul Volcker before the President announced the “Volcker Rule.” The 82-year-old former Fed Chairman just keeps fighting for what’s right, no matter the odds. PBS host Charlie Rose captured it all in Volcker’s Manhattan apartment while interviewing the head of Obama’s Economic Advisory Board for BusinessWeek. Rose says rumors are flying that Volcker’s been “muffled by the Administration—especially when it comes to his views on bank regulation,” namely the Glass-Steagall act and “separating commercial and investment banking.” Wall Street hates the idea, forcing Obama to sideline Volcker. But he’s still on the payroll. Just a “friend” from the ol’ “team of rivals?” Or do they have a secret game plan for re-enacting Glass-Steagall?

The big guy was touring Europe chastizing bankers and politicians: “This is no time for a return to business as usual.” Maybe Wall Street’s back to its ol’ tricks. But the “invisible hand” of foreign governments may eventually work, putting pressure on Wall Street and Obama. Here are some of the comments that pushed Volcker off the starting lineup, before the token “Volcker Rule:” (More)