I think not.

The stock market has evolved into a great net to gather in the middle class. Consider the bubbles of recent years---start with the dot com bust.  Look at the collapse in 87. Then consider the great collapse of 2008. Vast amounts of middle class wealth was destroyed.

Rather than "bail out" the states, the Feds chose to bail out the thieves. (Note: Please read 'Fools Gold' to understand how wild speculation and manipulation of accounting of risk as well as removing regulation nearly destroyed our entire economy)

Forget the "DOW" and look at productivity, balance of trade and debt. Toss in the unemployment rate and you've got a pretty good picture of economic health.

Consider this. Within a year after the great crash of '29 the market had recovered most of its loss. The depression lasted well into 1939.

Is this about ethics?

It sure is.

We need banks to be banks. Banks ...
>> full

Let's explore this question. After all, in every election cycle, at every level, there are successful business people running for office. They tell us, and the argument is generally accepted, that if a person can make a fortune in business or run a large corporation profitably, that person would also make a fine Senator, Governor or President.

I think this not true. In fact, I think the opposite is closer to true. The more successful at business, probably the worse they would be at public administration. Yes, there will be exceptions. Because there will be exceptions, I don't want to get into individual cases. I'm considering this as a general, statistical question.

But why would I think that Bill Gates for example, would be a lousy President? He's smart, generous and wildly successful. How could he fail?

The U.S. Senate is full of millionaires. In spite of a few Senators reporting low or ...
>> full

Fast-growing Christian churches crushed in China

LINFEN, China – Towering eight stories over wheat fields, the Golden Lamp Church was built to serve nearly 50,000 worshippers in the gritty heart of China's coal country.

But that was before hundreds of police and hired thugs descended on the mega-church, smashing doors and windows, seizing Bibles and sending dozens of worshippers to hospitals with serious injuries, members and activists say.

Today, the church's co-pastors are in jail. The gates to the church complex in the northern province of Shanxi are locked and a police armored personnel vehicle sits outside.

The closure of what may be China's first mega-church is the most visible sign that the communist government is determined to rein in the rapid spread of Christianity, with a crackdown in recent months that church leaders call the ...

>> full

Well, is this ethical conduct on the judge's part? Is he helping ensure a fair trial or keeping important information about the character of the defendant from the jury?

---

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) – A neo-Nazi gang member went on trial for murder on Monday with his swastika and other tattoos covered by makeup on the order of a Florida judge who thought they could prejudice jurors.

The judge ordered the state to pay for a cosmetologist to apply makeup before trial each day to cover up the tattoos on John Ditullio's face and neck, which include a swastika, barbed wire and an obscene word.

Ditullio, 23, is charged with stabbing to death 17-year-old Kristofer King in 2006 in New Port Richey, north of St. Petersburg.

His lawyer argued in a pretrial motion that the tattoos, which Ditullio acquired after his arrest, could prejudice a jury. The judge ...

>> full

Let's make an example.

A mother dies leaving a meager estate of $10,000 cash. The money goes to a trust as directed by the will. The beneficiaries of the trust are the four daughters of deceased. The trustee is the least honest of the daughters.

The directions of the trust are to distribute the assets equally between the four daughters but the crooked daughter, in collusion with an unethical attorney gives outrageous 'bonuses' to the deceased friends---one bonus in the amount of $1,000. This 'trustee' also pays her daughter-in-laws family $1600 to serve coffee at the funeral. Then she buys airline tickets and car rentals for her niece. This amounts to over $3500.

So what's left for the actual beneficiaries after this travesty? Do the math. Then deduct the fees from the attorney necessary to protect the trustee...he writes threatening letters to the beneficiaries to protect his cash cow.

Is that ethical?