Goldman Sachs
Lehman Brothers
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
JP Morgan
Citibank
UBS AG
Deutsche Bank
Citibank
Credit Suisse
The IMF
The World Bank
The Federal Reserve
The International Bank of Settlements
The Bank of England
and so many more....
All such entities are mere clerks? Clerks to who? You think the people that control the BODs of all these entities have no influence on Bush?
The people that control the world's banks, especially the central banks and the central bank of the central banks are referred to as international bankers.
To think that such people are mere clerks requires a heavy dose of ignorance.
And the influence is not just confined to pushing world government.
Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs now Secretary of the US Treasury is aligned with Gore on Global Warming and also backs and is an active member of the radical environmental group known as the Nature Conservancy.
You think Paulson had no influence on Bush's about face on carbon emissions or the Law of the Sea Treaty? And you think Paulson who was installed as CEO of the World's leading investment banker has no influence on Bush in setting up markets for trading carbon credits?
The link I gave you before was not filled with kooks or conspiracy theorists but knowledgeable people ranging from Professors of Law to members of Congress. I suggest you view it before spouting off. Here is the link again:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173
Part of your list is a bunch of financial institutions.
Then you have a list of Government entities. Different animals. There is a big difference between ‘central banks’ and the private corporations that are in the financial business.
Do they have power and influence? Of course. Is it a secret cabal? Of course *not*. the power and influence of the powerful and influential is right there in the open.
I could make a list like:
IBM
Toyota
Walmart
National Football League
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The UN
Screen Actors Guild
La Raza
AFL-CIO
Okay, so they have influence and power. Beyond that, little in common. What’s the point?
Yes, the banks are ‘clerks’. Clerks to whom? Why their clients of course, the investors, private equity holders, etc. Banks just hold other peoples money and relend them. In the last few decades the whole business has tuned upside down wehere everything is marketable ‘financial product’ sellabel on an open market. Very efficient! Your mortgage for example. The real power is in the other aspects of financial development, from private equity to bond funds to big holding companies and raiders like Carl Icahn. it’s just the ‘golden rule’ he who has the gold makes the rules.
Except in our democratic republic, there are so many players and sources of wealth and interest groups that no one player or even group of players is dominant.
These banks are no different in their own way from other corporations or the AFL-CIO and their special interest lobbying, trying to make sure their business interests are not destroyed by Government action.
We have a fantastic international financial system that is far more sophisticated than it was 30 or 40 years ago, thanks to electronic communications and openness of capital markets. In that arena, there is very heavy competition.
Those leading these firms have different views. Conservatives like Bill Simon (Sr) and liberals like Jon Corzine came out of Wall Street. The fact that a wall streeter like Robert Rubin or Paulson becomes treasury secty says soemthing about the influence of wall street but nothing about the unity of their thinking. Other than being for capitalist money-making there is not a common agenda.
On global warming, some of the institutions (eg Goldman Sachs) do see a reward from the global carbons trading scam, so have hopped on the bandwagon. Again, this is a selfish agenda right there out in the open. OTOH, Lehman Bros, which I own stock in, is big in oil trading and development. It cuts both ways. These folks are getting gulled by the same media hype machine that is gulling some politicians, hollywood types, etc. Nothing different nor special.
What is amazing is the foolish notion that a few wall streeters could/would determine global warming policy, when in fact the full court press of international environmental activism is on the march on it. There are a LOT MORE POWERFUL forces at work there than a few bankers.
“You think Paulson had no influence on Bush’s about face on carbon emissions or the Law of the Sea Treaty? “
It wasn’t a turnabout on the first, and Senator Lugar is behind the second. it wouldnt be a shocker if a major admin figure had a say. BFD.
What is perhaps different/special is that Wall Street should be a bastion of pro-free-market conservatism, and yet far too often they are funding liberalism. Why? It’s nothing more complicated than the fact that some people are indoctrinated by schools/universities a certain way and dont have time to outgrow those prejudices.
In the end, what’s good for business is good for American prosperity and vice versa, so Wall Street’s input on economic policy is a useful counterbalance to the socialist input they get from other quarters.
Conspiracy theories are in my mind very destructive to conservative success. They are lies, pathetic juvenile lies that make people live in a dream world instead of the real world.