TRANSPARENCY!

December 4, 2008

[Zanton]

Probably the easiest, quickest, cheapest, and best way to solve the current Worldwide Depression -- other than have it start raining cars and houses -- is to radically improve transparency for every Big Finance company on earth. This means much more honesty -- and much less silence, cover-up, and fraud -- for every large commercial bank, investment bank, investment firm, stock brokerage, insurance company, and similar Big Business. So too, perhaps, for the various national banks around the globe.

It's time to put a vast, sudden, and emphatic halt to the general economic "panic," the dearth of public "confidence," and the lack of business credit "liquidity." It's time to lay all of our cards on the table, look reality square in the eyes, face the music -- and stop the "meltdown" cold.

By massive public persuasion and pressure -- or even possibly coercive law -- we need to make these businesses immediately and radically open their books. This is so even if this isn't remotely normal business practice, and even if this results in a certain moderate, capitalist, competitive disadvantage for the more frank and open firms. Hopefully the free market and the general public will quickly and severely punish the more secretive -- and even traitorous -- companies.

All the exotic "financial instruments" of these dubious businesses -- such as securitized mortgage packages, collateralized debt obligations, and especially credit-default swaps -- need to be surveyed and scrutinized in great detail by all and sundry. Virtually all information whatsoever should be prominently placed on the Internet as soon as possible. These facts, figures, spreadsheets, and graphs should be extremely accurate, and should be accompanied by very simple, yet detailed, explanations in jargon-free, plain English. And hordes of top-ranking people from the various companies should be made available -- and even perhaps placed under oath -- to instantly answer all questions, whether from laymen or experts.

And it shouldn't stop there. We need to force all those financial ratings companies, such as Moodys, Standard and Poors, and Fitch to right away tell us everything they know about the Big Finance companies. And maybe about the auto firms and other troubled industries too.

We also need to meticulously and mercilessly crawl up the sphincters of all the major accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG with all their incestuous, improper, and thoroughly corrupt relationships with the companies they supposedly objectively examine and neutrally, truthfully audit. We need to immediately and massively monitor the monitors with great skepticism, severity, and even hostility.

All of this may be unprecedented. But so is our current situation.

If necessary, all the Big Business finance, ratings, and accounting companies should face an immediate, total, criminal investigation for financial fraud -- including and especially all their CEOs, CFOs, and board members. The entire net worth of the firms in question should be subject to forfeiture if found guilty. And hundreds of their relevant top executives and officers should go to jail for decades. Especially if they and their firms don't immediately, completely, and utterly cooperate with the criminal investigation and crusade for transparency. This, after all, is a capitalist revolution.

And it should be understood that all involved are, in effect, guilty until proven innocent. We shouldn't believe a word they say -- since they've pretty much always lied to us in the past, and almost certainly are doing so now. We should make these companies and officials earn our trust. And in doing so, we should set the bar really, truly, deliberately, and cruelly high. During the process we should even maybe take time out -- in our busy and now significantly impoverished lives -- to laugh at them, humiliate them, personally viciously insult them, and make them feel really, really bad as we seek to ruin their reputation, break their spirit, and psychologically shatter them for all time. We should let them know in no uncertain terms: We want to see your financial records, and we want to see them NOW.

[mplsconservative]

Welcome to FR.

[Zanton]

Thanks, Mplsconservative!

[big'ol_freeper]

So basically government is off the hook despite their negligence and complicity in creating this crisis?

That you Barney Frank? Chris Dodd?

[Zanton]

Big 'ol freeper -- I only discussed one aspect of this rather large issue in that essay. I should discuss another soon. Meanwhile...

Cost of the Bush/Paulson/Bernanke rescue plan: seven trillion dollars and counting. Cost of the Zanton rescue plan: zero dollars and zero cents. And their plan won't work. Mine will.

[big'ol_freeper]

Sounds like you are a legend in your own mind my FRiend.

[Zanton]

The key to solving the current financial crisis is full financial disclosure. This will cure the Big Money "panic," lack of public "confidence," and credit "illiquidity." What won't solve the current financial crisis is more Big Brother "bailouts," "rescues," and "stimulus packages."

[Zanton]

One additional point that could be made here is that before Bear Stearns, AIG, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, the top nine US banks, etc. receive their bailout money (which is basically poor people paying subsidies to millionaires!) these guys need to come clean about their account books. Otherwise -- no bailout money. And then probable bankruptcy.

I'm not an economist, but I think the secret cancer and the 100 deadly land mines hidden within the US financial system which prevent even good banks from loaning to good banks is: no one knows the true financial state of the others. And nowadays no one trusts the others. Thus even truly credit worthy individuals, small groups, businesses, and big businesses can not get loans.

Full financial disclosure for Big Biz might solve this economic crisis in a heart beat!