The global protest movement against the finance industry.
What should Wall Street do?
As you are aware, currently there is a global movement of protests putting pressure on politicians and regulators, and voicing disdain and anger at the excesses, greed and in cases criminal activity perpetrated by elements in the finance industry (as well as the incompetence of politicians) – that contributed greatly to the global financial crisis, and the consequent, long-term economic hardship imposed on the general public and economies across nations – often impacting the weaker in society.
Examples of these movements are: ‘Occupy Wall Street‘ (http://occupywallst.org/), ‘OccupyLondon’ (http://occupylsx.org/), and many others around the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement).
(Pls make reference to these as well)
These organised protests world-wide may have substantial potential to make an impact on politicians, governments and regulators – bringing about change and regulations to keep the banking and finance industry in check. Remember: an extent of similarity exists between these organised social protests and those that recently brought down autocratic Arab regimes.
[1] In real and tangible terms, how useful would it be to society and future national economies if ‘WallStreet‘ finance leaders departed from their arrogant stance and attitude, and decided to be publically apologetic – as suggested by Schumpeter in The Economist article?
[2] In general new laws and regulations are introduced and nonetheless they eventually get broken as one corporate scandal after another exceeds the ‘records’ set by others’ earlier corrupt doings. As Christine Lagarde mentioned in the Meltdown episode, ‘a game of cops & robbers’.
– How effective do you believe these new measures being introduced will be?
– Following the global meltdown, do you support the call for heavy regulation and a highly-regulated banking & finance industry?
– Could there be any potential drawbacks from this? And from an international perspective, what are the implications of ‘regulatory arbitrage’?
[3] Browse the online links to the ‘Occupy‘ protest websites indicated above.
– What are your thoughts on this international protest movements?
– Do you think they have sufficient clout to sway politicians and make real, lasting impact of the future of finance towards mitigating future ‘meltdowns’? Or will they ‘lose steam’ and gradually fade away?