Capitalism for the Few, Socialism for the Masses

The WSJ's article, "Like S&Ls? Paying the Tab For a Cleanup" draws parallels between the S&L bailout of the 1980s (under George H.W. Bush) and the proposed "resolution" of the current financial problems (under the administration of George W. Bush). It ends with the following: "Any taxpayer solution will only worsen already troubling fiscal problems. But that's the price for a system that - as New York University economist Nouriel Roubini and others put it- privatizes profits and socializes losses."

Comes close, but not close enough. I had commented on this topic in the past-Capitalism for the C_Os, Socialism for the Rest of Us. The current system effectively transfers wealth from the masses to the select few. It happened with Enron, WorldCom, Elan PLC, and plenty of others in the past, and now with Bear Stearns and the rest of the financial institutions. The 'select few' are smartly buying the political leaders - one can easily check the massive amounts of money donated by the 'select few' to support one or both parties, but especially the Republican party. Even 'Buyer Beware' warning cannot help the masses. Which brings one to the question of education- education of the masses.

* Addition*

Joshua Rosner's excellent article in the Financial Times, Goodbye capitalism, provides food for thought. He discusses the current GSE mess and the nationalization of losses.