A lot of Wall Street money is made in fees from arranging debt, and a lot of Wall Streeters got rich on debt-laden deals that have been disastrous for the companies involved (like the Tribune newspapers). A lot of money is made, at least in normal times, in mergers and acquisitions, and the record is really clear there. Mergers and acquisitions don't create jobs, they destroy them -- most often to repay the debt that was racked up in the first place

With a lot of these hedge funds, though, a lot of the money is made by selling things short, by betting on the price going down. To the editorial writers of the Wall Street Journal, this improves the price-setting efficiencies of the markets, and benefits all.

Utter nonsense. Again.

***

Saw an interview with Jay Leno once where he

talked about never using the word "crap," that it's an inherrently ugly word even if it's not as abrasive as its close cousin "bullshit." I have great respect for a man with so much experience being in tune with his audience, and that's why I use the term "nonsense" here. There's plenty of crap being thrown around nowadays, but I'm already trying not to sound like some kind of commie here. No need to compound my own problems.

We've seen trickle-down economics, which means money is a trickle going down but it's a firehose going up, and we've seen a tax policy based on putting our kids and grandkids in debt to fatten the pockets of the richest people on the planet today.

Just as I argue that anyone who says government is the problem should not be running for a job in the government, I say anyone who uses the term "bet" in connection with financial transactions must be severely restrained in their ability to profit from the misery of others.

Short sales are bets, not investments, and if they can't be eliminated entirely, then they should be taxed severely. If there's a societal gain from short sellers, as the econopundits insist, then show me. Show me how creating 25 new billionaires is a better way to go than 25 guys making $100 million apiece -- and a $22.5 billion investment in jobs, infrastructure or research. Show me.

The folks who preach the virtue of free markets, the value of short sellers, have this mental image of the noble wolf who culls the weak from the herd and in doing so improves the herd. In actuality they are buzzards lazily pecking at a bloated carcass. A carcass that used to be known as the American economy, or more ominously, the American dream.

A famous expression on Wall Street is OPM -- Other People's Money. I suggest that OPM actually stands for Other People's Misery, and it's time for some dubious practices to be taxed out of existence.