Those investors who lost 30% have made it back and more if they stayed conservatively invested. We see these speculative mania crop up over and over again, regardless of national banks.

I don't see the banking system as stealing. It's not free though. Maintaining currency, esp small denomination paper money, has its costs. Transporting currency safely has its cost. If you keep it sitting uninvested in a bank, you pay some in the form of inflation. In exchange you get liquidity. If you use money as a long-term store of value, it's very lousy.

I do not see a rent seeking or crony-benefitting component, though, to the banking system. Banks really do invest that money in worthy projects, pay their people, and make a profit for their investors on the spread. People angry about it should use some other medium of exchange. I'm a huge proponent of competition in media of exchange.

You make strong points. Many people, including investors, lost over 30% or more of their net worth due to govt shennanigans changing the real estate and mortgage climates. We can 't whitewash that. We also can 't ignore those whose wealth skyrocketed on piggybanking with the govt picking winners and losers in the market. Giving banks 0% loans and allowing them to loan out at 2 1/2% isn't financial brilliance. Thats crony and it' s stealing. And it affects the middle and lower classes. People have every right to be angry. But the top 1% that's prog code designed to vilify those with means and justify the transfer of wealth from one group to another which is also stealing. Mr. Hartman, take your hand out of my pocket and leave me alone.

I see what you're saying about him and Rand both saying people should get paid for honest work. I reject Hartmann's premises though. Speculators ARE doing work by providing liquidity to markets, the same liquidity that people use to buy homes or to get funding for a business idea.

I also think he's wrong that this is the super-rich doing this. I have known of peope with networths over $100M who believe in investing only in real estate nearby, businesses they're involved in, and simple stocks and mutual fund--- they've never taken a speculative position. OTOH I've known several people with networths less than $200k who always have a complex speculative positions, with futures and/or options spreads.

I strongly reject what Hartmann is saying here. It's trying to say "your financial problems are caused by some other meanies down the road from you." I reject that. Usually people's financial problems are not even partly caused by "the super-rich", "the Federal Reserve", President Obama, Gov Walker. People have far more influence over their own lives than institutions/politicians do.

Avoidance of responsibility... my favorite bugaboo. "The devil made me do it." Thanks for the input.