[Peace-discuss] Rubin, Wachovia, Tom Paine

[Bob Illyes]

John asks: "Huh?  Do you mean one SHARE of Citibank for each SHARE of 
Wachovia?  Or are shares of Wachovia worth only a dollar now?  If the 
latter, how did Wachovia get so devalued?  Does it hold a lot of bad 
mortgages also?"

One share of Wachovia Bank will be treated as though it were worth one 
dollar in the purchase by Citi, if it goes ahead as planned by Citi. 
Wachovia purchased a company with a lot of questionable mortgages a while 
back (I don't remember the name of the company) but is otherwise sound. The 
acquisition looks to me like treating the disease by killing the host.

I agree substantially with Tom Paine that government is produced "by our 
wickedness...and promotes our happiness...negatively by restraining our 
vices." It is difficult for government to police excesses of greed when it 
starts bailing out businesses that are "too large to fail". The 
consolidation fever that is in play looks to me like a move in the wrong 
direction.

There is an inherent conflict of interest when government attempts policing 
and promotion at the same time.The purchase of Wachovia by Citi would be a 
move in a direction that would please fascists, with their fondness for 
corporatism (the notion that society should be thought of as a single 
organism or body, but seems to lead instead to society as a corpse). But do 
we actually want to please fascists???

Bob