|
|
|
|
| New York, New York - The definition of addiction: being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming; an abnormally strong craving.
By any definition, the denizens of Wall Street are addicts. They are obsessed with profits, mega profits. They dream every waking moment - and quite possibly, every sleeping moment - of how to make more and more and more. They make heroin addicts look like saints. They will stop at nothing.
If ever proof was needed, just look at Wall Street today. Are they reeling from the sub-prime scam, are they chastened, are they new people, are they born again? The answer is NO, NO, NO!
Instead, without the blink of an eye or without missing a step, they are seeking to make billions out of death - yes, death.
More politely, they have moved big time into the "life settlement" business. They buy life insurance policies from people who hold them. For example, if you have a $2 million life insurance policy, you might want to cash out now. A life settlement company such as Coventry - currently being sued by the State of New York for alleged bid-rigging - might come along and offer you a million, depending on what your situation was. If you look as if you are going to die soon, they might offer you more. If you look as if you will be around for the next 30 years, they might offer less. When the life settlement company buys your policy, it will pay your premiums, and when you die, it will receive the value of the life insurance policy.
This business has generally been small potatoes up until recently. But now that the securitization of subprime mortages went south, the wizards of Wall Street have had some time on their hands. As they picked over the rubble of the previous fiasco, they saw gold glinting in the life settlement business.
Why not securitize hundreds or thousands of these life insurance policies into bonds and sell them to investors? Wall Street folks could then rake in all those fees for creating the bonds, reselling them, and then trading them.
The juices began to flow in the arteries of Wall Street again. There is life after sub-prime and credit default swaps. No need to be depressed or sad. Money is better than Prozac to cure all that.
And the big firms are moving in.
Credit Suisse is one of the companies leading the charge. Goldman Sachs is reportedly gearing up for this big time as well. There is an estimated $26 trillion - yes, trillion - worth of life insurance policies in force in the U.S. As the revenue from the residential mortgage securities market tanked from $941 billion in 2005 to $169 billion this year, the life settlement market looks to Wall Street as if it could be a life saver - an estimated $500 billion market according to some experts.
One of the challenges facing investors, of course, is how to gauge who is going to die soon, and who is going to be around for a long, long time. The sooner you die, the happier the investor is going to be. Will there come a time when investors will actually offer people money to die, so that they can collect a larger insurance settlement? Stay tuned. Nothing is impossible to the wizards of Wall Street.
Another challenge is the development of cures for various illnesses. For example, if the miracle cure for cancer appeared on the scene one day, and people stopped dying of cancer, then investors would be up a creek.
Wall Street is falling back on its time-honored solution to this problem - spread the risk. Make sure that the illnesses in a bond cover the spectrum, so that a cure in one area will not jeopardize the rest.
All this raises nightmare scenarios. As science seeks to extend life with such inventions as nanobots - tiny, blood-vessel size entities that will cruise around inside your body and make all the necessary repairs - Wall Street could come to see science as one of its major enemies. If people live to 120, or 170, or beyond, life insurance companies will love it, as the premiums will continue to roll in. But Wall Street would have an apopletic fit because investors would be out in the cold - or, in some cases, dead - before they could collect on their investment! Maybe science needs to work on a cure for apopletic fits - or maybe not!
All of this just shows the madness that runs through the veins of Wall Street. If they did not cause so much suffering, it might be funny.
We are closing Guantanamo soon. Maybe we should send the denizens of Wall Street there for awhile. Maybe water-boarding could cure them of their addiction. Per Mr. Cheney et al, if we do it with the intent not to harm them, then we are not committing evil. The renovated Wall Streeters could then enjoy life, smell the roses, and not look on their grandchildren as vehicles to make greater profits.
Then, we could either bulldoze Wall Street from New York's landscape or turn it into a museum, where we could show future generations where fraud was rampant. In effect, it would be like the Auschwitz of greed, where humanity and kindness were sent to the gas chambers every day.
And the world would be a better place. |
|
| |
|
View Comments (2) | Post a comment |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
