Is a personal win really a victory ..

An excerpt from - "The Five Most Wanted Rip-off Artists from Wall Street and Washington"

By: Jim Hightower
http://www.alternet.org/
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Deregulation was nothing more than self serving. Laissez-faire ideology is a crock. It failed. Americans are not being told the blunt truth, which is that the financial mess we're in today is a direct result of the laissez-faire fraud that Wall Street and Washington willfully imposed on our nation. CEOs and banking lobbyists, presidents and treasury secretaries, regulators and lawmakers (of both parties) failed to protect America from money-grubbing bankers, hedge-fund speculators, and other big players.

As we've learned in the past few weeks, there is no "free" market. Indeed, it's quite pricey when it trips and falls over the inevitable outcroppings of greed. That's why strong, vigilant, and aggressive public regulation is essential. Don't be fooled by claims that just throwing money at the hucksters will fix the problem. The only way to make America's financial system trustworthy is to return to the sound fundamentals of public oversight--starting with the bailout itself.
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If it makes you feel better to point your finger, point it at these five individuals: Alan Greenspan - Federal Reserve Chairman 1987-2006. Chris Cox - SEC Chair 2004. William Donaldson - SEC Chair 2005. Henry Paulson - Secretary of the Treasury 2006 - 2008. Phil Gramm - Head of the Senate Banking Committee 1999.

Although they did not act alone, these 5 vigorously spearheaded the deregulation of financial institutions. 4 of the 5 amassed tremendous wealth as private citizens, working within financial markets prior to accepting posts in the Clinton or Bush administrations. For that I do not begrudge them. But, greed drove their decisions and policies. In public office, they continued to work exclusively for the network of wealthy elite, just as they had done in the private sector. It is difficult to identify any level of "public service" commitment, on their part, during their tenure as public servants.

You know I am really trying to let go of these injustices of the past. But I am so angered by them that they are infecting the otherwise positive and forward looking core of my character. Part of who I am is due to my willingness and ability to trust people. To search for the good, the silver lining, the humor. To tolerate the faults because the virtues are much more powerful. I am paralyzed to a degree, waiting for someone to do the right thing....anyone. I am disillusioned, frightened frankly, that these acts which have caused catastrophic financial suffering will go without consequences. If we accept this form of greed in the face of its deception, how do we really prevent it moving forward? Millions of people have lost their life savings. Money they have earned through hard work, day after day - year after year - is gone. I have never seen war first hand. Clearly that suffering is far more significant. This hardship, however is debilitating in its own right. I long for some level of justice, but I don't really expect to see it. I only hope and strive t0 maintain my private standards, of human character, respect and decency. Ultimately finding the personal fortitude to rise above the disdain I feel for those who comfortably act with regard for no one other than themselves.

They don't have the power to change the person I am. They don't have the power to change the way I connect with or treat other people. They don't have the power to change the standards to which I hold myself accountable...

I guess that is a victory in and of itself.