There are no "Rogue Traders" they're all Rogue traders.

Michael: The Junk bond king

Some of our younger readers might not remember Michael Milken.  Milken was a notorious bond trader who was indicted on all sorts of charges, racketeering, securities fraud etc.  The firm he worked for,  Drexel Burnham Lambert, went bankrupt, but like Milken, was the glowing star of capitalist enterprise throughout the 1980's. Forbes has Milken on its world's richest people list as being worth $2.1 billion in 2010.

Milken set the record for the highest US income, $1 billion over a four year period back in the eighties and was known as the "Junk Bond King."  We wrote yesterday about the other crooks, Leeson and Jerome Kerviel who squandered billion between them and their relatively short prison sentences when compared to the youth sentenced for their part in the riots here in Britain last month.  Milken, after a plea bargain spent 2 years in jail and on release, like the ax murderer that finds Jesus, formed a few charities and the like after years of causing untold misery through his activities.  These "traders" they call them, are responsible for untold savagery inflicted on the people's of the world, the homelessness, bankruptcy, destruction of communities that result from their Actions. After a slap on the wrist they write a book here and there, start a charity, hold a meetign or two and they're back on track.

It is traders like Milken and the others two mentioned yesterday who are responsible for the global crisis.  Go look at the Forbes 500.  Here you will find the people whose activities are at the root of the global crisis.  Once in a while you get what the capitalist press calls a "Rogue Trader" like Kweku Adoboli who was arrested yesterday on suspicion of fraud after losing $2 billion of Swiss bank USB's money. But these guys are no different from all these coupon clippers.  Like the "crony capitalists" referred to by the more established and respectable capitalist class that plays by the rules, the only difference between Milken and Adoboli from the other "respectable" non rogue traders on the Forbes list is that the rogues stole from their own.  Capitalism , and especially finance capital, is theft.  The whole system is theft.  But capitalism has some rules to it.  It is such a bloodthirsty activity there has to be honor among thieves and the organized and legal theft must be an orderly activity for it to be successful.

This is why I have such a hard time accepting the conspiracy theorists view that 911 was an "inside job".  While I can accept that sections of the US capitalist class knew something was going to occur there were too many of their own in those building.  At least a third that died were these coupon clippers working for trading.  I can't see them doing that to their own.  There were many productive workers that were died that day which is of much less importance to the coupon clippers but if the US bourgeois needed to create an event in order to get the US public's support for their foreign ventures, there were other targets that would not have had such a tragic affect on their own ranks. Anyway, that's another issue.

Kweku Adoboli

Today's UK Guardian has a story on the latest "Rogue trader" Kweku Adoboli and gives an excerpt from his favorite book. (see below) It's worth reading which is why I am sharing it here. It's called The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort.  Belfort is another coupon clipper who made the mistake of stealing from other coupon clippers, investors lost some $200 million due to his activities and Belfort (they all write books don't they?) was ordered to pay $100 million of it back He served 22 months in jail for his transgressions, not for the misery his activities cause to society and our communities, but because he cheated other cheaters.  Some workers in the US have received 25 year sentences for stealing a slice of pizza.   Belfort is now a motivational speaker.

It is not the individual "Rogue" or the bad apple that has to be changed.  The economic system we call capitalism, the way we organize production is the cause of this problem. We can jail individuals, in the past (and present) those who wanted to change society thought assumed assassinating this or that government official or major capitalist figure is what works but it doesn't.  This type of individual activity excludes the conscious intervention of the worker class, it cannot work as they simply respond with repression and replace the individual.  If we look at that Forbes list of richest people. There is more than enough money in the hands of a few individuals to solve the crisis the world faces, hunger, health, the lack of infrastructure etc. is all a product of how society is structured, not due to the lack of resources, both capital or Labor. It is the control over production, how we organize production and how we allocate and distribute the wealth our collective Labor produces that is the problem. presently this process (social production) is under control of a few private individuals and set in to motion for their personal gain. Collective ownership and planning is the only answer to this inherently unstable set up.  Society needs new managers.

Here is the excerpt from Belfort's book  that inspires not only rogue traders, but all of them. It's from today's UK Guardian.    Think about it next time you might think that your pension is too high, your wages to steep, your benefits too great, or the young people too lazy to find a job.

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 A favourite book of Kweku Adoboli's is reported to be The Wolf of Wall Street, written by fast-living former broker Jordan Belfort. In this extract, Belfort recalls his time in charge of American investment bank Stratton Oakmont.


The investment banking firm of Stratton Oakmont occupied the first floor of a sprawling black-glass office building that rose up four storeys from out of the muddy marrow of an old Long Island swamp pit. Most of the old pit had been reclaimed and it now sported a first-class office complex with an enormous parking lot and a three-level underground parking garage, where Stratton brokers would take mid-afternoon coffee breaks and get laid by a happy hit squad of prostitutes.

Today, as on every day, as we pulled up to the office building I found myself welling up with pride. The mirrored black glass gleamed brilliantly in the morning sunshine, reminding me of just how far I'd come in the last five years. It was hard to imagine that I'd actually started Stratton from out of the electrical closet of a used-car dealership. And now … this!

On the west side of the building there was a grand entranceway meant to dazzle all those who walked through it. But not a soul from Stratton ever did. It was too far out of the way, and time, after all, was money. Instead, everyone, including me, used a concrete ramp on the south side of the building, which led directly to the boardroom.

I climbed out of the back of the limousine, said my parting farewells to George (who nodded without speaking), and then made my way up that ramp. As I passed through the steel doors, I could already make out the faint echoes of the mighty roar, which sounded like the roar of a mob.

After a dozen steps, I turned the corner and there it was: the boardroom of Stratton Oakmont. It was a massive space, more than a football field long and nearly half as wide. It was an open space, with no partitions and a very low ceiling. Tightly packed rows of maple-colored desks were arranged classroom-style, and an endless sea of crisp white dress shirts moved about furiously.

Each broker I passed offered me a wink or a smile as a way of showing their appreciation for this little slice of heaven on earth I'd created. Yes, these were my people. They came to me for hope, love, advice, and direction, and I was 10 times crazier than all of them. Yet one thing we all shared equally was an undying love for the mighty roar. It intoxicated you. It seduced you! It fucking liberated you! It helped you achieve goals you never dreamed yourself capable of! And it swept everyone away, especially me.

And who could argue with such success? The amount of money being made was staggering. A rookie stockbroker was expected to make $250,000 in his first year. By year two you were making $500,000 or you were considered weak and worthless. And by year three you'd better be making a million or more or you were a complete fucking laughing stock.