Alexis Goldstein

If nothing else ever gets generated from our Occupy movement, the attraction the movement

has/had for Alexis Goldstein, has been a monumental paradigm shift for moving financial heft

from the amoral world of finance without regulatory public protections, to a world which

includes questions of economic moral responsibility. This newer world presents with the power

of an intellectual and moral curiosity which can be used to enforce the fortitude of character in

finance responsibilities.

Alexis is as much a U.S. treasure as is Elizabeth Warren.

Now that we finally have a new jobs bill (since 3-27-12) Alexis asks us to question ourselves on

how much that bi-partisanship is costing us.

For one thing, should a one billion dollar company be exempt from Security and Exchange

Commission filings for five years?

 Now, if  I do get a job, why would I want to invest in a billion dollar company if that's

considered too small to be regulated? I need 'small' redefined.

Another point Alexis raises is this: Congress had no reason in this jobs bill to approve extra help

and funding for tech star-ups. According to Ms. Goldstein, venture capital already flows into

tech start-ups at high rates of speed. I have to care about that, because money and credit are not

floating in some bottomless pit. If rich start-ups are getting the financing, how can I get a decent

credit card which will have a stable rate? I cannot because the real investment of time and money

is in companies whose future is considered "new" in the business world for at least five years. I

may get a great introductory rate on a card or loan; but that rate is not going to outlast the

questions in the investments of new start-ups. I will have to cover that uncertainty in my higher

than should be necessary new interest rate.

I won't encourage students in my family or my community to believe their Pell Grants will be big

enough or stable enough to empower them to invest in post high school education. Perhaps part-

time college has to be more popular?

Education is more than worth a student's time; and yet how are we to keep faith in its funding?

Apparently, a thing called crowd funding is also a part of finance needing regulation. Crowd

funding is essentially an Internet call for "angel" stranger investors in new businesses. Critics say

federal regulators need to make sure buyers know a lot about the company before investing. Of

course that would mean these companies would have to file a great deal of publicly decipherable

information and projections about their likelihoods of success, to my way of thinking, in order

to be considered transparent. If I understand what public protectors are asking for,

companies hiring anyone to pump up their product reputations, must publish a lot

of information about the products.

The new products are so new, and the new regulations are so in flux, that the average citizen,

including me, will take some time to understand what is needed so that (according to Wall Street

lingo) 'our faces don't get ripped off''.

Thank you Alexis, for informing us, as one of the relatively small group of people in this country who

actually values doing that.  And thank you, Chris Hayes, for helping to magnify Alexis' work in these

areas. Your Up With Chris Hayes on weekend mornings is a great seminar.

Hopefully, Alexis can add to her group every Saturday afternoon at 2pm in Union Square.