Payne Squawk's Street

FOX Business Network's John Stossel recently spent an hour on his weekly program to investigate the claims being made by those at Occupy Wall Street. As part of the discussion, Stossel spent a segment speaking with Charles Payne, FOX News contributor and President of W Street Investors, about the many benefits of Wall Street. Take a listen:


There is little doubt that unscrupulous behavior has taken place by many who participate in the system of trading securities on Wall Street. Unfortunately, most if not all have not been held accountable. I don't know about you, but Franklin Raines, former Fannie Mae Chairman, is atop my list of those who should be at Sing Sing.

But Payne is spot on in his assessment. Government involvement rewarding bad behavior goes against the incentive based process of climbing the ladder, leading to market inefficiency and creating debilitating moral hazards and discarding personal responsibility. Entrepreneurship leads to growth companies, which are often fueled by venture capital on Wall Street. When these companies emerge and become a success, jobs are created providing unlimited opportunities for our citizenry and risk takers are rewarded.

No bailouts should have taken place, for failure is part of the process, often making people and corporations better from the lessons learned in the failed effort. Yes, unlike the media proclamation to the contrary, corporations are people.

For the little guy, Wall Street should be embraced and utilized as part of wealth building. Engaging in the dollar cost averaging process through discount brokerage firms, or through the companies themselves utilizing their dividend re-investment programs (DRIP), of many well known corporations can lead to future prosperity. Over 1000 companies, including Coca Cola, Walt Disney, Proctor & Gamble and Harley Davidson, participate.

Corporations are not evil and are not thwarting the success of those complaining at Occupy Wherever. Due to government interaction in the marketplace, many have been dealt a hard blow in recent years. Every government action to help has actually hindered. Until the taxation and regulation are reduced and free market capitalism can run wild, the job market will remain stagnant and the degree of difficulty in achieving success will be much steeper.

For those protesters, the quickest path to prosperity, if wanted, would be to embrace Wall Street and seek a prompt change at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As Ronald Reagan said, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem.