Thank You, Wall Street. May We Have Another?
Americans are angry at the financial crisis—just not at the fat cats who caused it.
LAST JANUARY, shortly before President Obama took office, veteran Democratic pollster John Marttila conducted a series of focus groups on a range of issues in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas. When the conversations turned to the economy, Marttila was shocked. In the middle of the financial collapse, these people—men and women of different ages, incomes, races, and political affiliations—were predictably ticked off. But, he recalls, the "dominant emotional dynamic was self-criticism. They really felt that they had failed. They had spent too much on things they didn't need." The pollster had expected rage at Wall Street and George W. Bush, but the people in the groups barely mentioned Bush. And though they were upset by the shady and incomprehensible machinations of big banks, they were not revved up for revenge. "Their intellectual criticism was directed at the financial world," Marttila says, "but their emotional criticism was directed at themselves." Bottom line: They were not reaching for the pitchforks.
A year later, as Congress struggles with financial reform, populist fury aimed at the one-time masters of the universe has yet to materialize in any targeted manner; there's no mass movement demanding fundamental change. Sure, outrage over executive compensation caught the attention of regulators and lawmakers, and President Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve have taken limited steps to curb pay. But lawmakers have apparently not been fretting too much about public sentiment as they followed the urgings of finance lobbyists and weakened legislation to rein in Wall Street.
So where's the wrath? I asked a number of public opinion experts and politicians that question. Most of them said there was indeed anger outside the Beltway—just not the sort of vocal indignation that directly translates into action in Washington. Why?
Politicians Don't Care. "People don't know what to do with the anger they do have," says Marttila, because they feel blocked by "senators, representatives, and [Treasury Secretary] Timothy Geithner, who speaks gobbledygook." Wall Street, in other words, is protected by the people's representatives. "There is a layer between Americans and the villains of Wall Street, and that's Congress," Marttila contends. With Obama adopting mostly mainstream positions on economic issues, no national figure has stepped in to rally the resentment. Nobody has put popular anger to good use, because nobody really wants to.
Fear, Not Loathing. As a leading Democratic opponent of the banking bailouts, Rep. Brad Sherman of California has thought a fair amount about public sentiment and the economic crisis. "The public is very angry at Wall Street," he says. "But they are constantly told by all the respected voices that if we don't protect and preserve the institutions on Wall Street, we'll be fighting for rat meat on the streets." And this fearmongering works. Fear, Sherman says, is generally stronger than anger. The resentment that does exist is diffuse; it is not channeled toward specific solutions. The fear, however, is specific: What will happen to me and my family? With authorities in government and the media incessantly bleating that what's good for Wall Street is good for the country, Sherman adds, "we're angry at those people and we're too fearful to do anything about it."
It's Complicated. There's no doubt Americans are upset about paying for the failures of banks and corporations, says Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. But the financial issues involved appear "incredibly arcane and difficult to penetrate. How do you regulate derivatives when 99 percent of the public don't understand it?" Marttila agrees: "The public policy implications are beyond the reach, vocabulary, and discussion of many. So the bad guys escape."
Big Business vs. Big Government. For many decades, Americans have held negative attitudes toward the titans of industry. "It's a constant," says Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll. "You never go wrong vilifying big business." But Americans also don't fancy the counterbalance to corporate power: government. Since 1965, Gallup has asked survey respondents to choose the biggest future threat to the country: big business, big labor, or big government. Big government always wins—by a lot. In December 2006, 61 percent said they fretted about the government, compared with 25 percent who feared corporate power. Last spring, when Wall Street was in deep disrepute, the numbers changed only slightly: 55 percent still fingered big government as the greatest threat. "People always have concern about the government doing too much," says Newport, "even when [it's] regulating financial institutions they don't like." In fact, as recently as September, Gallup found that 45 percent of Americans believed there was too much government regulation of business. Only 24 percent said there was too little. "The lucky thing for business is that its foil is government," concludes Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center.
This past summer, right-wing activists appeared to corner the market on populist rage. David Winston, a Republican consultant, maintains that this particular anger—over "death panels" and Obama "socialism"—was not widespread. Still, in September, when Rasmussen pollsters asked people how angry they were at current federal policies, without specifying which ones, two-thirds said "very" or "somewhat." Another Rasmussen poll found that 53 percent opposed greater regulation of the finance industry.
WHAT ELSE COULD $14 TRILLION BUY?
That's the real size of the bailout.
What else could it buy?
—Marian Wang
10 years of vaccines for kids in 117 countries
$110 billion
10 years of $10,000 bonuses for all US public school teachers
$318 billion
Sending all 2009 US high school grads to private college
$347 billion
Doubling US spending on HIV/AIDS and cancer research for 20 years
$493 billion
10 years of CO2 offsets for all Americans
$559 billion
Meeting UN anti-poverty goals by 2015
$757 billion
20 years of universal preschool in US
$860 billion
Buying a house for every homeless American
$878 billion
10 years of helping developing countries deal with the effects of climate change
$2 trillion
Buying the world an iPhone 3GS
$2 trillion
10 years of private health insurance for uninsured Americans
$2.2 trillion
Paying off 1/3 of US home mortgages
$3.5 trillion
Total: $14 trillion
And even when Americans like a new regulatory idea—such as the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which several pollsters said is popular—public sentiment hasn't been powerful enough to give lawmakers pause. Without noticeable public demand for an agency with teeth, it was easy for Congress to water down the proposal. As the House was working on this legislation in October, a consultant for the financial services industry told me that big banks were even cutting back on public relations help because they weren't sensing much popular animus and, consequently, did not expect to be whacked too hard on the Hill.
Too Many Targets. Wall Street is also fortunate that it's not the only target of popular anger. Kohut's polls have found resentment at bailed-out banks, at homeowners who purchased houses they couldn't afford, and at the ballooning federal deficit. Because banks are seen as just one of the problems, "there's a little more support—but not a sea change—in how people feel about the government overseeing financial institutions." And in polling conducted since Obama took power, Kohut notes, respondents have been giving more conservative answers over time. In exit polls on Election Day 2008, more voters were in favor of activist government than had been four years earlier. But by February 2009, as an activist president settled into office, that number had already started dropping. The Obama presidency practically began with a backlash.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Winston, the GOP consultant, says that Americans share "a broad sense of frustration that Wall Street has been taken care of"—and they've gotten nothing. Even though the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress passed a hefty stimulus package that likely contributed to GDP growth, the jobs picture—what Americans care about the most—keeps getting worse. "Unemployment trumps Wall Street malfeasance," Winston maintains. "And most people don't see a financial protection agency or more regulation as a solution to unemployment."
So is Wall Street in the clear? Just a few new regulations here and there, and then it's game on? The pollsters I consulted agreed that anyone tracking popular anger in the coming months should be watching not the Dow but the unemployment numbers. Anger prompted by joblessness will focus on politicians, not hedge fund managers. Which means that if politicians let Wall Street get away with shenanigans that kill jobs, they could end up paying for it with their careers. "Wall Street has probably weathered the worst," Rep. Sherman says ruefully. "And Washington has not faced the worst."
Comments
People don't understand derivatives trading...
heck, most of Wall Street doesn't understand it either. The general public is very angry, but we all know that even when the guilty ones are fingered, nothing substantial happens to them. Look at the wholesale sweeping under the carpet of war crimes perpetrators (Downing Street Memos ring any bells?).
Sit-ins and demonstrations and protests don't have any effect except that the media uses these to name-call and label people as "fringe" or "extreme". Besides, only those who can afford to take time off of work can go protest... the unemployed don't have money to get to DC and they're too busy trying to keep from losing their houses. Look at Detroit... 900,000 people left in a city that not too long ago held over 2 million, and the banks hold the deeds now.
Everywhere I look, they're looking for "volunteers" to do this, that, and the other thing... people out of work don't want to work for free. Same is true online. How many journalists would give up their jobs to do journalism online for free? How enthusiastic would you be to go out on the street and demonstrate to save the newspapers?
RE: Misplaced outrage
While most Americans are somewhat angry as to what they perceive of the assistance to Wall street by the Fedds, they also admire, and believe that if they get up in the morning and work harder, they will be similarly compensated like the fat cats on wall street... Well of course- they believe that the enemy is the government - who will stand in their way and prevent them from becoming wealthy like these no- talent wall street flaks....
Two Is One Too Many
I think that's the problem: most people can't seem to focus on more than one thing at a time. You can tell that just from the comments to various posts on various blogs: only the currently hot topic gets the lion's share of comments; the other posts go begging for comments. The question then becomes: is this yet another failing of education or are people just that limited? Apart from that, I'm growing more distrustful by the day of "polls." If it's true - and it certainly seems to be - that our MSM has become virtually nothing but a mouthpiece for big corporate and government interests, then perhaps it's equally true that our polling resources have also come under the irrestible spell of special interests. For instance, how did a majority opposition to the Afghan war become majority support in less than a week? Simply because Mr Obama accepted his Nobel Peace Prize and ordered a troop surge? Is that kind of rapid-fire turn around rational even for the American public? One has to be very skeptical of everything being reported these days.
The Industrial Revolution
It's high time for a second industrial revolution. That is, a revolution AGAINST industry.
It's capitalist fat cats that are the source of current global problems, and it's societies of consumption-driven sheep - often hypnotized through the commercial boob tube and now the internet - that are their support system. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-capitalist. I am only critical of the corruption of capitalism in the very same way I criticize (as did Martin Luther and Jesus) the corruption of religion. It's the very same principle.
What I think most of us consum-sheep fail to recognize is that capitalism - currently most strongly based in America - is nothing more than a modern form of imperialism, and the arms used to defend these empires are in the form of currency. You and I are merrily (or not so-) defending this empire with our labor and our consumption generating its arms. Just like peasants, only the psych game has made us think we're doing it for ourselves. And it is set up as well to entice us by holding out the promise in this society that any one of us is capable of generating the same wealth (material, that is).
As long as money flows, industry profits, as well as anyone positioned to skim off the top of this river of GDP as it flows by. Banks have always done that, just like pirates and highway robbers - nothing new at all there. They're just getting craftier. Such is the evolution of capitalism.
So, as to the revolution. What Wall St and global enterprise are not prepared for is a real fight on their terms, using their weapons... financial. Do you have a dollar in your pocket? That's a bullet. Use it. We as a society and culture need to reform at the consumer level, and begin to use our energy against the robber-barons who are repressing us, rather than using it to support them.
Money is more than a simple form of exchange; it is energy. It represents the creative energy you gave up to your employer. This energy can be either stored or used. Where we are failing today is that we are duped into believing that we need to use it - not only today's energy, but tomorrow's energy (credit/speculation) as well. The banks are skimming off the flow, so they have a vested interest (no pun intended) in keeping us spending. The creation of credit enabled us to bank on the future value of our energy, but what we create in a lifetime is still finite.
So back to the revolution again. Use your energy wisely, and if you don't like how a company, corporation, bank, institution, or government is performing, DON'T SUPPORT IT - FIGHT IT! Fight this war with your most effective weapon - your creative energy, including that which is kept in your pocketbook. Guns and weapons of mass destruction are obsolete. We need to wage this fight with the modern weapons of currency. That is where the global war is really being waged. Right now the emporers are focused on each other. They're not expecting a popular revolt from within their empires. Vote with your dollar, it's your greatest weapon.
I don't, and would not ever,
I don't, and would not ever, put one dime into any mutual or investment or 401k fund. Never have - never will. "Investing" is a nice wayof banks saying "roullette wheel". Actually - I do have one low fund account - and that's only to keep my wife's mouth shut who still thinks puting her hard earned cash into some fund is actually going to benefit her in any way.
So I take it you are stuffing
So I take it you are stuffing your dollars into a jar and burying it in the backyard, otherwise known as a savings account? The biggest crooks of all, the banking cartel headed by the Federal Reserve is busy stealing that saved wealth through inflation. They're stealing the future value of your dollars and dishing it out to politicians pet projects and corporate bailouts.
When are people going to wake up and realize that the blame for all of this mess falls squarely on the shoulders of the Fed, and more specifically, on the smoke and mirrors paper money system that global finance operates on?
This analysis couldn't be
This analysis couldn't be further off. Americans thought they'd be getting change when they elected Obama, and all they've gotten is the same Wall Street friendly policies. When bonuses come out, there will be plenty of outrage. The main issue is that the mainstream media, including apparently yourself, are running with the story that the people don't care and therefore it's not newsworthy. A massive propaganda campaign of epic proportions...reminiscent of Iraq.
no big bill
There are arguments for a big bill that includes lots of trade-offs for getting any one idea turned into law, but I think the health care bill shows in the current environment, big bills can be slowed or stopped by misrepresentation of a few items. The "death panels" lie, or the imaginary projects in the stimulus bill before that, seem plausible because the large bills let people think anything they can imagine is in there. I think a Medicare extension could still pass as a separate bill, but more to the point, the CFPA should be a stand alone bill since it's popular and yet what Wall Street hates most. I don't know that a financial reform bill can get through, but some individual reforms have passed already, and that's the way to keep going.
Home wreckers!
I keep waiting for all you folks with home equity loans and cash out refinancing deals to apologize. Blame Wall Street all you want, but it's really the individuals who took their temporary equity and blew it on junk who are to blame here.
A likely consequence
The United States of America probably has more privately held firearms per capita than any other industrialized nation in the world. Sadly, many working people are turning those guns on themselves and eachother in this crisis, as Mother Jones and other independent journalists have reported.
Sooner or later, someone is going to realize if you can't control Wall Street with your votes, your money, or your political activism, you can still try to kill the bastards. After all, that feeling of impotent rage is going to be pointed somewhere. History teaches us that situations like this tend to erupt in violence sooner or later.
Viloence is the only release
So who do I shoot first ? give me a list !
The bottom line is that
The bottom line is that people in America are too apathetic to do anything about the fact that our representatives and big business are in bed together. We say that we elect our representatives to go to DC to look after our interests, however the majority of Americans do not care what goes on. Anyone who tries to speak out is labeled as crazy or an extremist. The Roman patricians had a policy in which they inentionally lowered the grain prices in order for the people on the lower rungs of society to be able to pay for just enough food to eat, along with this they implemented games at the coliseum in order to keep them entertained. As long as they had just enough food to eat and enough entertainment they would not worry about what the Emperor and the Senate were doing. This is exactly what is going on in America. People are too wrapped up in making just enough money to survive and go home to watch their tv shows. Unless a fundamental change occurs in America we don't stand a chance to change anything.
Obama is the only one with
Obama is the only one with the command of media time to channel legitimate outrage in a positive direction, and assuming the healthcare bill has been signed, the State-of-the-Union is the only opportunity he will have to do it. He will need a populist story to sell about how the "government-is-the-problem" philosophy has taken us in the wrong direction, how giving tax breaks to the wealthy has weakened the economy as a whole, and how we need to restore a sense that the government is "our" government that's supposed to be working for the good of the whole country -- "we the people" -- not just "the government" looking out for the interests of the wealthiest. How we will not be able to start solving the deficit problem until people have jobs and can pay taxes. How we can't start rebuilding the job market without re-balancing the tax burden to make the wealthy pay their fair share. How universal healthcare will help re-build the job market. How we must make banks follow basic rules to help prevent what we have just gone through.
If the healthcare bill is done, he will have the springboard for a broader attack on Reaganism. He can do it making populist proposals seem more American than apple pie, with a minimum of stridency that might sound too "partisan" (as if there is something wrong with that, but unfortunately the media and politicians have sold us a bill of goods that partisanship is bad). We will see if he has a taste for it, or is too scared of David Broder calling him a "populist." Somehow, I doubt we will see it.
Here's a NewsFlash
OBAMA works for the BANKERS!!!! He always has! He was the banker's candidate and YOU voted for him so that THEY could rape the value of your currency--and stick YOU with the bill for it. That's why I DIDN'T vote for Obama. But you see what being smart gets me---called a "racist" by all the schmucks who are now losing their shirts right along with me.
It's a neat trick, but it isn't hard to understand. Just take a pitcher of milk and start pouring water into it. It can take a lot of watering down and still look like milk. That's what is happening to the money in your wallet. It looks like a dollar, but it is no longer worth a dollar. The inflation rate has been 20% at least the last two years.
So the VALUE of your money is being robbed inexorably and silently, minute by minute, and you are being indebted via an equally dishonest scam at the same time. They have you both going and coming.
Read Ron Paul's book, End the Fed. Or Schiff's book, The Creature from Jekyll Island. Learn what the Libertarians know, and then, maybe, you'll be in a position to save yourselves.
Anyway, forget any idea that Obama is EVER going to do anything but bilk you and pay the bankers. That's who he is. You are expecting the boogie man to be Santa Claus, and as pathetic as that is, you are sitting on his lap.
There is plenty of blame to
There is plenty of blame to go around. The self-criticism is warranted, as well as, that directed at the fat-cats and their "regulator" co-conspirators.
America bought the bull Reaganites were selling. Maybe they already believed it, or were helped to be convinced by the mass media. They believe(d) that you need to protect the wealthy, because in America anyone can be wealthy. That the poor deserve to be poor. They don't have the time or desire to hear the real truth about dearly held beliefs because it may scare them, or they may have to admit they were wrong.
They became spoiled, self-centered, greedy, right along with the fat-cats. So in a sense, they reaped what they sowed. Only the fat-cats got to keep the cherries and that tax-payers got the pits. If they still haven't learned their lesson, there will be far more pit reaping ahead. Unfortunately, those who didn't buy into the bull suffer too.
Let's face it, this has been a long time coming. One of the biggest shocks is the shock. How anyone could think you can take and take, never give back, and there would be no consequence, is beyond belief. But, this mentality continues regarding the environment, education, healthcare and on and on... The continual shortsightedness of self-interest driven thinking (not isolated to the U.S.) that as long as you've got yours, that's all you have to care about, is bound to bring crisis after crisis.
The fact that even this crisis has not been enough to wake America up to foolishness of trickle-down economics; the foolishness of worshiping at the altar of the "free market" as if it is an infallible god; the foolishness of not recognizing the need for shared social responsibility, does not bode well that the growing gap between rich and poor will narrow, or that the issues that require national-scale solutions will find real effective solutions.
The profit-driven mega-media conglomerate "news" outlets have made it worse. Of course, the audience is also to blame. As is, the Administration's lack of clear well articulated explanations and a real push for the kinds of reforms needed to solve the financial (and other) problems. All have made it less likely that true reform will happen.
And as far as Ron Paul, Libertarians are ultimately social darwinists. It is a very adolescent mentality of hating authority because they hated mommy telling them what to do and haven't grown out of that adolescent phase where they think they know everything. They believe in doing nothing for anyone other than themselves. No social safety net, little or no governmental protections, educational grants, etc... They religiously believe in and worship the golden calf of the "free market." The losers in the free market game deserve to loose. Scrooge would have been a libertarian. They wouldn't have prevented this economic crisis - that would have meant regulators who regulate. They would have less government regulation of the banking system, they would have let the banks fall and they don't believe in the government assisting the human casualties in the fall-out. "Buyer beware."
They are the ultimate "every man for himself" party. Expecting good things to come out of anarchy is a fools errand. Eventually, something good may come out, but that's after untold damage and the fools finally figure out why some rules are necessary. Some countries have faired much better than we with more good governmental regulation and shared social responsibility. When will these eternal adolescents grow up and learn that personal responsibility is only one aspect of social responsibility; that it is necessary but not sufficient for a sustainable civilized society.
Ron Paul a social Darwinist?
Ron Paul a social Darwinist? That is hi-larious. Maybe Ayn Rand and her Objectivist cult, but Ron Paul is all "aw, shucks" and appears to be one of the most decent human beings, well, at least in Congress. That isn't saying much, I know.
The argument is NOT that there shouldn't be a social safety net and that people shouldn't watch out for each other. We are a community, that's kind of what we do. It's that these roles do not need to be and are terribly inefficient when filled by the government. Government involvement introduces moral hazard, which makes people do stupider things than they already do on a regular basis anyway, and creates dependency. It distorts the information the market attempts to convey everyday through the price system and prohibits people from making choices based on sound knowledge. It colludes with Big Banking to rob us of our money through inflation. It colludes with Big Business to stifle competition, which forces us all to payer higher prices than would otherwise exist.
This is not an either/or choice of who to be angry at, as this article would suggest. Big Government creates Big Business. Big Banking funds it all with fake paper money. That's what everyone, left, right, and center should be upset about.
"Americans are angry at the
"Americans are angry at the financial crisis—just not at the fat cats who caused it."
Catchy title.
However, when you realize the Americans you are referring to are actually 'American sheeple' the smoke suddenly clears.
And to those American sheeple of whom I refer there is a web site dedicated to educating you.
http://www.theamericansheeple.com
Remember; the difference between you and a bonafide sheep is that you (still) have a choice as to just how much wool is ripped from your hide.
Wake up!
The politicians learned a long time ago that the 'Domesticated American' is impotent when it comes to controlling political policy. Controlling policy take great amount of bribe money. And you guys can hardly make your house payment, so not money bribing potential there.
Consumer strikes en masse could change many things. But the politicians have a way of forgetting and going back to old ways. As such, it would take continual strikes to keep the knuckleheads in DC going down the right path.
After all 70% of the economy is based on the consumer.
But such strike would take a measure of self-sufficiency that 99.9% of the modern day people lack. They can't miss one paycheck or will be behind on their mortgage or If they are unable to go to market for a few days they will starve.
Change was the buzzword for 2008 elections....vote for change!
Well, lets be honest...in politics substantive change is only paid lip service. Our whole system fights change. And if perchance some change does come about it is quickly squelched every 4 years by the new incoming administration and we backslide.
One candidate may have better spin on the question - so you vote for him or her. But when it comes down to it - politicians are pretty much all lying rhetoricians...so the ignorant public just votes for the best liar!
Lets look at an example. Pres Carter was gung -ho on renewables so he installed solar panels on the white house roof. Reagan comes in and removes the solar panels.
Instead of keeping any good gov workers that really work for the citizens. These folks must go and the current political deity puts their cronies and high dollar contributors in power every 4 years.
If one party is in the white house and another party is in the congress most of the time is spent battling each other and trying to make your enemies look bad.
Anyone that aspires to go into politics has a desire to control others and make a grab for power and money. Replacing one piece of shit with another piece of shit does nothing to remove the stink in DC.
Politicians are the lowest of the low - hypocrites and haggard shells of humans that spin webs of deceit to entrap their prey with so many lies you politicians dream up to screw the American public.
OK, maybe they are a little higher on the cesspool ladder than a child rapist that kills the kid after raping them. But lets be clear about what politicians are, they are filthy scumbags
As the dieoff approaches we will still no doubt be putting all our hopes in the next political deity that tells us he or she can transform our world.
Good, old-fashioned "Land Grab"
The deregulation of finance, and what Kevin Phillips calls the 'financialization' of the economy, and the development of the 'rentier' class, may be a good old-fashioned land grab. Someone will end up owning all the real estate assets individuals and small companies have lost and will lose, getting them for pennies on the dollar.
Deregulation means the regulations placed on these dealings in the history of American banking, and further back into banking globally over centuries, would be modified to someone's specifications, the restrictions prohibiting predatory lending removed, enabling, legalizing predation.
The social implications of millions of Americans (and other countries' citizens) losing their homes, THE American Dream, losing the savings they thought they were investing in the down payment, those mysterious 'points,' and all the other costs of making a house a home, are complex and will be long-lasting. Many will grieve, stressfully, over their loss. Many will never recover. Marriages will end. Families will split up. They will crowd into other houses with friends and relatives, and strangers, trying to get by until they can recover, by whatever definition they can design. Then family members will decide it's too crowded and move out, moving in with other friends, relatives and strangers. The possibilities of what can go wrong are infinite. Child abuse, spousal abuse, elder abuse, child neglect, disease, unplanned pregnancy, sexual abuse, drug abuse, depression, aggression, ad infinitum. All because some people decided to deregulate, and some others decided to grab the assets of millions of homeowners. And politicians, bought and sold, accommodated the crime, deregulating, and softballing the aftermath. Americans will have to get a government of their own to combat the government of the bankers. But they can't afford one like the bankers bought, and will continue buying.
High Degree Thieves
Wall Street's greed and indefensible behavior that created the global financial meltdown will never be forgotten, especially, in Asia!
The Chinese are laughing at the financial condition of the U.S. and Western Europe while strategically buying precious resources all over the globe!
In addition, the Chinese have absolutely no intentions in allowing corrupt bankers and financiers from Wall Street to control their money!
It is undeniable that politicians in Washington D.C. have been bought and sold for years by financial lobbyists in favor of Wall Street's interests!
Why do Americans tolerate such policies that favor high degree thieves on Wall Street?
The smell of Wall Street's stench permeates from Shanghai to Dubai!
wall street
America is filled with self centered people who cannot see past their nose's,also America is brimming with ignorance,and stupidity,can you say George W. Bush Twice!how about Sarah goddamn Palin? !I'm no genius but this has got to prove unequivocally ,we are a nation of idiots.
Central Bankers/Greedy Financiers
Excellent article and insight from Mr. Corn!
Like Europeans, the American taxpayer continues to be exploited by Central Bankers and financiers!
The US Mafia
The US Mafia (Wallstreet and the MIC) now own the US government. Our so-called democratic republic--which has ceased to exist-- has now returned to its pre-revolution roots. Simply put, the American ideal, as put forth in the US constitution has been trashed by the very people who were 'elected' to represent its principles.
The US government has been thoroughly corrupted and is now a criminal enterprise. It's too late to take the country back using conventional politics--Obama is certainly proof of that. The time for a new revolution is here. There will be no change until the American people stand up and take their country back. By whatever means necessary.
The pain of the brass tacks
Tonight, (1/8/10), on the PBS broadcast of Bill Moyer's "Journal", I was quite taken aback at Mr Corn's, (the article's author), apparent surprise that the banksters and their lobbyists derail any regulatory bill that comes down the pike.
Let us be clear. These persons directly control the money and monetary policy of the United States, and by extrension, the world. And the way the system is rigged, control of the puppets that staff both houses of our congress, by comparison, is child's play.
Our self-appointed overlords have decided the outcome of any "vote" on any matter of significance long before it reaches the floor. Countless others never see the light of day.
As full-fledged partners of the elite, the owners/controllers of the American mainstream media have demonstrated an uncanny ability to sell the immense ruse and hoax - with few exceptions - to the American public.
The American people have clearly demonstrated that they can be distracted, mis-directed, diverted, mislead, pacified, occupied and led by the nose in a variety of ways by the professional opinion makers, but they would not tolerate a dictatorship - not by that name, anyway.
So this is the way it must be.
By any sensible assessment, high-level election manipulation and fraud has become business as usual in the United States - a cruel joke nowadays among other industrialized nations. Our "elected representatives" are selected for us, based largely on how willling they are to serve the interests of our real masters within the elite corporatocracy - and the cost of non-compliance is high. Possibilites of derailed careers and destroyed reputations are ever-present.
The largest corporation/economy on the planet, with it's accompanying military and "implied moral leadership" is, in fact, directed and controlled by way of the largest, most elaborate stage show in human history.
And the stakes could not possibly be higher. Covert control of the US government is the grandest prize on earth, and the personages that have taken on this task are the most serious and dangerous humans that one could imagine. They are highly organized, focused and steadfast - everything that the unsupecting American population is not.
And their mechanisms of control and levers of true power will not be surrendered.
The game is rigged - the fix is in. And none of this is by accident.
Michael McCoy
BlissfullyCogent@aol.com
Unwarranted assumptions
I certainly know people who are pissed off at Wall Street Bankers. I am one of them and I wonder why no one has assassinated bankers. Now I would never do any of the things I think about. I think Congressmen Sherman's analysis is as good as any. Fear trumps anger.
These politicians need to loose there jobs!
I hope everyone asks themselves, did I use my vote last election to change the congress or did I vote for the incumbent, self-serving politician, be it a Republican or Democrat , who has become entrenched in office. How is it that congress had a 12% approval rating yet 96% were reelected? The "my congressman is ok, it's all the others that are the problem" syndrome was, as always, in play. These politicians need to loose there jobs! They are responsible for the state of this country. The American people have gotten the Government that they deserve. Next election, vote against all incumbents, or look in the mirror to see the real problem.
Social ethics cost money
"Obama is the only one with the command of media time to channel legitimate outrage in a positive direction"
As I posted previously, you need to wake up!
I am always amazed at the heartfelt pain Moyers and his guests express in their wonderment and hopes as to why the government can't break their habit of screwing the American public.
"OBAMA works for the BANKERS!!!!"
This is the unfortunate answer to this question of why big business always wins and 95% of the Americans always lose. People don't run the government...the rich run the government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
"The bottom line is that people in America are too apathetic to do anything about the fact that our representatives and big business are in bed together."
and
"It's high time for a second industrial revolution. That is, a revolution AGAINST industry."
Yes, to both of these posts. But as I said previously, the American public is all bark and no bite since they lack self sufficiency for a peaceful citizens revolt.
This is what fueled class conflict in times gone by. The rich control the gov and only pass legislation to benefit the rich. As such, the average person gets squeezed to the point of not being able to survive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_conflict
I think apathy is fueled by the fact that most Americans are just trying to survive.
Tony Benn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnserZOf1-4&feature=PlayList&p=53E180A8EE...
The hope of striking it rich, within a capitalistic society, is all that most citizen can cling to, as they go through a life of slavish dependence, working until they die.
Some of these worker drones may have given up the hopes of striking it rich long ago. Their hopes may be more along the lines of retiring in a one room sweat box and being able to afford some canned dog food to eat.
But the greedy Ponzi capitalists, along with the full faith and backing of the politicians, have taken that little dream away from many of the retirees as well. I often wonder how the old folks get by nowadays with 1/20th of 1 percent on money market funds and if they are lucky, maybe a whopping 1/2% in CD's.
Do you need any further proof that the bankers are in control of our politicians?
The banks get 25% on their credit cards...and we get 1/20th of 1%?
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/senate-rejects-limit-on-cr...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards...
If we look at the data, we can see that only 5% to 6% of the households are making more than $250,000 per year. That doesn't make them all rich, but we can generally say $250,000 a year would be a nice income for most of us reading this.
And if one is talking millions of dollars per year in income, then the figure is just a couple percent of the households in America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States
So capitalism favors 1% to 2% of the population and the other 98% end up as slaves to the capitalists.
Now, I'm not promoting communism. Even the so called selfless communist governments get weighed down with egocentric leaders. If one is selfless such as ants or bees communism works fine. It is only when human selfishness is injected into the equation that communism fails miserably.
The reason the ideal of communism fails is because imperfect humans have to apply the perfect ideals. Same goes with our imperfect democratic elected leaders.
But the problem is not so much that we elect imperfect leaders, the problem is that we have no oversight committee to change the wrongs that they do. Nor do we have punishment for them for doing such wrongs.
Just look at Bush and the rest. As soon as they leave office, what is said? "Well, they may have done something wrong...but lets just move on."
Politicians have a free reign to rape and pillage the US and Americans as they wish...because there is NO OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE nor PUNISHMENT for the evils they do.
Socialism, in its most ideal form, puts society and social issues first.
Capitalism puts profits and greed first.
But the way things are set up, social ethics goes out the window, all in favor of the cult worshiping the almighty dollar.
Social ethics cost money. And spending money for such things is against the capitalists religion. Capitalism is not the religion of humanity, it is the religion of greed, power and money.
Capitalism is the solution, not the problem
I'm not sure if you understand capitalism. Capitalism is not a religion. It is not believed without evidence. There is hardly anything to believe at all. It contains no reference to anything that exists anywhere outside of your own daily life. It is merely the system in which you let greed work for everyone's benefit. The key ingredient to capitalism is economic freedom, i.e., no authority is taking all of your money away and spending it for you.
The entire US government, when you compile the federal, state, local, district, and municapital governments, all impose hundreds of taxes and tax a total of about 40% of all of the products of our collective labor (GDP). This government is not like other entities like you, me, mom&pop's shop, or McDonald's. No, The government is the authority. You don't negotiate with it. It simply makes laws and you must obey them. You can vote for people to make laws for you that you agree with, but we all know how pointless that is. Representatives just don't have to work for you. They have nothing at stake.
When people become adults and decide what to do with their lives, the society has different needs for different people. for example, the society really needs executives and officers, but it doesn't need very many. greedy people who want positions like that work for a long time to achieve those positions and face incredible competition from people who become destined to become office workers or worse. Others work hard to develop skills to serve society in ways no one else takes the initiatave to do. Many others still sit on their asses and don't go to college, training program or find ways to serve, and just do things that anybody can do, such as janitors or food retailers.
Capitalism puts profit and greed first, but the result of greed is service to others. Greedy people or companies who want to make as much money as they can offer their service to others. It results in everything that anybody ever has to work for is available to you whenever you need it. However, the system ultimately must decide who gets more stuff than others. Who gets the bigger homes. Who gets the nicer food, or the nicer cars. Now, it is very important to note that there is no non-arbitrary way of choosing who gets the better stuff, who gets more, and who gets less. But in the most free capitalistic society, it is those who have served the society the most.
The recent downturn on wall street and main street has not been a result of too little government, too much freedom, or too much "capitalism." No, it has been a government attempt in the late 90s to "modernize" the financial systems in America, coupled with GWBush's legislation that granted too many Americans a loan they needed to buy a house. A house is usually the most expensive thing people ever buy in their lives. They are expensive for a reason. Not everyone can have them. As a result, loans are naturally rationed by banks. If a bank makes a loan to a customer who won't be able to pay the loan in full, the person goes bankrupt and the bank is in trouble. So the banks will only select people with a lot of money down, a good credit history and a well-paying job. Not anymore. The 2006 proposal (I forgot what it was called) required quasi-government financial institutions to bail out banks whose customers defaulted on their loans. What happened? everybody could suddenly take out a loan for a house, it encouraged banks to be as risky as possible, by promising free money. The problem was, the money isn't free. It was taxpayer money that bailed out those failed loans.
Then people started loosing their homes, and we all knew what came next. By mid 2007 the market plunged, so Bush got the government involved again. He injected $700 billion of our money into government initiatives that have no incentive to serve the people. The government was simply spending our money on things like roads, bridges and other things that still haven't been spent yet. When Obama was sworn in, he beat Bush's bill with a $787 billion bill that wasted even more money.
This is not the way we solve problems. When the govenrment just injects money into the system or bails out banks in order to assure people who don't otherwise deserve a loan have one, we get a dislocation of resources and millions lose their jobs. If people are free to look for a job, look for qualified employees and look for qualifications that might land onesself a better job, then there is more money to go around. We don't need to spend %40 of our economy on public schools, public libraries, social security, and public hospitals. People don't have any trouble paying for their own food, and they need food more than they need education, libraries or healthcare. Greedy people will start a business that serves the people. Greedy people will look for jobs and will serve people. Greedy executives will administer budget cuts so they can lower prices, improve service and serve more people.
Think about it.
the part nobody talks about
I agrree thr problem with the banks, sub prime lending, the gov't, ect. causing the financial melt down, but what i don't hear about. and what got us in trouble was the $4.25+ gas prices. we were doing fine until suddenly 25% of our income went just to getting to our jobs.I think a lot of people where in the same position and could't aford both commute and mortgage.
You are correct
You are correct and the reason none of the mainstream media focuses on the truth is because it would expose the real reason for the invasion of Iraq . The invasion put the oil reserves of Iraq under the control of the U.S. and off the market allowing prices to rise unfettered by the contraints of competitive pricing or the threat of increased production. The banks are heavily invested in oil and the money generated by the oil prices paid for the media's silence and complicity. Obama is a continuation of the Bush program to the benifit of the people who cheated the American people out of the most money since the existance of this nation.
Yup, why doesn't this get talked about? Good sign it's important
I've been wondering for a long time why gas prices were never mentioned as a cause of our current economic crisis??? Probably because the oil companies have GREAT power and choose for us not to think about their profits and what it costs us to drive our cars and heat our houses!! Think about it....skim off a goodly % of what people earn/spend and then blame the banks for it when they stop spending! Surely, the banks had a role too, but what of the oil companies? What role did they play?
Then villify the President because he tells us we need alternatives to oil...and a new economy! Where will he get with this message? Well, the powerful oil companies will see to it that he stops talking about it and WE never get a chance to buy into alternatives!
Do tell me that oil has nothing to do with it! Please! I want to believe that it was the banks and financial institutions that caused this mess! Too big to fail? Too complicated to understand? THAT would be good! It would get the financials AND the oil companies off the hook in one fell swoop!
"...as they go through a life
"...as they go through a life of slavish dependence, working until they die. "
Even this hope is becoming just a dream for many...
I read some town in OH banned trash picking. If your caught digging through the trash you can be fined $500 or jailed for 30 days. People that trash pick generally are not rich. They do it trying to survive. Now the local gov has taken away the unemployed's last hopes for honest work of some sort. What is left for them to do to try and eat?
Seems to be many such trends chipping away at our very survival before the SHTF comes knocking at our door. So even if none of our SHTF scenarios come to fruition, living life itself can be a survival feat nowadays. Just look at the Individual Mandate the gov has proposed to fine the poor for not being able to afford health insurance.
From...
"Lets Spread the Wealth. Lets set up a Socialized Healthcare System for All Americans paid for by taxing the rich 5%."
To...
"All uninsured Americans MUST buy healthcare insurance. And you must submit such evidence of coverage on your tax returns to the IRS or you will be FINED a penalty up to $3800."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR200907...
I talked with a trash man the other day. I noticed he was working all alone and asked where his buddy was. He said his company keeps downsizing the crew. His trash crew used to consist of a driver and 2 men to load. Then it was cut back to a driver and a loader. Now he does it all - he drives, gets out and loads the trash then back in and drives on.
I asked if the company was worried about burning him out in the icy winter and humid summers. He said there is a line of guys a mile long waiting to take his place when he can't do it any longer. I guess if the trash company could do it by robots they would cut him out as well.
Another guy I talked with said his company converted a lot of the workforce to part time, so they did not have to offer benefits.
A lady mental health therapist said her firm was trying to encourage the higher paid senior therapists to leave, so they could replace them with younger therapists that are paid much less and can be worked longer hours.
The other day I called up toll free directory to find an 800 number. In the old days a live person answered the phone. then they got rid of most of the people and a computer answered the phone. If the computer didn't work, you had the option to talk with a live operator. Now you just talk with the computer and if the computer fails, they just refer you to their website and have dumped all live help.
I'm sure we have all talked with some workers in India trying to figure out some customer service problem we are having.
And it is not just the low paying jobs heading to India. A radiologist told me that the trend is to send the Xrays to India now via facsimile for the Indian MD's to read. Just takes few seconds to export them...so why not save hundreds of dollars so the healthcare industry can make more profits?
Even the poor parking lot attendants are not secure to make min wage. The trend is computerized self serve and dump the gate attendant.
I guess it all started back in the 70's, when China opened up and the turbo capitalist realized how much more money they could make by dumping the US workers and shipping production overseas. Maybe that was the deal Nixon made? You (China) stop trying to take over the world with communism and we will buy your crap so your people can eat?
...and pretty soon we will all be eating chicken from china.
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN0143846720080201
(Actually you are probably eating Chinese chicken right now. The gov enacted a law that does not mandate country of origin data for ingredients that have been processes. Your fast food chicken parts can come from ANYPLACE!)
Government and Big Business
While we may all feel comfort in railing against big business and the fat cats who run them, let us not forget that capitalism has brought comfort to a larger percentage of the population than we found in pre-industrial revolutionary times. Certainly there have been moral and social trade-offs to embracing these "dark Satanic mills." A purely agrarian lifestyle might be closer to the chi for many, but not necessarily for all.
Historically, government and business have proceeded hand in hand, for without mercantilism and manufacturing, the tax base the government needs (whether to augment power or services) is severely wanting. Growth of business tends to lead to growth of wealth and wages, and in a competitive environment the superior employees tend to receive greater benefits in order for the astute employer to retain them. Experience is a hard teacher that there is an element of society that would prefer to sit home watching Oprah rather than engage in meaningful labor to help themselves. Sometimes governments play to the latter crowd as they will at least rouse themselves to vote for more gruel in the trough. Certainly there are those who struggle to make ends meet, and many of the prior commentators properly identify the hamster wheel struggles of the middle class perhaps brought on by the need to keep up with the Jones'.
Benjamin Franklin's comment at the close of the Constitutional Convention that we had created a republic which would be challenging to maintain ring true throughout our brief history as a nation. We find that moneyed interests in smoky back rooms hand-pick those whom we are to exalt and revere at the polls, their images carefully controlled by a team of handlers. It is the power behind the throne that tends to be that which is most difficult for any popular revolt to control, for the persons who seek power shirk daylight and achieve it through populist puppets. Careful study of A. Lincoln's rise to power reveals some murky dealings in its path, but an astute person when the mantle of authority was obtained.
One simple solution that might help is the repeal of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution, as this preserves party power in the Executive Branch, whereas the framers seemed to preserve the will of the people through seating the second place finisher opposite the winner in all Cabinet meetings. In the original constitution, the person receiving the majority of electoral votes was named President; the runner-up was named Vice-President. This would help us have more of the people represented at the table. It might encourage listening and debate rather than influence peddling, although major corporations and the wealthy are likely to continue contributing to both parties just so they can continue to wield the power that has best served their needs thus far.
land grab?
Yes as money is devalued of course they're after the land next; they (bankers and politions - the rich and powerful basically) set this up long ago as the tried to 'help' through gov't backed loans (Fannie, Freddie and Indy, etc.) more people buy homes through sub-prime unregulated loans with the abilty for non-judicial foreclosures. Then losing payments, proof of insurance forms forcing more expensive yet less coverage insurance on the unwitting borrower, and other tactics to basically harrass and confuse the so to speak unsophisticated borrower hoping that the hassle, time and cost of faxing over and over the corrections of their mistakes until eventually when the borrower does get behind the mistakes pop up to hinder them from ever getting it straightened out. Hours spent on the phone. Extra dollars for gas and postage and faxes that struggling while the economy tanks becomes a huge deal as anyone can imagine. And all the while other banks and institutions sending pre-approved gold credit cards luring consumers with more free money knowing they control the interest rates and regulations. Yes this happens!
Then the gotcha factor, trying to qualify for any supposed help knowing the statistics are against you as well as not being given the information as to how to qualify disrupting relationships, schedules, health and now the possibilty of being set up once again to lose after all the borrower has been through is dishonest and unjust.
Look up Mortgage Fraud under anyone of these banks in the upcoming spotlight. They have class-action lawsuits of fraud against them and are still doing business while still missing payments, harrassing phone calls, lost documents borrowers have sent these supposed representatives upon THEIR request. And they absolutely, everyone of them knows whats going on up there on Capital Hill. "Sweet" , they are thinking, 'fooled 'em again. "
Too bad the costs have been so great - lives have been lost and altered never to be the same again. Families split, suicides, domestic violence all of our social problems increasing.
Yet still and until the voters call and bug these unscrupulous politions and their banker buds to really help us stay in our homes, no one will ever be safe in their homes again.
Enjoyed you on Moyers - just wish you would cover all the predatory, fraudulent aspects of thes so-called reputable banks.
Hope everyone is on the phone Monday to their representatives before the bankers subpeoned arrive on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how our once popular president handles it to show us he is still a part of us and not them like it seems.
Thank you.
Higher consciousness needed
Until the consciousness of people is changed from duality, there will never be any change. What I mean by that is- the left yells at the right, the right yells at the left. The rich blame the poor, the poor blame the rich. The government blames business, big business blames the government.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Stop the duality and get people to wake up and understand that the solution is none of the above. The solution has to come from OUTSIDE both of these positions. Think of it as a new particle wave theory.
The day that people in America "get" this, those established systems will fall by the wayside. It is starting, so lets take it to the next level.
donovan moore
editior
spiritnewsdaily.com
America's only non dual news source
WALL STREET MY ASS!
Anyone who believes this economy and all the debt generated from Wall St is a colossal moron.
This is exactly what the progressives (pronounced "Marxists") want the jobless and uneducated to believe.
If they can sell this HUGE lie they can move more power into the hands of the very people who did it.
The fact is the leftists in congress blackmailed the banks into making bad loans.
Loans they resisted and were warned would fail.
The congress covered up and denied Freddie and Fannie were gone years before the crash.
When it came congress and Obama again blackmailed the banks into taking money this time.
And they ordered and specified most of the way it was to be spent.
They specifically ordered major financial institutions to pay huge bonuses.
PREDICTION ALERT:
Watch for story after story from the most left leaning sources (LIKE THIS ONE)
that use Hitler style propaganda to create class hatred.
And yes it has already started:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howabou ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8410489.stm
We have more arrogance and petty tyrants in charge of the US than anytime since FDR.
And they intend to take us the rest of the way into Marxism.
Here is what most Americans just do not get:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4r0VUybeXY
There IS a MOVEMENT
If the finance/debt industry fails the sun will continue to shine, gravity will continue to work, electricity will still be a ready resource and our brains will still work. The same human imagination that was used to develop the economic system is still functioning.
Out here in the south central UTAH desert a movement born of that imagination is unfolding as we speak. It's the movement towards a new HUMAN economy based on human needs and desires instead of unchecked profit motive.
The anger and futility we are experiencing is a simultaneous signal of our collective awakening to the swindle we've subjected our selves to and the emerging NEW philosophy being born in this crisis. Crises cause humans to review and re-prioritize.
Don't stay stuck in the disillusionment too long. There is something you can do today to change the "intellectual currency" of the world from your own home.
Put a homemade 250BOYCOTT sign in your window or on your door and you are instantly a part of this new movement toward real freedom and the "level playing field" we all know is coming.
Watch the "Max Trinity s Trickle UP Global Economics" video series on youtube to see how the boycott works. There are 6 political shorts in the series. Go to the professormaxtrinity Youtube channel where the videos are hosted. Check it out and join this growing movement today!!! You'll get a sense of personal control back in your own life and of real influence in the world. Make that sign and put it in your window I gaurantee, you'll feel EMPOWERED!
Peace to you my friends,
Rev. K aka Max
Personal Responsibility
In the first paragraph you describe how Americans are taking responsibility for buying stuff they couldn't afford, resulting in the rational conclusion that we brought this mess on ourselves. The lenders were just doing what the government told them to do and make housing affordable to more Americans, even those who had no business buying a house. In order to make money off these kinds of bad gambles, they created credit swaps that they could buy and sell to offset the losses they knew were coming. Sure enough, the chickens came home to roost. What we do NOT need now are self-righteous citizens refusing to take the blame for the problem in which they were willing participants, nor should we forget this whole mess was caused by government intervention in the private sector driven by the same old coercive altruism. Also, to hell with bailouts. The whole thing should come crashing down to demonstrate once and for all how the "brother's keeper" mentality of big government simply does not work.
Recent interview on Bill Moyer's Journal
It is time to fight. The middle class of this country is being wiped out. Parsing words about the financial industry on PBS ( sponsored by Chevron, Bank Of America, BNSF, & Monsanto) might exorcise angst for those of you still employed. But soon, when you find you're not; and that you have no hope of future employment perhaps it will be too late.
IT IS TIME TO FIGHT. Our constitution has been abbrogated at nearly every line. This same document was won by men who had no fear. Who were willing to place their lives on the line for FREEDOM. The "Royals" are killing our dreams, our hopes, our families ability to flourish. Since when do Americans stand down and allow such things to occur.
I do not recall such a time, and I will gladly give my life to prevent one from occurring.
Recent interview on Bill Moyer's Journal
It is time to fight. The middle class of this country is being wiped out. Parsing words about the financial industry on PBS ( sponsored by Chevron, Bank Of America, BNSF, & Monsanto) might exorcise angst for those of you still employed. But soon, when you find you're not; and that you have no hope of future employment perhaps it will be too late.
IT IS TIME TO FIGHT. Our constitution has been abbrogated at nearly every line. This same document was won by men who had no fear. Who were willing to place their lives on the line for FREEDOM. The "Royals" are killing our dreams, our hopes, our families ability to flourish. Since when do Americans stand down and allow such things to occur.
I do not recall such a time, and I will gladly give my life to prevent one from occurring.
To Big To Jail issue
I watched Bill Moyer's interviews with Dave and Kevin and believe they have hit on a most important point. Americans have been fooled into believing that the health of Wall Street equates to a healthy economy. Americans must support Wall Street in order to financially thrive. Yet wages have not grown in a decade, most of us are doing less well than in previous years (decades), and banks have gone from missions of capital flow and credit access for business and consumption to investments for profit of its own industry.
As such, the rise or fall of the stock market simply doesn't reflect main street success, but only that of an ever enlarging elite class of bank/investment/insurance/energy firms and their owners/shareholders. Except that I am a common stockholder of bank stock, and my dividend has dropped 88% for each of the past five quarters, even though the stock market has shown a steady increase for 2009.
The lesson is that Main Street's economic well-being is no longer tied to Wall Street's and we need to adjust accordingly.
What would happen if we withdrew our funds from the large banks, especially those who accepted tax dollars, but who are not lending or are raising consumer interest rates, instead putting our funds in locally owned banks or credit unions? Is there a difference in these types of institutions that might benefit Main Street depositors? What about transferring Main Street loans, both commercial and residential, to such credit organizations? Are there advantages perhaps not before considered? What other credit sources exist that are not predatory? Americans need to get creative, now.
I think the two authors are naive to believe that Obama will lead us to any real reform. His choices for cabinet positions and czars are proof enough that the status quo will endure under his leadership. There isn't a single Obama appointment without huge financial ties to one of the above named private industries.
The Bush and Obama Administrations have proven once and for all that no longer can democrats or republicans claim to be agents of change, or pretend to be representative of American taxpayers over the special interests that contribute mightily to their careers. And the notion of fixing problems by choosing Big Government over Big Business is a modern day oxymoron. They are one in the same.
Americans must reclaim financial independence by 1) invoking our consumer power by withdrawing resources from Wall Street where most appropriate, and 2) return to business principles that rely on old fashioned capitalism (competition thru supply and demand) if we are to pull out of this financial quagmire on our own, because true capitalism (commerce without corruption of competition by issuing competitive advantages to special interests thru legislation) has long been absent on Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Outrage deflected
Why no outrage from the masses? Its very simple: public relations. Our society has been manipulated for decades. Consumerism is no accident. We have been steered to the malls and online clicks as a distraction. Edward Bernays, the father of public relations, lead the way, along with his cousin, Sigmond Freud. How you ask? Simply by surveying us and taking the ever-present polls. We willing submit to these windows on how we feel about products, services, and even politicians. From these jumping off points corporations and governments (note Operation Mockingbird) take our information and manipulate it to their own advantage. Not many are willing to take on the large corporate behemoth. Show outrage at the banking industry and before long you hear screaming of SOCIALISM. Never mind that the screams come from those who have a vested interest in you not getting heard. "Crowds are dumb and stupid" said Edward Bernays. Reversing these manipulations in these electronic media filled times will take some event catastrophic and unimaginable.
Financial misery
David, thanks so much for writing so cogently on this matter. I like to take a long view, and have some observations regarding the crisis and the apparent lack of public will to insist on progressive (counter-capture) measures to resolve it. First, let me say that the answers are simple: (a) reinstate Glass-Steagall to separate the banks from the investment bankers (Wall Street casino types), (b) get rid of Geithner and Bernanke, (c) require that all derivatives be traded publicly or outlaw them (and certainly outlaw all derivatives that are complex enough that the average investor can't understand them). Now, as to the lack of public will. The American taxpayer has been caught in a cultural paradigm of greed. After a broad erosion of the American cultural ethos, we now sneer at the kind of values that made Leave It To Beaver popular. We now place wealth above almost everything in our ranking of things that make us happy. So, we are willing to be led by the nose by a media that panders to this attitude, and, rather than wanting Wall Street to fail in its present situation, we want what they have. That is truly sad. When I hear about the vast bonus pools at Goleman Sachs and others, I think, "How can they possibly be happy in their lives without giving away most of what they have, since they have literally millions of times more than the averge citizen." I was speaking to a Russian friend recently who has lived in this country (as an American citizen) for many years, and he agreed with my observation that America very closely resembles the Soviet Union at it's peak, where wealth and power are concentrated with a very few, and the general populace is fed the line that we are being watched over by those who know better how a country should be run. Now, that's truly sad. And sadly true.
"How do you regulate
"How do you regulate derivatives when 99 percent of the public don't understand it?"
Um, the same way the FDA regulates pharmaceuticals, which a like proportion of the public doesn't understand?
A very good article and interview
I appreciate the great article.
Thanks for the good discussion with Bill Moyers.
What about writing a web form letter on your site to President Obama regarding financial reform.
People can send letters to the President to voice their financial reform agenda.
Plenty of anger to come
As the S&P crashes through 500, lots of anger will surface.
Jamie Dimon MUST be asked this week what responsibility he feels for the weakening of America's National Security through JPM's holdings of 70 Trillion dollars notional value (larger than total world GDP) in Off-exchange derivatives. Embedded in this lies approx. 2-5 Trillion in losses yet to be recognized, with the blessing of the FED and Treasury.
Taxcheatgeithner must be asked why anyone would fully pay their taxes when a multiple tax cheat runs the IRS.
corproate bail-outs
People are basically sheep, and the corporations running our so-called democracies have become very good at manipulating the sheep. In comparison, the old Communist bogeyman was a decided amateur when it comes to brainwashing the masses, and the recent wave of bail-outs have reinforced the conclusions of their "research" into social manipulation, that is, the belief that they can do whatever they please and, should the proverbial shit hit the fan, the government will bail them out with the full compliance of millions of well-trained sheep.
Overwhelming
Overwhelming...that is the word I would use to describe the world of today. There are so many things that are wrong, where can one start? To me, it is like the whole world is spinning dangerously out of control--whether it's economics, UBS, Wall Street, big banks---one thing for sure is that it seems no one is minding the store. Greed and self-centeredness seem to be the mode of operation, with little respect or regard for those who will be victimized next.
First it's Chinese exports containing lead; now it's Cadmium, in children's toys--http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/11/health/main6080353.shtml
Then, it's the middle class taxpayer who has paid into social security all his/her life only to find out that the government has been using the funds for all kinds of things as a piggy bank. The wealthy elite control America, and most pay little or no taxes; the middle class, however, shoulders the weight of everyone--including the poor. Our food supply is imperiled. No matter how much one says that growth hormones and anti-bacterial "medicines" are safe...maybe, just maybe, that is why diseases are harder to contain and we have an obese population. Everywhere you turn, there are problems with lack of sufficient control and oversight.
We have no jobs, because all of the jobs are being done in China. Wall Street and derivatives are just fake money sources--nothing concrete upon which to stand. Finally, you have the Republicans grinding in the "too big and dismal failure" government control mechanism to fuel anger at the government in an effort to divert attention from the people who are robbing us blind. Because of ignorance or simply turning a blind eye, people have bought in to this rubbish. After all, Fox News sued in a Florida court for the right to legally lie to Americans.
Anger? Confusion? Depression? Only the beginning...subsequent chapters to follow.
Then you wonder why the American people can't get it right. We are in real trouble.
Rage!
I an royally peed off at what I see as fascist greedheads who have manipulated the economy to empoverish so many and crash the economy. But I am frustrated. It does no good to stand on a streetcorner and scream abuse at them. I am not a violent sociopath, so while I might think quite a few of these swine deserve drawing and quartering (with the slow evisceration that is implied) I have worked very hard to achieve some sort of stability for my own family and I don't want to sabotage my own security by some act of emotionally satisfying violence that only succeeds in getting my heinie incarcerated. Still even if I don't act because I have too much to loose, there are a lot of folks out their who have Nothing to loose. A dry room and meals could look like a bargain to an angry someone who has lost everything. The crooks who did this should be very frightened, I want them to have bleeding ulcers. I can't do violence but I can curse them, the mxtplic-zrblgrtznorg grutztles, May they all flbogrszmfzgax!
Bill Moyer's Journal this
Bill Moyer's Journal this past week did a great job of highlighting the subtle but extensive clout these cretins have in watering down to nothing any reform legislation that would change things. It was very painful to listen to and shot many holes into the hope that Pres. Obama, even with the best intentions and massive public support, is going change this process one iota.
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