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TechnoratiWill Any Crumbs Remain After Bankers' Feast?
UNITED NATIONS - The vast resources the U.S. and Europeans are pouring into ailing financial firms could lead to disastrous consequences for global efforts to reduce poverty and mitigate the impacts of climate change, warns a new study by an independent think tank.
The study, entitled "Skewed Priorities: How the Bailouts Dwarf Other Global Crises", points out that the U.S and European governments are willing to help financial firms in crisis with more than 4 trillion dollars -- an amount estimated to be 40 times higher than what is being spent on measures to fight climate change and poverty.
According to researchers at the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, which released the study's findings Monday, governments of the rich industrialized countries are very likely to use the cost of their financial sector bailouts as an excuse to backtrack on global aid for poverty and climate change financing commitments.
The study comes as the United Nations is preparing to hold two major international meetings to advance its agenda on environment and development.
The three-day conference on financing for development is scheduled to commence in Doha, Qatar next weekend, while the U.N. conference on climate change is set for in Poznan, Poland next week.
The Poznan conference will last for more than a week, with more than 8,000 delegates expected to attend. It is supposed to hammer out further international commitments to fight climate change, including climate-related financial assistance for developing countries.
U.N. officials hope the meeting will prove to be a "milestone on the road to success" for the negotiation processes launched at past conferences, because it is tasked with setting the agenda for final talks on the future of the climate change treaty at another meeting due to take place in Denmark next year.
But considering the fact that the U.S. and most governments in Europe are currently preoccupied with addressing their own financial crises, observers say it is highly unlikely there will be a major breakthrough in regard to the issue of global funding for climate change mitigation.
Whether or not the rich nations come forward to make fresh commitments on climate change, the fact is, as the study's authors note, that the current financial crisis is hurting all the countries, no matter how rich or poor.
"Skyrocketing poverty and unemployment in the developing world will mean even more brutal global competition for jobs," said the study's lead author John Cavanagh. "Climate change imperils the very future of the planet."
To Cavanagh, the richest nations in the world "appear fixated almost entirely on responding to the financial crisis, and specifically, on propping up their own financial firms."
The report's key findings show that the amount the U.S. and the European governments have committed to the ailing banking industry is way beyond what they spent on development projects in poor countries last year.
According to the study's authors, the U.S. government's 152.5-billion-dollar rescue plan for one single company -- AIG -- far exceeds the 90.7 billion dollars the U.S. and European governments spent on development aid in 2007.
They note the U.S. government had spent about 23 billion dollars on aid to all developing countries last year. By contrast, the bailout amount it gave away to the failed investment bank Bear Stearns was 29 billion dollars.
The United States also committed 200 billion dollars to prop up mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a figure that dwarfs the 209 million dollars in economic aid in 2007 to Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
According to the report, the U.S. and European governments have committed over 300 times more to rescuing banks, as compared to 13 billion dollars in new commitments made to help poor countries address the climate crisis over the next several years.
Researchers note that the Swiss government has committed 60 billion dollars to rescue the ailing investment bank UBS. This amount is five times more than what all Western European governments pledged for climate finance to help poor countries in 2007.
The U.S., according to the study, has made no commitment to fund climate change-related projects in the developing world. The U.S. is not a signatory to the climate change treaty, although it is responsible for more than 25 percent of carbon emissions on the planet, which is considered by scientists as the main cause of global warming.
"Such extremely lopsided priorities will come back to haunt the United States and the rest of the global North in the long run," said the study's co-author Sarah Anderson. "The richer countries not only have an obligation to clean up the messes they've made abroad. It's also in their interest."
52 Comments so far
Show AllSONG To The Men of England by Percy B. Shelley circa 1819
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care,
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save,
From the cradle to the grave,
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat - nay, drink your blood!
Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain , and scourge,
That those stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?
Or what is it you buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
Sow seed, - but let no tyrant reap;
Find wealth, - let no imposter heap;
Weave robes, - let not the idle wear;
Forge arms, - in your defence to bear.
Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells:
In halls ye deck, another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.
With plough and spade, and hoe and loom,
Trace your grave, and build your tomb,
And weave your winding sheet, till fair
England be your sepulchre.
A poster here recently proclaimed that Obama is a spiritual agent -- a "lightworker" whose auspicious appearance we all should embrace. Recall that Lucifer (literally, "bearer of light") also had a mission of his own. There are people who can bend the Light in order to serve a dark and selfish ends. As the saying goes, "all that glitters is not gold." Whether these agents of false change be church leaders or aspiring politicians, many naive people will be duped by their false charisma, misled by a beaming smile and a soaring rhetoric that has few facts or actions to support it.
Most of the progressive critiques of neocon agendas focus on "greed," "mistakes," "shortsightedness," "arrogance," and the like. I think they miss the bigger picture. They are not connecting the dots. Everything is going as designed for the elites: the Iraq/Afghanistan/and soon to be Iran war, the $2.5 quadrillion derivative bubble, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the banker heist, the end of the dollar, the end of nation-state sovereignity, massive corporate failure and resulting consolidation and vertical integration, the implosion of the US and international economies. Cf. documents from the UN, the Club of Rome, the CFR, the Trilateral Commission, the annual Bilderberg meetings, various revealing statements by elite insiders like Kissenger, Buffet, and members of the Rothschild and Rockefeller families, and so forth. They are all on the same page.
What you see going on here is very much by design. These elites already have all the trillions of $ that they possibly could need. What they haven't quite accomplished is a full return to neo-feudalism. This requires the destruction of the middle classes internationally. There will be the upper 1/10th of 1%, and the bottom 99% that has no job security, constant electronic surveilance, a diet of mercury and cancer laced vaccines and GMO foods -- a mass of dumbed-down arrogant piglike slaves for the masters to do as they will with.
Check out Bohemian Grove and Yale's Skull and Bones' society (one of several societies under the umbrella of The Order of Death -- Bush and Kerry are members). The Nazi SS were members of the Order of Death. I am not joking. It's been around for centuries. These people pledge their alegiance not to humanity, but to greed, death, each other, and truly, in their own words, darkness itself.
This is all to say that there is a great battle going on, and it is not just on the material plane. For every banker bailout, for every corporate loophole, there are millions who will die of starvation and inadequate medical care because the resources to assist them (i.e., to support Life) are not there. This is the moral narrative, the shadow story, the subtext, of what the corporate media purposefully avoid informing us of. There are people (think Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfeld) for whom the progressive strategies of persuasion by argument, logic, and compassion simply won't work.
BTW, great piece by Ralph Nader on a first step toward regulating the corporations: public disclosure of tax returns:
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/2087-Open-The-Books-Save-The-Economy.html
Also, a really good piece at DN! "Naomi Klein, Robert Kuttner and Michael Hudson Dissect Obama’s New Economic Team & Stimulus Plan"
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/25/naomi_klein_robert_kuttner_and_michael
Peace.
***
911 was an inside job. Cheney suspended the Constitution via the imposition of Continuity of Government on 911. Congress has been denied access to the COG details. COG is martial law. http://prisonplanet.tv/alex_jones_live.html
A good solution would be a wealth tax.
All wealth over twenty million ( a completely arbitrary number) should be taxed 100%.
It would probably generate enough coin to get the engines going again.
Also mothball the military it is not needed. And it should never be reassembled as a tool of corporate profits.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
The crooks are still in charge and always will be as long as we keep swallowing the BS. We all need to stand up and insist on real change.
Frisbie Einstein: "The main reason for the bailouts is that the deposits are insured. So either the public pays for the bailout or the bank goes bust and the public pays even more.
This has its origin with Roosevelt. The bank deposits were insured and the banks regulated so that they were unlikely to go bust. The bankers gradually got rid of the regulations but kept the insurance. The bomb was armed. Kaboom."
Einstein (!), I am afraid you have got the facts wrong or at least mixed up. In the Roosevelt era, the passing of the Glass-Steagall Act (1933)was intended to prevent another big crash like the one in 1929 which was mainly caused by unbridled speculation.
Glass-Steagall enforced a strict separation between commercial banks, investment banks and insurance companies (to prevent a conflict of interest), sell or underwerite the offering by hyping the stock). So the banks had to choose:
1) Highly leveraged (meaning you bet on something with tons of borrowed money), speculative and therefore risky investment strategies were "contained" because only investment banks could use them and their clients were a small rich elite who knew that high risk was involved. The price for this freedom was that there were no government insurance at all: if the bets failed, all investments were lost.
2) Commercial banks were regulated and supervised, so their range of actions was limited (give commercial loans,take deposits based on strict rules, no underwriting)but in return they had government backing for their deposits.
Another law, the Securities Act prevented speculative excesses by creating the SEC and enforcing more transparency and accountability in the banking industry. Needless to say, that the banks hated Roosevelt for this and rumor has it, they even planned to assassinate him.... (as they did with Lincoln (?), who created the real debt-free "greenback"...) http://video.google.de/videosearch?q=money+as+debt&emb=0&aq=f#
How Glass-Steagall and most other regulatory measures were repealed for the benefit of Wall Street is explained here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html
The consequences were immense: gratis credit money from the Fed (lowest interest rate in decades,under Greenspan)and massive deregulation opened the floodgates of unbridled speculation with "innovative" products like credit derivatives, notably CDOs and "Credit Default Swaps" (which they sold in a circle (bet against each other) and created the greatest "housing bubble" and Ponzi scheme of all times)... This perverse system is now in the stage of the "death spiral" (a self-reinforcing downward spiral) and the "state" (US taxpayers) is now serving as the sucker of last resort...
For more information try the following websites:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=355
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1263
http://www.michael-hudson.com/
http://www.cepr.org/default_static.htm
A great treasure in understanding the real background of the current crisis, what role the Fed and monetary policy are playing and how we have all become slaves to the debt system is this book: this is really an eye-opener and highly-recommended...
http://www.webofdebt.com/
The main reason for the bailouts is that the deposits are insured. So either the public pays for the bailout or the bank goes bust and the public pays even more.
This has its origin with Roosevelt. The bank deposits were insured and the banks regulated so that they were unlikely to go bust. The bankers gradually got rid of the regulations but kept the insurance. The bomb was armed. Kaboom.
This has been a bipartisan effort, Clinton went along with it. I even wrote a letter protesting it in 1998 or whenever it was. Now we're screwed. There is no saving this monster. The Fed is going wild. Look for a collapse of the dollar, which means prices of goods go up because so much is imported.
Monkeys won't let go of the candy, so can't get their fists out of the jar.
The so-called "bailout" is nothing more than a siphoning off of possible future earnings by individual taxpayers to the benefit of rich corporations and their greedy bloated executives. It's a total scam and should be stopped.
To Curtis---
You wanna raise chickens in yore back yard? Better check yore local ordinances. In my little Indiana town it's illegal. Wanna tether a goat to mow your lawn? Illegal.
Actually, in a very real sense it is illegal to be poor when it ought to be illegal to be filthy rich.
-30-
FALLACY OF CLIMATE BILL REJECTION
Our Nation's non compliance with the rest of the developed nations concerning global warming mitigation underscores the dangerous control that special interests have exercised over the Bush administration’s policies. Their distortions of scientific data typifies their unconscionable war on science. Evidence linking carbon pollution to warming has long been as close to certain as science can be. Its causes, consequences, and mitigation requirements have been documented by many dedicated environmental organizations including The Union of Concerned Scientists.
Special interests argue that the current warming trends follow historic warming cycles, and hence reflect natural weather patterns--but they omit obvious differences: The earlier warming trends developed at slower rates which permitted the ecosystems to adapt. Morever they resulted from temporary natural events, which allowed transitions back to normal temperature patterns--by contrast, the current warming patterns result from artificial causes that will only intensify unless mitigated.
By all indicators, global warming will self perpetuate as the melting ice sheets absorb rather than reflect heat, as the melting permafrost releases more CO2 & methane, and the list goes on. Inundation of low lying areas, spread of tropical diseases to temperate latitudes, sea life destruction from changing ocean chemistry, & currents, are only some potential consequences.
Often overlooked is the fact that, the same measures needed to mitigate global warming would be necessary even if it were no issue. Conservation, alternative energy development, anti- pollution refinements, etc are essential for other vital environmental reforms such as air and water quality, reductions in toxic waste generation, land preservation, etc.
Contrary to right wing assertions, measures to reduce greenhouse gases could only improve our economy by lessening our trade deficits, and improving our security by reducing our dependance on foreign oil. We could also regain some of our lost world respect that has resulted from our rejection of Kyoto while arrogantly contributing disproportionally to carbon pollution. With our participation in international efforts, China & India could no longer use our non-compliance as an excuse for their non-participation.
The environmental and social damage from our indifference to carbon pollution can only worsen if we allow the same special interests to force the new administration away from the desperately needed environmental reforms and reversal of the current administration’s war against our planet.
James A. Swanson, Los Altos, California
www.bushleagueofnations.com [for free download of entire book]
The “crumbs” in the title of this excellent article by Haider Rizvi caused me to think of “trickle-down” economics—and more than a quarter century of Reaganomics, or supply-side economics, also known as Voodoo economics.
If there is a famine in the land, the manna from heaven should not be fairly distributed to all the people—as it was by God in the Book of Exodus—but rather only to the wealthy well-fed bankers in their mansions on the hill.
Then, perhaps, a few crumbs will accidentally roll down the hill to the peasants, who, unlike the plump bankers, did not cause the famine in the first place.
The GOP has skillfully controlled the language of our public discussion. Accurate language is frequently replaced by deceptive sounds-good language that favors the GOP, and other words—including “liberal,” “compassionate,” “family values,” and “Christian”—have been redefined to the GOP’s benefit.
But “trickle-down” is an accurate term that the GOP has had to live with. Incredibly, the GOP has not successfully caused the media and everyone else to refer to it as “flood-down” or “multiply-down” or some other such term that would make it sound like they were trying to help the little people.
Yes, I like “trickle-down.” And “crumbs.” It’s so GOP, you know … crumbs from the Crumbs.
Jim Swanson, Los Altos, CA
www.bushleagueofnations.com
We are in the same shape as thirties Germany. 1% of the people own 99% of the wealth and the other 99% of the people scratch and claw for some of the remaining 1% of the wealth.
In Germany, the Junkers owned and controlled the wealth. One of Hitler's strategies for gaining power was to tell the Junkers that they could keep their wealth. He would not tax them. He also got rid of unions and pensions, etc. The money set aside for those things were returned to the government or big business (the Junkers) to use as they wished.
As a result, he had their unqualified support and they gave him money and help to get elected. He also told the Wehrmacht that they could rebuild with no checks or balances. So, most of the Officer Corps was solidly behind him.
With the 1% solidly in control, the 99% had to work at whatever jobs were allocated to them, for as many hours as required, for as little as they wanted to pay them. To Hitler and the Junkers, this was the natural order of things.
This is a gross oversimplification, but do you see any parallels going on here?
To say "the Junkers owned and controlled wealth" is grossly inaccurate.
The greatest parallel I can see between pre-Nazi Germany and America today is the concentration of Jewish control over government, media, and finance that occurred in both countries, and the likely - perhaps inevitable - anti-semitic revolution that will ensue.
This is something that no American politician has ever addressed. Certainly not Obama. Notice his grovelling towards AIPAC. Notice his first act as President-elect: the appointment of Israeli Rahm Emanuel for Chief of Staff. Think about Hillary Clinton and her threats to "totally obliterate" Iran, her ties to Larry Silverstein*, and her position on the conflict in the Middle East. Think about Joe Biden's hawkish and unqualified support for Israel. Think about 9/11 and the parallels with the Reichstag fire.
When the truth about 9/11 is revealed, when Americans wake up and realize what the true cost of their support for Israel has been, well, I think the walls will crumbling down.
It will be a new Nazi era, this time in America.
*this is from an article in
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=97338&contrassID=3&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrass...
"As the largest private donor to Hillary Clinton, he has an open door to the office of the junior senator from New York."
.Many conflate the State of Israel with the religion of Judaism, you are ,apparently, no exception. That the population of Israel is overwhelmingly Jewish is moot. A thinking and decent person would understand that one separates the religious from the political when addressing the actions of a nation. Israel is not governed by the old testament you might understand ( well not you I guess).Thus to blame Judaism for the mistreatment of the Palestinians is an egregious error.
Speaking of such errors you seem to make yet another in your intimation that world wide business is the exclusive domain of the Jew. While it is true that , because traditionally the Jew was denied ownership of land, many are found in businesses and banking, it is just as true that the boards of most fortune 500 companies are an almost exclusive playground of those who would not have a Jew in their clubs much less sitting in their boardrooms.
While we are discussing history one might also take umbrage at your assumption that Hitler rose to power in order to overcome any undue influence of the Jew in German governance. He rose, in fact, by scapegoating the Jewish population of Germany, by falsely accusing them of being responsible for the economic travails of Germany and not, as you imply, because there was any substance to that false accusation.
I believe that what you preach here is false and is dangerously close to something that smells very bad indeed.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
I am not preaching anything.
That as you say "Many conflate the State of Israel with the religion of Judaism" is true, and is a danger to jewish peoples, not only in America, but everywhere.
That is precisely why I feel it important that America question its support for Israel, look at its true costs (don't even try to convince me that the wars in Iraq and Aghanistan have nothing to do with US support for Israel) and pursue a policy of neutrality and respect for human rights, freedom, and self-determination, for all people, for all nations, everywhere.
Anyway, an anti-semitic backlash in the united states is far from being something I would advocate, but fear.
.I thank you for continuing to attempt a clarification of your (perhaps poorly chosen) words. While you have my support in that we need to redefine our support for Israel in the light of the rights of the Palestinian people and the horrific actions of the state of Israel against them I see no refutation of your basic premise conflating Judaism with the State.
Your words:
"The greatest parallel I can see between pre-Nazi Germany and America today is the concentration of Jewish control over government, media, and finance that occurred in both countries, and the likely - perhaps inevitable - anti-semitic revolution that will ensue. "
"When the truth about 9/11 is revealed, when Americans wake up and realize what the true cost of their support for Israel has been, well, I think the walls will crumbling down."
"It will be a new Nazi era, this time in America."
.................
You continue to equate the policies of a government with the major religion of that state. This is wrong and opens the door to your supposition of anti-semitism because of governmental policies. Do you seek to damage the reputation of all christians because of the actions of a particular christian, George Walker Bush?
Your supposition that Hitler arose because of some MYTHIC and totally false assertion that Jews controlled German government, media and finance, and that they do here as well, should, in good faith, be repudiated by you, or perhaps you have a source you'd care to share, 'Stormfront' excluded of course.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Very well said.
When I started this particular chain, I was pointing out parallels between the current US and 1930's Germany, before and as Hitler ascended to power. I didn't mention Jews or Israel at all.
However, I found it interesting to have an article (that was eventually published) rejected as "anti-semitic" which related the heroism of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, who fought back with gallantry and desperation against the Nazis and held them off for quite a while. They were eventually overwhelmed by sheer firepower. Those that did not die fighting were, with few exceptions sent to the death camps.
Apparently my "anti-semitism" was in pointing out that any oppressed people will fight their oppressors. Those with the least hope often fight the hardest. I felt, and feel, that the Israeli government is doing the same thing to the Palestinians by walling them in, depriving them of food, water, electricity, medical care and hope.
Their desperate fight back, then, is considered terrorism. The Nazis considered the French Resistance and the resistance in the Balkans in the same light. People fighting a dictatorial or repressive regime are always considered terrorists or insurgents by the oppressors. The same holds true in Iraq, occupied by a distant government using military and mercenary troops to hold the people in subjugation, while proclaiming peace and democracy. The only peace, so far, is the grave, for about a million or more. The two million displaced have no peace at all.
The Palestinians will have no peace either unless the Israeli government starts working with the Palestinian government to rectify what is going on there. Increased repression always meets increased resistance. That was what I was trying to point out and that, apparently, is "anti-semitic." I find that sad.
Sorry, I accidentally double posted, so deleted the second post.
"governments of the rich industrialized countries are very likely to use the cost of their financial sector bailouts as an excuse to backtrack on global aid for poverty and climate change financing commitments."
Well, when your definition of aid is helping the elites reap profit, it doesn't really matter, eh?
And I doubt that will stop. The status quo will go out of its way to protect its power. So this "aid" probably won't come to a halt. Perhaps the few short term PR-motivated solutions, like dumping unhealthy imported food on people, will stop. I guess they'll just rip off their bandaid of shame.
I posted this late yesterday, but I'd like to get a few more people thinking about it if I could.
This doesn't really belong on this string, but when I left the Food Bank yesterday we were out of almost everything and nothing was coming in.
PLEASE donate to your local Food Bank, I understand this is not just happening to us. Giving is down everywhere for obvious reasons, but even one can would help. Please give what you can.
To any that are offended by my posting off point, my apologies.
.Why on earth would someone be offended by what you posted? Should any actually find the idea of giving offensive, or noting the need of many during this holiday season, then they simply do not deserve the politeness you offer.
One of the reasons I love my job is that , within my company , there is a constant striving to assist those within the communities we serve, not just this time of year but all the year long. I made my donation to the local food bank last week in fact.
A nation is not judged by how the wealthiest within it live but by how the neediest within it are helped.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
ardee
"I made my donation to the local food bank last week in fact."
Thank you very much! I know they appreciated it more than you'll know.
Sioux Rose
If one were to make a cartoon out of the current scene, it would look like all the rich grabbing fistfulls of dollars knowing a Depression is coming; yet by their actions there are indeed BRINGING it on.
A crisis always teaches us much about who we are. This crisis could have been (there's a hair's breath it might still be) the "teaching moment" where the entire paradigm was analzyed and precious funds put into saving homes FOR homeowners by renegotiating the loan terms. First order of business, maintain the VALUE of so much real estate while preserving property values for others in those communities, AND maintaining property taxes. From there, take the 850 billion that magically appeared out of no where, and use it to invest in infrastructure to GREEN the economy, and wean the nation from its dependence on wars FOR oil.
In other words, perilous as times may be, there are far better solutions than what we are seeing and hearing, what the rich are doing to in theory cover their own asses. It's almost a parody on Versailles... the wealth partying on as the glaciers melt and the water meets them in their half-drunken states, thinking themselves safe inside.
I know this must sound like a broken record, but about the only thing that keeps me sane (apart from doing small things to feel peaceful, and writing & teaching in the hope of lifting minds to higher understanding) is the realization that EACH will have to answer for what s/he did with the resources put in their path.
"The smartest politicians will be those who understand that when the facts stop fitting the world-view, they must remake the world-view, not recreate the facts." -- Noreena Hertz, New Statesman
The overspending of the financial elite by taking risks caused the death of the whole financial and banking system and capitalism too boot, however the Ruling Elite are not going to give away their control and power so easily so in steps the puppet politicians from around the world to hand them our money. The speed with which they reacted to this engineered crash is staggering considering that the whole financial system is based on an illusion and is made real by the fact that we play along with it whereas real world issues are convientely ignored or given window dressing to appease us for a while until it becomes obvious that the puppet politicians had no desire to actually deal with them and then they promise (yet again) to deal with them and the sheep happily believe them (yet again), it's sad but that is the way our world is.
Real issues such as the lack of food, clean water, shelter, health, education, victims of violence, climate change, deforestation, overfishing, decline of the bee population, dwindling resources, etc, etc are always given lip service during election cycles and then for the most part ignored. Of course the puppet politicians jet away to luxury resorts at various exotic locations around the world to allegedly discuss these matters but never come up with any real solution for any of them AND then comes along the financial crash and all of a sudden the puppet politicians are bailing out the Ruling Elite to the tune of billions whilst thousands are having their homes and possessions repossessed in their own countries and millions face starvation on a daily basis around the world. The Ruling Elite are laughing at us and we all we do is vote in another of their puppet politicians whose mantra of change is meaningless as he has no explanation of what change he will bring.
The bailout will change anything, it will just make things worse as our own standards of life drops as living costs increases and jobs are cut and welfare decreased and the rich will keep getting richer and the rest of us will soon have nothing.
I say let the financial world crash and die and end the illusion of money and end the Ruling Elites stranglehold on our society before their sickness destroys everything.
No man or woman is better than any other. No vocation is better than other vocation - they are different yes but more important no. End any job which is meaningless and work together to create a better world for the good of all and not just the Ruling Elite as it is now. If you don't understand this you are part of the problem.
rEvolution Now!
Equality Now!
peace and love
Sioux Rose
POPE SERI: Hard NOT to agree with your just analysis. The glaring wrongness of priorites on the part of those positioned to MAKE change are criminal for their negligent disregard not only of people, but of the interlocking species that lend to the web of life its integrity and sustainability. Tragic idolatry to the self-serving masters is a crime against humanity AND nature.
Rarely has a Pope spoken so wisely! We share similar views, my friend.
Don't you guys and gals get it?
The world is divided into the rich and the poor. We, the poor, exist purely for the benefit of the rich. We are here to help them to get richer. We bail them out when their endless greed causes them to make investment mistakes.
The $100,000 gold-plated, gem-encrusted pushbike (shown on my blog) was created for the rich. It is their right to have such trinkets.
It's our right to struggle and starve. Get it now?
www.dangerouscreation.com
Grover Norquist and the rest of the reactionary Republicans (with the aquiescence of the Democrats) stated in the 1990s that it was their plan to shrink the federal government to point that it "could be drowned in the bathtub." The massive bailouts to Wall Street bankers that our so called representatives in Congress and the White House jammed into law have finalized their scheme.
What most people have not realized is that there is no money left for the agenda that progressives have pushed for during the past 10 or 15 years. The US is bankrupt. I weep for my grandchildren.
Dave Bronstein, that's a great post
This is the Republican/Democrat system of privitized gains and socialized losses.
We, the people, are free to go ahead and buy and charge more to insure that we will never have anything but debt for the future generations. There is no USA, it is only a big bank that is a house made of cards with nothing to back it up. There is no such thing as money as we think of it. It is all credit.
We had just better shut up and appreciate whatever dribbles down upon uss whether it is Pi-- or debt.
The bankers et al don't say what will happen if their efforts to stabalize (or whatever) the markets don't work. It must be that what they wont say, is that the whole financial structure will fail and all money (ie fiat paper) will be seen as worthless. Paper money only has value if it is exchanged and even the banks wont do that with each other, let alone anyone else. This must be devastating for the bankers to consider. The world as we know it ends. Hopefully I will be able to get a few chickens to raise in the back yard for starters.
Is it really a case of the public not knowing? It seems like everyone knows and objects to the bailouts, or at least objects to how they're done. So what should be disturbing is that widespread public disapproval is amounting to nothing. Did anyone approve giving almost as much to Citigroup in a weekend as might go to the auto companies after a long debate? It seems the bankers run the government.
The 'public disapproval' is all talk. The USA voters just voted to keep the same crooks in office, even after the first bailout. The voters even voted for the Bailouter-in-chief. Obama was a big force behind the bailout. It IS the voters - IT IS ALWAYS THE VOTERS!!!
The bailout is being used to pay for yachts, champagne, and mansions. They know exactly what they are doing. It is us - we who are clueless. Even as Citi laughs all the way to their bank, Citi is threatening its card holders with usury.
Now is as good a time as any to prosecute the Congress for complicity to commit fraud. Arrest the conspirators on Wall Street and in the Congress.
"Don't Worry. Be Happy."
-30-
The only "Crumbs" remaining after this feeding frenzy will be the Bankers
and Politicians who have brought us their 'Dribble Down' economy.
They call our Depression a 'Recession' but I think our Neo-Leaders of the Dark Side
have really created a Neo-Dark-Age. Who will be willing to slave to pay off this debt?
Only the virtuous man acts well in good fortune - Aristotle, 'Ethics' Book IV
Alas, there are no virtuous capitalists. Greed has conquered all.
Hey! I caught the "Invisible Hand of the Market" jacking off, using my retirement fund as tissue.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
Excerpt from the movie "Network." Sort of sums it up.
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"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it.
Is that clear?
You think that you have stopped a business deal.
That is not the case.
The arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country and now they must put it back!
It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity.
It is ecological balance!
You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples.
There are no nations.
There are no peoples.
There are no Russians.
There are no Arabs.
There are no Third Worlds.
There is no West.
There is only one holistic system of systems!
One vast and immane, interwoven, interacting multi-variant, multinational dominion of dollars!
Petrol dollars, electro dollars, multi-dollars,
Reichsmarks, rins, rubles, pounds and shekels!
It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet.
That is the natural order of things today.
That is the atomic and sub-atomic and galactic structure of things today.
And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature!
And you will atone.
Am I getting through to you?
You get up on your little 21-inch screen
And you howl about America and democracy.
There is no America.
There is no democracy.
There is only IBM and ITT.
And AT&T, and Du Pont, Dow, Union Carbide and Exxon.
Those are the nations of the world today.
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state?
Karl Marx?
They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theorise, minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do.
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale,
The world is a college of corporations,
inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business.
The world is a business.
It has been since man crawled out of the slime.
And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world,
In which there is no war or famine, oppression or brutality.
One vast and ecumenical holding company,
For whom all men will work to serve a common profit.
In which all men will hold a share of stock,
All necessities provided,
All anxieties tranquilized,
All boredom amused.
And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.
"Why me?"
Because you're on television, dummy.
"I have seen the face of God."
You just might be right, Mr. Beale.
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The link is worth watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSj1yNZdY8
.Yet I see little evidence that any significant number of our populace is, "mad as hell"!
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Sioux Rose
Thanks for posting the full dialog. I actually tried to scribble down most of it watching it a year ago. What a powerful scene! One of my all-time favorites for its applicability to the dark truths of our era.
The wake up call came sooner than expected. Obama has thrown his lot in with the corporate elite. The Nader and Green voters are looking pretty wise in retrospect. Furthermore, numerous opinion polls asserted that over 65% of the US population oppossed the bailouts. I guess this is what Obama means by "listening to the will of the people" circa Sept, 2008. After the election things have apparently changed. Of course, once the elite's get in office they do just what their handlers tell them to do, and Obama is certainly no exception to the rule.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
No, there won't be any crumbs left.
The only way they will be stopped it to literally stop them.
And Citi has paid millions to name a MLB stadium after themselves. How hideous is THAT?!
The United Socialist States of America. (By invitation only)
.In fact what we see is not socialism, despite the cutesy phrasings about capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down. Socialism implies ownership by the government of the means of production, the land et al... I believe that what we see exposed due to this economic crisis is the ownership of government BY the corporations. This is simply Fascism in action.
Further, I believe that this nation has been owned by the wealthiest for a very long time and the people have been appeased by small scraps from the table If it were not for the fact that capitalism almost inevitably leads to a catastrophic conclusion such as we see here, through a consummate greed and the overwhelming need to make more and more money, to assume a larger and larger share of the market, we would not see the public exposure, by means of this "bailout", of the real fascism inherent within our supposedly democratic system.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
The costs of socialism without the benefits. Only in America!
Forgot one thing. I'm afraid Obama is loading up with people of the same mind and direction and is therefore headed in down the same road.
You don't ask the people who created the problem to fix, they are too busy covering their own holdings, and obviously over their heads in the first place. Let them drown, real entrepreneurs will fill the gap.
Isn't this just "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein, all over again?
This is just trickle down where the greedy people who created their mess get bailed out instead of following the "free market" philosophy the espouse and taking it in the shorts like and being thankful, we are not stoning them for what they have done.
Notice they all have jobs, that pay well, big homes, cars and that will not change. Not only that they have the audacity to use the money to create more wealth instead of using it as intended- not that the intent would have done any good to the economy.
The Democratic leadership has shown just how stupid they really are by supporting this fiasco and they are to blame for allowing Bush to get away with so much just to save their "offices".
- That's pretty on-target, except for your last sentence. The Dem leadership is not "stupid." They know exactly whose interests they are serving. And they serve them very well.
Although public opinion opposed the bailout(s), my impression is that most Americans have been bamboozled into more or less accepting the idea that it was somehow "necessary, in order to save the economy." Most people probably sensed there was something deeply wrong with it, but I'd guess that this reaction was mostly instinctive. I don't think most people have clearly & consciously grasped that it was nothing less than government acting as an agent of the plutocracy. It was actually the ultimate demonstration of "government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich." And it was completely bipartisan.
What do the trillions spent on the bailout produce? Nothing! It isn't just that the bailout money isn't being used for reducing poverty and global warming. It isn't being used for any constructive purpose.
The goal of the bailout is to keep ownership and power in the hands of the (currently) wealthy and powerful. The bailout is nothing less than theft of our futures by the ruling plutocrats.