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TechnoratiWall Street Bailout Won't Do Much to Help Ailing Economy
It is now clear the approval by Congress of President Bush's $700 bailout package on Friday October 3rd has done nothing to ease the current financial crisis. Credit markets have worsened for several days after the bill passed the Congress. The stock market also plummeted to nearly ten-year lows.
So much for dire warnings from the Bush Administration that Congress was risking a Great Depression if it did not quickly fork over the dough. The bailout's supporters said Congress had to do something to unfreeze the credit markets. It didn't work.
There is a basic misunderstanding of the current financial crisis and economic recession that is widespread. Most people think that the current economic downturn - which will be officially designated a recession some time in the near future - is the result of the financial crisis. But this is not true. The current recession is mainly the result of a collapsing housing bubble. This bubble of more than $8 trillion dollars accumulated between 1996-2006, and it is only about 60 percent deflated so far. This means that even if all the problems in the financial system were miraculously solved tomorrow, the United States would still be facing a serious recession.
Of course the financial crisis can make this worse, as financial institutions cut back on lending and short-term interest rates for commercial borrowing rise. And we are indeed facing a serious financial crisis. But the bailout package is a wasteful and inefficient way of dealing with the problem of banks holding bad debt, mostly related to mortgages gone sour in the housing bust. It enables the U.S. Treasury Department to buy up "troubled assets" - mostly mortgage-related securities - from financial institutions, at prices that will likely be much higher than they are worth.
Economists across the political spectrum saw this as a wasteful and inefficient way to fill holes in banks' balance sheets. Ordinary citizens and taxpayers saw the bailout as an enormous rip-off, and flooded Congress with phone calls, defeating the bailout on its first vote.
Indeed, the most important ways that our government is currently holding the financial crisis in check do not involve overpaying banks for bad assets. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have intervened repeatedly to pour liquidity into the banking system. They have agreed to federally insure $3.4 trillion of money market mutual funds held by millions of Americans. This week the Fed created a new facility to buy commercial paper, the short-term debt issued by banks and corporations, where lending has been shrinking. The Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the nation's largest insurer, were also necessary to preserve the stability of the financial system.
All this is just the beginning of cleaning up the mess that has resulted from a de-regulated and un-regulated financial system gone wild. The government will have to take over more insolvent financial institutions and provide capital to others. It will have to take steps to help homeowners, to minimize foreclosures and evictions. And it will need to provide the largest fiscal stimulus package since the Great Depression, to prevent this recession from dragging on for years. The worst part about the bailout is that some politicians will say we can't afford the necessary stimulus because we just added $700 billion to the national debt.
Americans will have to fight for measures that protect the public interest, not the interests of those who made this mess. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made $163 million as CEO of Goldman Sachs in 2006. Now he and his former colleagues at Goldman are running the Wall Street bailout.
During the Asian financial crisis ten years ago, there was an expression for this kind of system: "crony capitalism."
______________________________
Statement on the Need for Coordinated Stimulus
By Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot
The current economic crisis is the result of an extraordinary period of extreme economic mismanagement. The world's central banks, most importantly the Federal Reserve Board in the United States, made the decision to ignore, if not actively cultivate, the growth of asset bubbles. This was the case with stock market bubbles in the 90s and housing bubbles in the current decade.
They compounded this mistake by ignoring the explosive growth of credit and new complex derivative instruments. They allowed financial institutions to become hugely over-leveraged, ensuring that the collapse of the bubble would lead to major financial disruptions.
Finally, they failed to recognize the seriousness of the problem, understating the size of the problem at every step. This has slowed efforts to muster an adequate response to the situation. President Bush and other political leaders markedly worsened the situation when they raised the specter of the Great Depression and otherwise sought to raise fears in order to gain public support for the bank bailout package.
The meeting this weekend of the G-7 provides an extraordinary opportunity to begin the reversal of this dismal record. First, it is necessary to have a coordinated financial and monetary policy to stem the immediate financial crisis. This will require bank bailouts that focus on the direct injection of capital into the banking system, following the example of the United Kingdom earlier this week.
The financial system will also benefit from further cuts in overnight lending rates, especially by the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB's focus on concerns over inflation at this economic junction is almost as foolish and potentially more harmful than the decision to ignore the growth of the housing bubble.
The other key component of an economic recovery package should be a coordinated fiscal stimulus. In the United States, this stimulus should be on the order of $300 billion to $400 billion (2.0-2.7 percent of GDP). This stimulus is essential for counteracting the sharp falloff in consumption that is following the loss of $5 trillion in housing wealth and President Bush's scare tactics for promoting his bank bailout.
The stimulus should be designed to quickly boost demand. In the United States, this can best be done by aiding state and local governments, extending unemployment benefits, tax rebates to low income individuals, accelerating infrastructure spending and support for energy conserving retrofits of homes and businesses. It is also essential that the dollar fall against other major currencies in order to bring the trade deficit back to a manageable level.
It is possible that even larger boosts to spending may be necessary to restore normal economic activity. The federal government must be prepared to spend whatever amount is needed to keep the economy creating jobs. This was the main lesson that we learned from the Great Depression. Concerns over deficits prevented the government from taking sufficient measures to boost the economy out of its slump until World War II left the government no choice. It would be an enormous tragedy for the country and the world if the United States were to repeat the same mistakes almost 80 years later.
69 Comments so far
Show AllThe Elitists day are numbered! Just watching them talking, and you can sense some scared ass fascists. I say "Bring it on"!
Coffeelover,,,,,,,,,
I hear a lot about "no golden parachutes". What about actually making some of them pay for this mess.
My take is the rising health care costs, predatory lending, oil prices and indirect rising prices in food etc., all contributed to people not being able to pay their bills. (points rarely mentioned these days)
How about letting the people know who was really ripping them off for the past so many years and having those folks pay for this? I'm sure there's 700 billion in equity of crooks from all these businesses even if they are all left with a cool million per person, to pay for this crap.
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"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies. " Groucho Marx
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
H. L. Mencken
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"I'm angrier than I sound "...Ralph Nader
http://www.nader.org/
Rolling the Dice on Derivatives
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Economists have factored PEOPLE out of their equations. In their minds people are just consumers. One would think that even relegating citizens to just consumers would require an understanding that consumers need money to consume. One underlying important principle has historically been
the positive correlation between worker productivity and rising worker income. Since the Regan administration and the application of supply side economic thinking, that principle has been broken. Worker income has substantially lagged worker productivity. Add to that the punative tax policies of the Bush administration favoring the rich, and the middle class has systematically been drained of it's wealth over the last quarter century. THEREFORE THE BASIC NEED IS TO RECAPITALIZE THE MIDDLE CLASS. A stimulus package is not going to do the job, it is a bandaid. Nor is recasting troubled loans. The answer lies in a significant redistribution of wealth from the top down through immediate and retroactive tax law.
All of the solutions floated for consideration combined will not solve this crisis absent a recapitalization of the middle class. That is the key. Yet that is the last thing the wealthy and powerful will do because they have lost their ability to think in basic terms like the financial health of the American middle class and poor. Only when all other efforts have failed will their minds turn to helping the people, and until they do, the people will NOT help them.
and if they engineered it to fail... and the "dividend payout" was merely plundering the remaining treasure to insure failure?
we are so screwed.
Class Warfare 102.
Yah, I don't put it past them.
http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html
May all Beings be blessed. Specifically the weak and ill minded.
You whiners voted for these ruling elite from the Demo/Repub parties.
You got no answers. You are only cowards whining about how terrible the situation is now.
Grow up and vote for a third party candidate.
IT'S THE INEQUALITY, STUPID
This year the top 1% of people "earned" 20% of the national income. (Their percentage of wealth is much higher) Up from about 8 times in 1975. The level of inequality is now about what it was in 1928. In billion dollar companies, the CEO makes about 400 times more than the average worker.
THEREFORE. No amount of financial manipulation will prevent the coming depression. Our economic geniuses forget the simple fact that people go into debt mainly because they cannot afford to live without credit. They are too poor. And all the subsequent "derivatives" of this primal debt, which are now collapsing, are the consequences of poverty and inequality.
We need high minimum wages, flourishing unions, a real progressive income tax, single payer health care, lots of co-ops, and mostly, political power to working people to maintain equality. Can we muster the solidarity and co-operation needed to create a real movement towards greater equality? It doesn't look likely anytime soon. We are about to live out the karma of American selfishness and alienation.
Go to:
http://www.demos.org/inequality/numbers.cfm
and page down to the pie charts.
In 2004, the wealthiest 10% of people had over 70% of the wealth. Also, 10% of people owned nearly 80% of stocks. That means that the rest of us, 90% of the people, had less that 30% of the wealth and a little more than 20% of stocks. That was 2004. I haven't seen later numbers but I'd bet that more has "trickled up". (Does anyone out there have later numbers?)
How can we restore a economy with few good-paying manufacturing jobs and a badly skewed distribution of wealth? Moreover, what I hear from the news is that once the stock market has hit its bottom, institutional investors and the wealthy will come in to buy a bargain prices. This means that the rich will get richer.
It won't last long without money in our hands to spend, Ruth. The retailers are in for a tremendous hit this Christmas. The rich can only benefit from their wealth off the backs of those who are less wealthy. Don't be surprised if we get another 'economic stimulus' package, but what we really need are good-paying and stable jobs. I've been doing computer contract work without any benefits and where I'm forced to buy liability insurance to protect my 2-bit employer. It's primarily a hand to mouth existence with little certainty. I guess I should consider myself 'lucky' to have something, but this kind of work cannot lead to stability within a society. That is a big factor in this crumbling economy: jobs, jobs, jobs!
Absolutely true, Laurence. Many are just beginning to realize how impoverished they really are without credit. And also how fast they go under if they lose their job or if there is a medical crises. One good thing that might come from this economic downturn is to knock the self-righteous bootstrap crap out of those who have consistently voted against their better interests (beginning with Reagan), though I'm not holding my breath here. What's that old saying, "Pride goeth before the fall?" Quite apropos, wouldn't you say? What have we got to be 'proud' of, except maybe being proudly ignorant?
"It is now clear the approval by Congress of President Bush's $700 bailout package on Friday October 3rd has done nothing to ease the current financial crisis."
Dear Sir,
It was crystal clear to any and all with a fully functional brain and a reasonable sense of objectivity that the bailout would not work....about 1 second after it was announced
Why aren't you writing to Obama. He was one of the biggest supporters of this theft by...Obama's corporate masters
But don't worry. He's Obama. He'll save us. We're Democrats. We don't let the facts get in the way of our crusade to elect a candidate who is insanely wrong on almost every single issue. $850 Billion theft to his corporate buddies....it's ok...he's for us ....he's for the little guy. But while he's for the little guy he likes to give away huge chunks of money to the corporations that own him. No double standard. No hypocrisy. We're Democrats
URGENT!!!
PLEASE GO TO PBS AND VOTE AGAINST PHALLIN!!!
http://www.pbs.org/cgi-registry/poll/poll.pl
The result will go MSM. Please don't allow the right wing scum to prevail on this one!
Thank You for our own sake!
It's just Karma
May all Beings be blessed. Specifically the weak and ill minded.
The link wont open.
What is Phallin?
The day after the Great Bush/Bernanke Bailout was signed, the first payment of 350 BILLION dollars US was thrown to Wall Street and the banking/ investment industry.
It vanished without a ripple.
The Dow still tanked, the US dollar continued to plunge, and stock markets around the world were a bloodbath.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese government ORDERED it's banks to pull all investments out of the US.
This will not be a recession.
This will not be a depression.
This WILL be a collapse. One to rival or exceed the fall of Rome.
Except this time, there will be no Rennaisance after the dark age.
I wish the population of the US good luck and godspeed.
You are going to need it.
Walk in peace.
.Yelling fire in a crowded theater much?
China did absolutely no such thing, and that is one silly post....
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Please, what is your source re: "Chinese government ORDERED it's banks to pull all investments out of the US."?
While now may be a great time to vote third party for president especially if it be Ralph or Cynthia, I would like to see the Nader (or for that matter Mckinney) supporters answer this simple question:
Why aren't there any calls for running Green Party candidates against members of Congress who are equally responsible for selling out?
I like Nader and love his ideas but I fail to see how he'll be able to get anything through since like FDR, he's bound to face even stronger opposition from Congress and the courts? In addition, FDR faced an attempted rightwing military coup in 1934 along with 4 other potential ones thereafter though those 4 coups luckily fizzled out. I'm afraid of Nader losing his life and would like to see him help younger men and women just like him make it to political office on all levels and to judicial seats as well. I may sound a bit too skeptical but Nader has a mountain of a system to climb before he'll be able to get anywhere even if he wins office.
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Ralph Nader is greatly equipped to “work” with congress.
He has been doing it for 40 years…
40 years is one heck of an amount of experience.
All working as being an advocate for justice.
Oh yes he will be able to work with congress.
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"He has been doing it for 40 years…
40 years is one heck of an amount of experience."
Ralph was definitely successful in forcing Congress to pay attention to the needs of the American people in the 1960s, 1970s, and even some in the 1980s. However, he has been shut off these last 16 years and by himself, very few of his great ideas have made it to Congress. Congress has been completely corporate entrenched for the last 16 years. Please explain to me how Nader influenced Congress in these last 16 years alone? And I'm talking 1992 to the present. He was unable to stop the free trade deals, bad policies that empowered Wall Street over Main Street, bad policies that compromised the environment and health, wars especially Iraq, etc ... Is there something I'm missing here?
WTF?
"Indeed, the most important ways that our government is currently holding the financial crisis in check do not involve overpaying banks for bad assets. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have intervened repeatedly to pour liquidity into the banking system."
AS IF The Federal Reserve was part of "our government"? Helloooooo! It's a private cartel owned by the puppet masters and needs to be nationalized so we can all stop being their little wage-slave bitches.
Sioux Rose
MDDLE C: Bush issues--as only a unitary executive can-- a new set of signing statements that decree the last 6 zeroes will be cut off all presumably OWED sums. He's done stranger. Dawns on me that this nation is not looking at this head-on because it's so habituated to TV, that if the pundits on TV don't define this as a collapse, it is not real to them; or we're so conditioned to having someone ELSE fix it--the leader, the religious pastor, the lawyer, the plumber--no one can take in that there is anything they can do. It IS totally out of control...
Sioux Rose
GW NORTH: Excellent post. The thing is, money is NOT real to Bush. I don't know whether he really believes the End Times (thus no need to pay anything back), or that due to being spoiled and never taught to balance a budget, no less the value of money earned through hard work, like his "signing statements" he is convinced HE is the sole authority. There is no concept of accountability.
My sister is quite well-to-do and told me she's very glad she didn't put her last year's bonus into the stock market; but she is beginning to realize that bank accounts are no longer secure, either. She said "Bush will just print money," and to her that meant it'll all be okay.
This is probably the "deer in the headlight" moment where many can't conceptualize what this debacle actually means. The US is so accustomed to calling the shots around the world, there is no realization of what it may mean if other nations get serious. Of course this could be where the military and the U.S.'s proven capacity to deploy lethal force works JUST like the mafia when it strong-arms honest merchants into "tithing" a share of THEIR incomes. And seeing how the entire global economy got caught in this web of deception, the prescription for any possible healing has to be taken on a worldwide scale. One poster had a link that was quite illuminating with regard to how the Germans are viewing this... there is a possibility a consortium WILL reign in the Bush junta.
Vote Nader in 2012.
you amerikans finally got the govt you so richly deserve. now, if you really want to make a real change for the good then vote for nader or mckinney they are your only sane vote. they can't win but at least you can say you voted for real, good(that's "good" as in moral) change. but, too, like naomi wolf says, this 08 election will be the last real election in amerika. police state is here and chompin' at the bit to get you! too late folks! you waited too long to do something and still you do nothing, your vote hasn't counted in 8+ years what possible reasons do you have to think that your vote will matter this year! obama is one of the bad guys and down in your heart you know that don't you.
Where are YOU from? How old are you?
GwNorth October 11th, 2008 7:41 pm
Its all Politics and gamesmanship with greed taking absolute precedence over
anything else.
Amen, brother or sister. That's it in a nutshell and they can put it on the tombstone of The United States when they bury us, or we bury ourselves which is much more likely.
Simply put, neither the Government nor the institutions in the United States OR for that matter the vast majority of its taxpayers is taking this seriously.
Reports from the Pentagon indicate that they will spring an additional 450 billion dollars in new spending over a 5 year period on whatever Administration takes over.
This new spending is OVER and above current Military spending and the off books spending in the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. The increase per year is more then the next largest Military spender in the world spends.
They hope that by springing it on a new administration they can force them to agree or be seen as "weak on defense" to the American Public.
Its all Politics and gamesmanship with greed taking absolute precedence over
anything else. The Pentagon and its uncontrolled appetite for war and destruction, along with your countries own Government are in fact threats to national security. They are NOT patriots in any sense of the term.
All of this will come at cost to programs to social spending. All of this will see monies shifted from the poor to the rich. The Military Industrial Complex is in charge.
More than the next 10 put together actually
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/09/9503
If I were to be really generous I could just about stretch to saying that I do not believe the Wall Street suits were telling lies, at least insofar as they knew they were telling lies. They believe(d) the free market worked. The freer it was, the more money they made. Extrapolating that leads to the position that no regulation at all is the absolute zenith.
But if I admit that, in the same breath I have to say they were stupid -- which I believe to be the case whether or not they lied. As far as I can see the financial crisis (if I admit there is one) is a product of the underlying economy which is, in a word, rat shit.
The financial sector plays an important role in capitalist economy, but... you only need so much of it. Trying to take record profits every year, and record CEO salaries every year, by a financial sector grown like a tumor, out of economy which has had its basics eaten by termites (mainly, but not only, "free" trade and globalisation), and the path is clear as daylight -- for those with the courage to look. The road leads nowhere else.
The first step, and the big problem, is that someone at or near the top is going to have to say, "I was wrong." And that could take a while.
Economics 101: Produce where supply equals demand.
War on Terror: 1 Trillion
Housing Bubble: 8 Trillion (wow!)
GWB Wallstreet Bailout aka Stimulus Package: 700 Billion
US Stimulus Checks: 300 Billion (plug figure)
Simple math: Income (taxpayer dollars) - expenses:
1 Trillion - 9 Trillion = minus 8 Trillion
Product: Global Depression.
Simple math equals truth. Wall Street, Washington, World governments will not change the math. Learn to live simply and locally now.
Don't waste your vote.
VOTE NADER - or don't vote for anyone.
.Dont follow this advice. Vote your cosncience and definitely vote!
So, Rosemarie, how are things at GOP headquarters?
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
"Vote your [sic] cosncience and definitely vote!"
You see ALL things through the distortion of an imperfect lens.
We are free to vote or not to vote... all else at this point in history is pretense.
We have entered a 10 X 10 foot room with a rampaging elephant, an insane donkey and a gnat who is restrained from contact.
The elephant and donkey will just kill us if we stay in the room.
We have the option to leave.
Your philosophy lends to certain death... stay! Don't leave!!!
It reminds me of all the talking heads recently who in chorus sing to the uneducated masses: "Don't leave the stock market! Stay!!! Don't save what little remains of your future!!!"
Translation: "We need your validation. Without it, the reality of our criminality will be exposed. As long as you support us by voting, we can retain some degree of plausible deniability."
Often, we are our own worst enemy.
Do not support anyone who does not support you. To do so is self-destructive.
Rampaging elephant? no
Insane donkey? no
Flesh eating gnat? wellll... maybe, but only if we put on our reality distorting glasses.
Get the hell out of the room? already there.
The gnat is too small to support us at this point, but if we can get out of the room and allow the elephant and donkey to kill each other, perhaps the gnat will find some sustenance... and grow.
Vote: support a system which does not support you.
Don't vote: deny those who abuse or perhaps would kill you.
.Without meaning to insult you I state that your analogy is about the stupidest thing Ive read here ever! Are you having a bad day?
If you do not care to be a part of any solution then WTF are you doing here anyway? If you are an advocate of violent revolution then thanks but no thanks. If you know of any other way to effect change than that of the ballot box you might spend your time more profitably explaining that path rather than foaming at the mouth like some testosterone overloaded teenager.
Again, I am sorry for the tenor of my response but what the hell did I have to respond to anyway? A slight because of a typing error? You got a lot of nerve and even more to learn.
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
"If you do not care to be a part of any solution then WTF are you doing here anyway?"
I propose that your solution is NO solution. Prove to me that I am wrong. It is not enough to parrot "The Party" rhetoric... give me some evidence that voting will help solve the problem.
Suppose for one moment that those who were "candidates" either did not represent your political viewpoints, or could not represent them (for whatever reason).
Would you then support those candidates, or would you place enough value on your vote to withhold it until the day when efforts provided a candidate worthy of your vote?
I am NOT a vote slut. It has real value to me. Nobody gets it without a real understanding of that fact.
Because we live in a country that is not "quite" totalitarian yet, I still have the freedom to withhold my vote if I so choose... to NOT validate a system that offers me no representation... to make my posiition known that I feel there is no candidate on any ticket who is qualified to lead this country. The most salient fact of this election is that no matter who wins, we will have little or no change. It will be more of the same.
What if enough of us did not support that reality?
I have not ruled out a protest vote... but that would only be a tactic... not a choice for someone I could support... and hopefully it would help bring the current system down. It no longer offers me anything that resembles democracy and only serves the corporatists and ruling class.
It has been broken for some time. It is so broken, that taxpayers (80% who emphatically said NO!), have been burdened with a "dividend payout" to corporatists. That amounts to taxation without representation... a condition that in this country, has historically called for a strong response from those who have been abused.
If you don't think that protest has played an imporatnt part in American history, you need to read... and soon. Lack of education leads only to ignorance. Although I do not advocate violence, you seem to want ignore the fact that this country only exists because enough people deemed it necessary to take up arms and defend what they considered to be of real worth.
However, it appears that you are so full of the lies that have been been offered as "truth", that not even new glasses would help your studies... it appears that distortion rules your day... perhaps willingly.
You are part of the problem... you offer nothing but "more of the same". You are a mouthpiece for those who give us nothing but lies, shredded rights, war and theft of our treasure.
Take a good look at yourself. Hurry!
.Whats worse than an angry person? An angry person who wont shut up.....
The original statement to which I responded was a suggestion to not vote, not as you go on and on and on and on about not voting for a bad candidate, Ive no problem with that.
If one does not participate in the process one cannot bitch, period. If you cannot find a Presidential candidate to support surely you can find a Congressman, or a school board trustee or a proposition worth your vote, yea or nay. Maybe you could support a third party for example.
Perhaps you failed to read the original suggestion, or perhaps you are just an adrenaline junkie? The poster suggested not voting. She made no further condition and my response was addressed to that simple premise.
You are a rather annoying little twerp after all, its a pity you go off like a cheap firecracker before engaging your brain....Toast, huh, clean up your crumbs and get a book on civility.
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
"Congress was risking a Great Depression if it did not quickly fork over the dough."
Congress quickly forked over the dough and bought the Executives worthless shares.
Congress quickly cut Corporate taxes and put that burden on the helpless and homeless.
Congress quickly assured a Great Depression. What's so Great about a Depression?
Once we built an Empire that spanned the sun, now we're done. Buddy, can you spare a dime?
I think only Nader or McKinney are prepared/willing to do all of this. So unless either one wins the presidency it looks like bad times.
So, don't waste your vote.
Barack Obama was for single payer before he came out against it.
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Bush played '' GOTCHA" again...
What say you America ?????
VOTE NADER/GONZALEZ 2008… You’ll be glad you did and so will I…
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
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"VOTE NADER/GONZALEZ 2008… You’ll be glad you did and so will I…"
I'll be glad if Nader is even remotely lucky to get Congress on his side should he win. Don't get me wrong. I like the guy and love his ideas. However, what has he done for the Green Party for the past 8 years other than leave them crumbling and now in shambles with Cynthia left to try to put together what's left of it? Wouldn't you agree that Nader's great ideas and dedication be better spent towards empowering other young folks like him trying to run for local, state, and even Congressional offices?
.Your post is a distortion of the facts.
Nader agreed to run on the Green ticket in the past only in order to boost recognition of that party. He was never a member thereof and thus had no such obligation to it. The problems of the Greens today are of their own making and not to be placed on Ralph Nader's shoulders.
You should really read his words, his speeches and his intentions prior to making silly and superficial commentary.
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We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
There was never any intention for the $700 BILLION bailout of the Khazars on Wall Street to help Americans outside of NY. It is all a scam. Now, run back to your hovel while these scam artists enjoy their mansions in Greenwich and multimillion dollar apartments in Manhatten.
Whether its by design or by accident, and I believe it is the former, central banks and large private banks are going to wind up owning huge amounts of real estate, plants and equipment for cents on the dollar. They will then own it all, and the ordinary people will own nothing, and from that point onward will have little choice but to do as they are told. Health care? Forget it. There are too many "useless eaters" in the world now. They will be allowed to die off. It will truly be a social darwinists dream, the survival of the fittest indeed, the fittest being those who were most effectively allowed to swindle the rest of us
Wake up. It is class warfare. Now go re-read baruchzed's comment. There will be no "bailout" for the common man, only for the already filthy rich. The ex CEO of Goldman Sachs is the Treasury Secretary. Come ON people, WAKE UP.
-- EKATON --
You are precisly correct. I have been trying to formulate , in my mind, exactly what was going on here. I mean, you know, when it "feels" like youre getting fucked, but you can quite make it out?
I mean, every body knows we got fucked, but, I'm not sure alot of people understand that we GOT FUCKED! (Ahem..)
The Shock Doctrine. No middle class. No resistence. No power. No social programs. Eternal war ("oil is \so expensive")
I have AADD--I sometimes have trouble organizing nmy thoughts (Plus, thers always a bunch of noise around here--I'm not in a "room")
But, you hit the nail on the head. We all need to look very carefully at what is happening here. The "candidates" are not going to do thsi for us. None of the people who formulate these "plans" will suffer for them. They have all their money, houses, boats, etc. And, our govt wil not make them forfeit any of it. Let alone go to jail.
To the guy just below--i think that the "useless eaters' thing was a bit of irony or sarcasm. No one thinks that you are a useles eater in here, I dont think.
Yes, I use that term, "useless eater", in both irony and sarcasm. It is a term used by our esteemed Henry Kissinger some years ago describing the poverty born people of the third world.
-- EKATON --
KD please check this out for me. I know nothing about the stock market. It seems to be a solution from Nader. What does it mean? What is a derivative? love your posts BTW. Even the colorful ones... :)
http://www.nader.org/
Rolling the Dice on Derivatives
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I am no econimist, Nannie, but, it looks like a winner to me.
Posted by nimda in In the Public Interest
Rolling the Dice on Derivatives
The derivatives markets of today have become a high stakes casino of unimaginable magnitude.....In a best-case scenario, it appears, the taxpayers will be required to rescue the system from itself. This is why Warren BUFFETT labeled derivatives "weapons of financial mass destruction."
Case in point: Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve Chairman. Greenspan says the world is facing “the type of wrenching financial crisis that comes along only once in a century,” but, reports the New York Times, "his faith in derivatives remains unshaken." Greenspan believes that the problem is not with derivatives, but that the people using them got greedy, according to the Times.
This is quite a view. Is it a surprise to Alan Greenspan that the people on Wall Street -- said to be ruled only by the opposing instincts of greed and fear --
In 1995, Congress enacted the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) of 1995, which imposed onerous restrictions on plaintiffs suing wrongdoers in the stock market... In defeating the amendment, then-Representative and now-SEC Chairman Chris COX quoted Alan Greenspan, saying “it would be a grave error to demonize derivatives;”...
The New York Times reports how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission aimed for some modest regulatory authority over derivatives in the late 1990s. Strident opposition from Treasury Secretary Robert RUBIN and Alan Greenspan spelled doom for ....
PEOPLE--how is this "CHANGE"??? The "Rogue"s Gallery" will be kept in place, by the duopoly.
C'mon, people!
At nader.org there is also a search feature.
Ralph Nader writes an article every week.
Most of them I understand, but some are way over my head...
Thanks KD for the post.
I like a lot of what Ralph Nader writes and I admit that most of it is shocking given the lack of truth reporting in today's media in the tv, radio, newspapers, and even some of the internet news sites. However, he needs to get out there and empower third party Progressive and Liberal Independents just like him who are trying to run for local and state offices across the country. How can you forgive Nader for ditching the Green Party instead of repairing, uniting, and strengthening the Green Party for the past 8 years? At this time, he could have been the GREEN PARTY NOMINEE and when you look at Mckinney's and Ralph's polling numbers, it's around 15%. I would gladly vote for Ralph given his strong progressive and liberal ideas on every single issue but we're still stuck with a conservative Congress of both parties. If the Green Party had the strength building these last 8 years, they would have been winning enough seats in Congress to protect and defend Nader just the way Republicans and to some extent Democrats in Congress protect their party in the White House. And then of course, you're stuck with the judicial branch on all levels including the Supreme Court. FDR faced hellish opposition from both Congress and the courts. Do you really expect Nader to find it easier? He needs support from both Congress and the courts and they're unlikely to give it to him even when you and I voice our opposition against the traitors in Congress and the courts siding with Wall Street.
.
You may want to read this. It's very long but most informative about the Green Party and Ralph Nader...
http://www.counterpunch.org/camejo04062005.html
April 6, 2005
The Crisis in the Green Party
The Magic Number 39 and My Meetings with Cobb, Kucinich and the Steering Committee
By PETER CAMEJO
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Interesting. Cobb was rather silent in 2004. Thank you for the article. At a time such as this, the Green Party ought to be strongly united. Someone told me that Cobb was hired by Democrat operatives to cripple the Green Party though I have yet to see any confirmation on that one. I am saddened to find out that many Green Party members withdrawing just because Democrats asked them to. Based on the article and where the Green party is at today, the Cobb supporters did indeed cripple it. Still, I'm not so sure Nader should have given up and run his campaign alone. If he can empower and motivate young people just like him to run for offices from local on up and not give up, there may yet be a stronger movement that reflects Ralph Nader's platform.
Thanks--lol. I think that you probably understand it al pretty well...you give that impression, anyway!
But, thanks for incentivising me to take a look. I will do so again later. I have been to Nader's site. Just not lately.
Well, retired and 61, I might be a "useless eater". But, my Porteguese G3 holds 21 rds of 7.62x51 Nato, so I will do fine.
I am, of course, another "useless eater". My weapon of choice is my Remington 870, with one in the chamber and 6 in the magazine. It is for my last stand when hyperinflation has finally taxed me out of my modest 900 sq. ft. townhouse and "the authorities" are approaching to evict me.
-- EKATON --
Yes, people PLEASE WAKE UP!
This is no longer just about the economy. I know that the economy usually gets the attention of Americans before illegal wars and the rise of Fascism - but let's make an exception here and get educated FAST.
Bush deliberately made this panic worse.
We need to keep a close eye on these people, especially when they want to act without any oversight - because of an "Emergency".
Hitler took over the German banks in 1933.
Z-zzzzzzzzzzz
Get real. The bailout was never intended to "rescue" anyone. It was intended to enrich those at the top of the exploitation pyramid. Legislators were threatened by Bush with martial law if they did not approve the bailout.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Representatives-Were-Threa-by-Patrick-Henningsen-081004-301.html
Martial Law is not such a far stretch of the imagination under the current Ceasar.
That is, since Bush has deployed a military brigade within the United States.
Naomi Wolf says: "The First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency".
See:
http://www.alternet.org/story/101958/
and on You Tube: "Naomi Wolf: Give Me Liberty"
In the United States, a Federal statute known as the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the military of the United States as a posse comitatus or for law enforcement purposes. Bush has violated this with a signing satement.
I'm wondering whether, if Bush deploys this brigade, this also violates the War Powers Act. Since Bush has declared that the "war on Terror" is "worldwide" (meaning within the United States as well as everywhere else).
But Congress has done nothing to stop him from violating the law.
The Marine base parking lot in my town had four vehicles in it last year.
Now the Parking lot is full of tanks. The media won't tell you about this.
People need to wake up and do something to stop this NOW.
Come on, don't worry about martial law. If they start asking the troops to shoot and corral their own people that would likely backfire big time. Those troops might just as well decide to turn on their masters.
Don't be so sure. In 1934, FDR faced an attempted rightwing military coup. These days, they're even more powerful and more tied to Wall Street. I think we the people have a lot of homework to do because this country has been sliding into a police state and any country that does so is bound to collapse furthermore. Unlike the Great Depression of the 1930s, this one is bound to get even worse and will make that one a mere picnic.
That coup was in part led by none other than Prescott Bush, G.W. Bush's grandfather. This has not been reported on in the US but the BBC ran a big piece on it in the summer of 2007.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/document_20070723.shtml
Revenge Girl
A representative from the military was on Democracy Now! this week and he attempted to assure the program's listeners that U.S. would always defer to the wishes of the civilian authorities. Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive was understandably dubious of that assertion.
I was ready to say, "Well, where the hell is Congress?". Not that I think that we can count on them--they allowed it to go on at both Conventions.
I did not know abhout the Posse Comitatus Act being revoked in a signing statement. I was reading and re-reading ,. trying to ask people how the hell he thought he got around that. A fucking signing statement.
The USA Patriot Act (I and II) teh Protect America Act, and al the bs, have al been leading up to this.
It is strange that Congress got spooked by the "martial laww" fear--they just sat with their thumb up their ass when Bush crapped on our rights.
I agree. Republicans are dangerous criminal bullies and psychopaths, so the useless and cowardly Democrats are the "lesser of two evils." (sigh)
Superb articles Dean and Mark!
Here's my 2 cents worth:
First, We go with the Treasury Secretary we got. Henry lead us to the promised land: The New New Deal. Dethrone George Bush/Milton Friedman/Arnold Greenspan (Markets work; governments don't), install John Maynard Keynes/FDR (they helped save capitalism the last time).
Memo to Obama: Drop Robert Rubin and Larry Summers and the rest of the free market deregulators on your team. Ditto for the Cold Warriors and Liberal Humanitarian Interventionists. We need to end our vast overseas empire. Besides, we're broke and charity begins at home. Place Baker, Weisbrot and Kuttner on your economic team.
Just like Nixon who found peace with China, Paulson can lead us to a caring socialism/capitalism. It's possible: we could become a loving Scandinavian country.
Dr Wu, the last of the big-time thinkers
Agree with you--just cannot go with Paulson