The Wall Street oligarchs now own our government
I urge you ... I beg you ... to read Glenn Greenwald's column about Wall Street's ownership of our government.
Here's just a small excerpt from "Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government":
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Last night, former Reagan-era S&L regulator and current University of Missouri Professor Bill Black was on Bill Moyers' Journal and detailed the magnitude of what he called the on-going massive fraud, the role Tim Geithner played in it before being promoted to Treasury Secretary (where he continues to abet it), and -- most amazingly of all -- the crusade led by Alan Greenspan, former Goldman CEO Robert Rubin (Geithner's mentor) and Larry Summers in the late 1990s to block the efforts of top regulators (especially Brooksley Born, head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission) to regulate the exact financial derivatives market that became the principal cause of the global financial crisis. To get a sense for how deep and massive is the on-going fraud and the key role played in it by key Obama officials, I highly recommend watching that Black interview (it can be seen here and the transcript is here).
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/04/summers/index.html
(William K. Black is the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s)
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People can stick their heads in the sand and say this is too difficult and/or boring for them, but I tell you that what you do NOT understand today may be the cause of your and my own economic meltdowns.
The Wall Street oligarchs now OWN our government -- our legislators are just the puppets of their major campaign contributors, and those who give the MOST money to our legislators ARE the Wall Street oligarchs. As long as our representatives in Congress do the bidding of the Wall Street psychopaths, they can keep their jobs. But if our legislators get curious and want to hold REAL investigations into WHO committed the FRAUD, who ENABLED the fraudsters, who COVERED up the FRAUD, and who is PROTECTING the Wall Street oligarchs today, they will no longer be able to run a campaign, their funds will dry up, and more compliant candidates will get the money.
Do NOT fool yourselves: there is NO meaningful investigation going on, nor is there any real inquiry into the ACTUAL value of the TOXIC ASSETS we, as taxpayers, are now paying for. The underlying paperwork is no longer accessible, no one knows where to find it -- we are SCRE____.
And, it is we the taxpayers who are going to SUBSIDIZE the Wall Street oligarchs so they can buy up those toxic assets using OUR money but risking nothing, because if the eventual market value of those toxic assets is less than they/we pay for them now, the Wall Street oligarchs do NOT need to pay back to us taxpayers the money we loaned them to do the buying. But, if the value of the toxic assets goes UP, the oligarchs get to keep the profits.
We are being ROLLED as surely as if some con man swindled us out of our savings.
It's really Bernie Madoff on steroids -- but we call it our government.
That's the rub.
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Now we know what makes misogynist deregulator extraordinaire Larry Summers so "uniquely qualified" to be Obama's senior economic advisor.
Why didn't anyone listen to us?!
:sad:
I agree that this is very important to read. As Glenn Beck said, we aren't marching toward socialism but toward a non-violent form of fascism as depicted in the book 1984. Obama and crew are becoming like Big Brother. How do we counter it? Become aware of it and shine a light on it. Demand regulation of the derivatives market. Spread the word about the people who brought this nation to ruin. Yes, this crap has been going on for a very long time but that doesn't matter. The truth has been hidden for many years but this is the age of instant communication. Our computers and the Internet can be used effectively as excellent tools for discovering and sharing important information.
but since the DOW went up after hearing about it it's lulled everyone into complacency. It's just maddening.
I superimposed these two charts to show the relationship between the unemployment rate and the stock market, represented by the S&P 500. It's a 10-year chart, 1999 to present. The red line is the unemployment rate and blue is the market. The numbers on the left are the rate percent while on the right is the S&P 500 level.
Note that the 2001 recession ended in November but the stock market didn't bottom until a year later and the unemployment rate didn't peak until 2003. Based on history, I'm guessing that the stock market won't bottom out until later this year or in the first half of next year and that unemployment won't peak until 2011, the year that the economy starts to improve.
Another must read if you haven't already seen it.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice/4
"The Quiet Coup"
Explains a lot of the current mess we're in.
I'll read that when I get a chance. Looks really interesting.
I superimposed a chart of the Dow with the unemployment rate for the period of 1982 through 1984. Note that the Dow bottomed in August of 1982 while the unemployment rate peaked a couple of months later.
Maybe the 2001 recession is atypical and the recovery this time could be like it was after the 1982 recession. Some of the folks on CNBC are saying that unemployment will peak next year at 10.5%. If that's true, maybe the real market recovery won't begin for another 2 to 6 months.
These crooks have total control over the financial system. They will not fix it because to fix it would be to expose their own role in the disaster.
I've been trying to figure out the difference between the previous recessions/depressions and this one. I think I know what it is. It's the utter lack of will in Washington to do the hard things that are necessary. That lack of will stems from both greed and fear on the part of the politicians. Pols have been making out like bandits, courtesy of the big players, for years. Even if they're still basically honest, they won't go for reform because they're scared of what will replace it. They know the current system brings them money. They'll do everything they can to preserve it.
The money men own our country, lock stock and barrel. The trillions of words expended on the financial situation mean nothing. We can talk until the cows come home but they won't listen. They know nothing except that they're supposed to make money. This house of cards has worked for them for ten years. I think they still believe it will continue to work.
Moyers' interview with Black left me angry not only at the bankers but at Black himself. He's another in a long line of people who happily drank the kool-aid, rounded up a bunch more votes for Obama and are now saying, "Oh, gee, this didn't work out as well as I thought it would."
Spare me your hindsight, Mr. Black. You helped make this mess even worse. The United States staggered out of the Bush years weakened and bankrupt. It desperately needed someone of rock-solid integrity and the intelligence and ability to understand the problems. What it did not need was an inexperienced amateur in the White House who evidently isn't too keen on doing the hard stuff but loves being a rock star. You and your friends all polished the image and handed us the least-accomplished President in the history of the country. Go sit with Geithner and Summers. You're as much to blame as they are.
Maybe the tea parties will have an impact on next year's midterm election. There are 1600 events scheduled for April 15:
Tax Day party count nearing 2,000 U.S. cities
Can we have more women in power now, please!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/05/useconomy-regulators
Why do the equity investors need to be "wiped out?" Anyone?
What would you suggest? If you invested in something which is now worthless and was not government insured, would you expect to take a haircut? Or is talk of market capitalism just for the good times?
Who traditionally has made stockholders whole when a company goes down the drain? Anyone?