Al-USA

Did We Nationalize Banks, Or Did They Nationalize Us?

redwine44 wrote:
"
My favorite snippet from the testimony was when Paulson was accused of selling his GS stock when entering govt. service and deferring paying any income or cap gain tax on the gains. Well, did Paulson write the tax law, or did the Congress?
"

Redwine44 writes the above in the comment section of an article written by the same author who also wrote, "The Silent Coup", in the Atlantic, a few months back...

If he had read, "The Silent Coup", redwine44 would see the inappropriateness of such a comment.

More information below:
Banks Counted on Looting America’s Coffers
tinyurl.com/bkezmt

The Quiet Coup by Simon Johnson
www.theatlantic.com/do...

"The Fed's War on the Middle Class"
mises.org/story/2983

For Bankers, Another Stress Test

Somebody has to say it, but the American Oligarchy makes the Soviet Politburo look almost amateurish...

We know what happened to the Soviets, it's only a matter of time before this Oligarchy meets a similar fate. The only question is, what will happen to democratic capitalism? Just a thought.

Good article, as usual.

A Junk Stock Rally

givargi wrote:
"
You need three things for capital creation :1) cheap labor, 2) cheap resources, 3) consumer market. We are running out of all of them.
"

A good description of the state of capitalism, a crisis of over-production (or demand destruction). This will play out in years though, and while 2010 will hit like a "ton of bricks", outside any external massive demand stimuli, 2009 will be the last year to "party" for the last of the trapped longs.

So, if your 401k was reduced to a 201k, use 2009 to get out with, perhaps, a 301k. Such a chance might not come again in a generation, or at least until 2023, according to the proprietary investment rate model by Thomas Kee.

Good luck to all, and yes, if you're a nimble trader, as long as the market is open, there are opportunities to make some cash.

Recent Policy Decisions and a Greater Depression
seekingalpha.com/artic...

Credit Default Swaps May Be Playing a Supporting Role in Chrysler Bankruptcy Filings

I agree, the use of Barry O to refer to President Obama is disgraceful. I don't like President Obama, and of course I didn't vote for him, and I am very much against his support of the $trillions in Wall Street bailouts but, at the end of the day, he is President Obama of the United States of America, and, as such, deserves to be respectfully addressed; in print or otherwise.

By the way, I also did not like President Bush, but would think the same of him or any other President of the, as yet, greatest civilization in the history of the planet...

5 Perverse Bailout Consequences

Crony capitalism is incompatible with liberty and democracy; the solution is to let the failed capitalists get purged out of the system, period.

Why It's Better to Bail Out Borrowers than Banks

Good article.

I was in favor of bailing out the borrowers from the beginning rather than the banks, directly.

However, the politicians will only act on legislation that is written for them by the powerful bank lobbyists so of course the American working/middle class was left to fend for itself with the resulting downward spiral in the destruction of demand that followed and is continuing even now.

In a nutshell, we got exactly the result from the best system of democracy that money can buy...

More information below:
Banks Counted on Looting America’s Coffers
tinyurl.com/bkezmt

The Quiet (American) Coup
www.theatlantic.com/do...

Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism
www.nytimes.com/2009/0...

Bill Black on 'Top Elites': All Are Presently Committing 'Fraud'
seekingalpha.com/artic...

"Destruction of Demand"
seekingalpha.com/artic...
littlurl.com/b8z3e

"Recent Policy Decisions and a Greater Depression"
seekingalpha.com/artic...
littlurl.com/2it28

"The Fed's War on the Middle Class"
mises.org/story/2983

"How to Avoid Another Depression"
mises.org/story/3103

Mark to Market: Time of Death 8:45AM, April 2, 2009

"
At the same time we elected a guy who talked about change you realize real quick the only change was his skin color. Gm gets taken over, management forced out and has to restructure and bond holders take haircuts. Everything they do with GM they can't do with Banks?
"

Good one... For the record, I am neither Republican nor Democrat since there is no fundamental difference among the "parties".

Mark to Market: Time of Death 8:45AM, April 2, 2009

dcb said:

"
This entire fiasco make a mockery of our democracy
"

I was going to comment, but enough good has already been said, especially the above .

Added Debt Won't Rescue the Great American Ponzi Scheme

Good article, I was going to say more, but enough has already been said above.

We Need to Break the Banks

"
I will also say that as far as I am concerned that every reason I voted for Obama has been proven not to be justified by the current crisis. That being said I didn't say I love the republicans either, I am just saying he has failed my test with this current episode. Time for a third party.
"

Indeed, it should be increasingly clear to most people, who care, that both Republicans and Democrats are merely the right wings of one party, the Capitalist Elite party; or the party of the rich and politically connected, if you will.

For the sake of the long term future of capitalism, the ruling class should indeed break up the banks, but, they are now so corrupt and secured in their power that, it seems to me, it will be up to the rising masses of the proletariat which will eventually do this work for them. That of course will also be the end of this ruling class as well as capitalism.

Banks Counted on Looting America’s Coffers
tinyurl.com/bkezmt
www.nytimes.com/2009/0...

"Fluke? Credit crisis was a heist"
tinyurl.com/cgugqm
articles.moneycentral....

"Following the A.I.G. Money"
tinyurl.com/d6xkbk
www.nytimes.com/2009/0...

"Economic Fascism and the Bailout Economy"
mises.org/story/3333

"Behind the Financial Market Crisis?"
mises.org/story/3111

Financials Watch: AIG Brouhaha Distracts from Other Improprieties

Good article.

So much for the "free" markets. And so much for capitalism...

The AIG Bailout: Why Was the Onus Placed on Taxpayers?

Regarding why USA taxpayers have to bail-out the part of the ruling class that got in over their "heads", well, that was the plan of the ruling class all along: to privatize profits and socialize losses onto the backs of every other class below them, but especially the working/middle classes.

You think that is conspiracy theory? No, it is better than theory, it is conspiracy FACT.

See article below:
"Banks Counted on Looting America’s Coffers"
tinyurl.com/bkezmt
or
www.nytimes.com/2009/0...



Nuh-huh:

"Second, the citizens of this country ultimately run this country - it's called a democracy - and for the last 8+ years we did a pretty crappy job of it.
"

The government is run by 17,000 lobbyists Nuh-huh; in the employ of the rich plue influential who also happen to run Americas major corporations. As such, if you think the people have more say than the 14,000 lobbyists, then you also believe the Bernanke/Paulson $700 billion bail-out was passed b/c of the wished of the people and you might also then even consider Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to be capitalist in temporary disguise as a socialist...

Ben Graham Had It Right

We are going through a crisis of capitalism. It has always been the case, and it always will be the case, until capitalism self-destructs. I recommend reading outside of the capitalist economic model.

The Road to Economic Hell

Decline and fall of the American Empire

Free markets inevitably lead to monopolies. The end result of "successful" capitalism is a crisis of over-production. In my opinion, we are seeing the

decline and fall of the American Empire

Just as it happened in the 1930's when capitalism unleashed forces which threaten Western Civilization, forces are now in motion which, once again, pits the survival of Western Civilization against the "free markets". In the choice between barbarism or civilization, who will choose barbarism?

You have to look at capitalism from its entire 500 year history. From the time of the European voyages of discovery, starting in the 1500's, to now, one can observe that capitalism, as an economic model practiced world wide, has now reached its "natural" conclusion: a crisis of over production. The methods of production have accumulated into too few hands so what we are experiencing is the culmination of the "success" of first regional capitalism, then nation state capitalism and now, finally, the "success" of global capitalism.

About twenty years ago the capitalist ruling class was euphoric after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the proper demise of the caricature of socialism, built up by the monster Stalin, which was the USSR. We were promised a world of peace and prosperity, a new economic paradigm of constant uninterrupted growth, but now all those promises have been shown to be false.

The last 20 years have been difficult for the working class, their average wage have shown no increase, after inflation, and were instead forced to resort to massive debt accumulation to maintain working class living standards and the continued smooth functioning of the globlal "free markets". In summary, for the working class, with the global economy came not prosperity but, as is clear now to most observers, global economic crisis...

Now, trying to look at things from the perspective of the ruling class, the best solution they can deploy, like they did in the Depression of the 1930s, to save capitalism, is a reformist President along the lines of F. D. Roosevelt who will introduce something like the New Deal. If not, we will end up with a REAL dictatorship. Is Obama that man? I don't know, he certainly talks the part.

However, the fact is, America is already ruled by a dictatorship - the dictatorship of Money, of the "corporate masters" who make all the real decisions while giving the masses the illusion of democracy. But democracy in America, as in Europe and elsewhere in the West, is only a sham, a hollow shell. They pay no attention to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or anything else. Everything is decided by the one percent of the population who own America.

In my opinion, the Republic ended in 1950. Since then we have had an imperial system. What are the chief characteristics of this system? First, the USA intervenes in an aggressive way in every part of the world. According to published research, since 1950, the USA has waged at least 300 wars in different parts of the globe.

Even our much-vaunted American freedom is largely fictional: three percent of the population is either in jail or on parole, connected up by electric devices to the prison administration. There is very little real freedom. Freedom of the press? The press and the media are owned and controlled by "our corporate masters".

What about living standards in the USA? Eighty percent of Americans have been falling behind since 1973. That is the date they usually cite for the oil crisis. Nowadays a husband and wife make less money than the husband alone made at that time. Before the "financial crisis" twenty percent did support the Empire. These are the lawyers, the journalists, politicians and bankers and so on. But even the twenty percent that is in the service of the one percent is now also getting the "axe", and getting it heavily.

"Forced From Executive Pay to Hourly Wage"
www.nytimes.com/2009/0...

Citizens' rights have been demolished in our country. The Bill of Rights has been either suspended or cut down. Bill Clinton started the process at the time of the Oklahoma bomber. Then they passed the US Patriotism Act, a document of thirty pages that nobody bothered to read. It permits the government to organize surveillance, arrests and deportations. In fact, if you criticize the government you could be arrested for "giving comfort to the enemy". And Congress passed this Act and the President signed it immediately! But in practice it did not work.

It is an American Empire, but as the "financial crisis" has shown, it is more like a colossus with feet of clay. Quite simply, America is in the process of overreaching itself just as the Roman Empire overreached itself.

On the bright side, there's no need to worry about the American people. The establishment treats us as if we are fools, but we are not fools. Information is still widely available and the American people can learn, both online and from relevant books. They will learn most from the greatest book of all - the book of life itself. And when that happens, the American people will move as one...


More information below:
"Destruction of Demand"
seekingalpha.com/artic...
littlurl.com/b8z3e

"Recent Policy Decisions and a Greater Depression"
seekingalpha.com/artic...
littlurl.com/2it28

"The Fed's War on the Middle Class"
mises.org/story/2983

"What's Behind the Financial Market Crisis?"
mises.org/story/3111

"Economic Fascism and the Bailout Economy"
mises.org/story/3333

"How to Avoid Another Depression"
mises.org/story/3103

Why Nationalizing Banks Is Wrong

After the fiasco which is the "financial cirsis", there is more wrong than merely the banks....