Bill Moyers has been harping on this for some time, here's a quick 4 min talk on it, and the link below is a much lengthier but very interesting talk given by him.
43 million Americans are on food stamps while Wallstreet keeps rolling in the bonuses....and the only justice that takes place here is a series of hearings and a fine that amounts to a slap on the wrist.
The good thing is the push back will happen. Hopefully it's not violent but the more this corruption is allowed to stand the likelihood increases that it will become violent. The more unresponsive the government becomes to everyday people the uglier this will get. This corporate power grab will either end badly for the corporate influences or bad for everyone. I don't know how they think this going to end well for them. It can't possibly.
I think the most likely outcome is the political pressure will become too much and reform will happen. But the reasonable people in the US are in a precarious position of fighting corporate influence and the extremely violent radical left and right developing in the US until that happens. It's a very scary situation.
__________________
As you can see, I'm completely ridiculous.
I hate to say it because of the potential to be misunderstood, but corporate capitalism is a mug's game. I'm not sure if cleaning it up is worth the risk, ie. the massive amount of jobs lost, but we seem to be on a trajectory to nowhere.
The good thing is the push back will happen. Hopefully it's not violent but the more this corruption is allowed to stand the likelihood increases that it will become violent. The more unresponsive the government becomes to everyday people the uglier this will get. This corporate power grab will either end badly for the corporate influences or bad for everyone. I don't know how they think this going to end well for them. It can't possibly.
I think the most likely outcome is the political pressure will become too much and reform will happen. But the reasonable people in the US are in a precarious position of fighting corporate influence and the extremely violent radical left and right developing in the US until that happens. It's a very scary situation.
See, this is the thing. It already has.
As I see it, the people who did all this are long gone. They took their bailout money and then did just that, bailed. They took and took and took and then the Government gave them more money and they took that too.
Sure, their companies are still around doing their thing, but those guys are probably on a beach somewhere cashing cheques.
Its about leaving a mess for someone else to clean up. I honestly dont believe it ever will be cleaned up.
But I agree with you about one thing, the longer this goes on the greater the likelihood that the backlash or pushback, is going to be a violent one.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
I hate to say it because of the potential to be misunderstood, but corporate capitalism is a mug's game. I'm not sure if cleaning it up is worth the risk, ie. the massive amount of jobs lost, but we seem to be on a trajectory to nowhere.
Maybe I did misunderstand you like you suggested, but are you saying it's better to continue spinning our tires in this bad situation because the alternative could be worse?
Jobs might be lost, but in the long term fixing this would be best.
Actually, I think most of them still have their jobs. But, fair enough, they are only worried about their short term prosperity. But this thing could backfire on them and soon, especially with Republican governors radically overplaying their hand and waking up the average person.
This is a bit of a tangent but sometimes you have sigh at who Americans elected, corporate backed or not. Rick Scott, the new Governor of Florida, is a criminal who engaged in Medicare fraud when he was the CEO of a health provider. Now that he is elected he has tried to mandate drug testing for all state employees. And guess what? He is the owner of drug testing company or was until he gave it to his wife in a revocable trust.
__________________
As you can see, I'm completely ridiculous.
Especially when that 34 billion is in programs that are minor in terms of what they spend. The Americans would pretty much have to shut down the entire military as well as cut medicare/medicade to get enough money together to be able to pay off their debts.
They don't have to pay off their debt in a short period of time. They just need to start balancing the budget, and figure out a way to bring the debt down to a level where they can manage it better.
To me it breaks down like this; either they knew exactly what they were doing and a very small (relatively) group of people decided that they could get wealthy beyond their wildest dreams at the expense of a great number of people and at the same time do some very extensive damage not just to the American economy, but the very fabric of the American society. And they were cool with that.
Or; the raging incompetence in our society means we're all screwed anyways.
Probably both.
What percentage of the population understands what happened? 10? 20? If that.
People have no idea what happened, which is why it happened.
Everyone talks about Canada's banking regulation, and how it kept the economy from going under, or our banks from having to be bailed out. If that is true, which evidently it was, why the hell isn't the US doing something about it? The regulation passed by the Obama Administration is weak and does nothing to prevent another crisis.
I think the most likely outcome is the political pressure will become too much and reform will happen. But the reasonable people in the US are in a precarious position of fighting corporate influence and the extremely violent radical left and right developing in the US until that happens. It's a very scary situation.
I love the optimism in the first sentence (seriously), but I don't think significant (peaceful) reform will take place. The establishment is so firmly entrenched, it almost seems an understatement to say that the government has been purchased. Add to that the people have no resources are incredibly scared of losing what little they have.......I just don't see it.
That said, I too am scared to think of the radicals lining up on each side. I was wondering the other day if there's a sizable uptick in "Militiamen" type organizations. There's a scary thought....
43 million Americans are on food stamps while Wallstreet keeps rolling in the bonuses....and the only justice that takes place here is a series of hearings and a fine that amounts to a slap on the wrist.
Even worse, the financial sector is generating something like 40% of the profit in the US economy.
On top of that, students that go to university to take engineering or a variety of other degrees that most of us would consider a higher standard program are being hired by Goldman and other finance companies who offer huge bonuses and a better salary than companies like Google, Facebook or Apple.
Result is all the people with the skills to actually start something, or be innovators are being sucked into an industry where the promise of a huge bonus prompts them to take huge risks.
The whole system is screwed up.
And if nothing changes the worst is yet to come.
The Following User Says Thank You to Azure For This Useful Post:
Him, Alan Grayson, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich were some of the few congress people that get what has happened.
This is all a result of having a de-regulated fiat money system.
The Clinton administration repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which made some of these Wallstreet scams possible. Thanks Larry Summers!
You can also thank Alan Greenspan the Federal Reserve for handing out cheap money to Wallstreet to make all these derivatives and sub-prime mortgages possible.
Last edited by mikey_the_redneck; 04-14-2011 at 11:05 AM.
I love the optimism in the first sentence (seriously), but I don't think significant (peaceful) reform will take place. The establishment is so firmly entrenched, it almost seems an understatement to say that the government has been purchased. Add to that the people have no resources are incredibly scared of losing what little they have.......I just don't see it.
That said, I too am scared to think of the radicals lining up on each side. I was wondering the other day if there's a sizable uptick in "Militiamen" type organizations. There's a scary thought....
Unfortunately, if anything is to be done, its not going to be fun, its not going to be easy and I sincerely doubt it will be peaceful.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
Is an armed insurrection even possible? The patriot act basically gives the government the ability to snuff out any sort of uprising by labelling the people terrorists.
