By Patrick J. Buchanan
Barack Obama and George W. Bush seem to have come away from their study of the Great Depression with similar conclusions:
To wit: After the Crash of 1929, the Federal Reserve did not move fast enough to save the banks and inject cash into the economy. Second, the New Deal, far from being wastrel deficit spending, was not bold enough. So it was that America wallowed in depression for a decade until the unbridled spending and mammoth deficits of World War II pulled us out.
Bush and Obama seem determined not to make the same mistake.
We are all Keynesians now.
Thus, we have the $700 billion Bush bank bailout, the $700 billion “stimulus package” Obama wants by inauguration to “jolt this economy back into shape” and the $800 billion fund Hank Paulson created to get consumers borrowing and buying again.
These come on top of Bush $455 billion deficit, the $29 billion bailout of Bear Stearns, the $105 billion in pork to grease the $700 billion bailout, the $100 billion to $200 billion to keep Fannie and Freddie afloat, the $140-billion-and-counting for AIG, the $25 billion for the greening of GM, Ford and Chrysler, the $25 billion more to save the Big Three and the $20 billion for CitiGroup.
Now much of this overlaps, and some will be retrieved. But we are still staring at a deficit that could approach $2 trillion.
How would this stack up historically?
A deficit of $1.4 trillion would be 10 percent of gross domestic product, dwarfing the postwar record 6 percent run by Ronald Reagan in the Jimmy Carter recession.
Bewailing the “Reagan deficits” has been a staple of Democratic oratory. This will stop. But the politics of this is not the point, the policy is.
Consider what we are about to do. Bush in 2008 spent 21 percent of GDP. States, counties and cities spent another 12 percent. Thus, one third of GDP is spent by government at all levels. Obama and Co. propose to raise that by another 10 percent of GDP. We may soon be north of 40 percent of gross domestic product controlled and spent by government.
That is Eurosocialism.
And where, exactly, are we going to get the money?
Americans save nothing. We spend more than we earn. Thus the levels of consumer debt, credit card debt, auto debt and mortgage debt. U.S. foreign-exchange reserves amount to a piddling $73 billion.
The only nation with the kind of cash on hand we need now — if we don’t print the money and invite another gigantic bubble — is China, with its $2 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves.
Will Beijing lend back the dollars it has piled up by selling to us?
China certainly has an incentive to keep Americans spending. For our purchases of Chinese-made goods have often been responsible for 100 percent of China’s growth. China does not want to kill the American goose that lays those golden eggs — until the goose can’t lay any more eggs. Then they won’t need the goose.
But should China decide to lend us the money, what will Beijing demand in interest rates and assurances that we will not default. After all, the U.S. debt is 70 percent of GDP, our savings rate is near zero, and our merchandise trade deficit is still running at 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP.
Unlike the 1950s, we are today dependent on foreigners for two-thirds of our oil and for much of our manufactured goods — toys, TVs, radios, cameras, cars, shoes, clothes, bikes, motorcycles — and for the $700 billion to $800 billion we borrow each year to pay for these imports.
With U.S. homeowners, consumers, companies and banks now going bust, why must the nation borrow trillions more to bail them out? So we can maintain our status and standard of living as the last superpower.
Bush and Obama are competing to shovel out trillions of dollars, so we can return to the good times of yesterday.
But wasn’t yesterday the root cause of today? Didn’t saving nothing and spending more than we earn, purchasing what we cannot afford in cars, consumer goods and houses, buying far more from abroad than we sell abroad — didn’t that cause this crisis and crash?
A family man in America’s condition, awash in debt, spending more than he makes, would cut back consumption, find a second job and get out of debt. Or declare bankruptcy, accept the shame and humiliation, change his wastrel ways and start anew.
Is it different for a nation?
Yet we seem to believe we can borrow and spend our way out of a swamp of unpayable debt into which borrowing and spending have plunged us.
We are headed either for default on our debts and bankruptcy as a nation, or something less honorable: a quiet cheapening of the debts we have incurred by inflating and destroying the dollar, robbing our creditors of what we owe them and robbing our own people of the value of what they have earned. And so it has come to this.
What would the Founding Fathers think of us now?
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I know where we can get the money. From the super-rich liberals. Buffet, Gates, Bloomberg, Soros, and many others are worth BILLIONS. They have more money than they know what to do with. Indeed, they intend to give away most of the money.
Though it won’t happen, suppose the US government confiscated 80% of the wealth of the richest 0.1%. That’s a lot of dough right there. It’s true that Americans in general don’t save much, but the top tier has gotten tremendously rich in the past 28 yrs. Since they are for Obama, socialism, and so on, it wouldn’t bother me if their asses were taxed naked.
In a way, the globalist elite know this. They know that the information/high-tech/global age was bound to enrich the supersmart, super-educated, super-ambitious than ever dreamt possible during hte days of national/industrial economies.
Since these people got so damn rich, they now feel nervous, guilty, compassionate, generous, fearful, etc. They want to keep making great wealth, but they have more than they know what to do with. And, they can’t help but notice that more and more people are losing their jobs, growing restless–and even resentful and envious.
And so, the globalist superrich supported Obama. Under their agreement, Obama would raise taxes on the super rich, and provide bread and circuses for those who lost out in the New Global Economy. That is the pact between socialist Obama and the New Capitalist class. The rich tycoons of the new economy will give Obama extra cash to buy over the ‘bitter’ Americans ‘clinging’ to God and guns.
The super rich want to buy us out. Obama understood what this game’s all about, and used both sides–the bitter workers and rich elite–to get what he wanted. By serving as the bridge, he’s become President, a job he’s craved since he was a kid.
In a way, it’s very Hitlerian, and not necessarily in a negative way. Recall that the bourgeoisie backed the Nazis because they were fearful of communist revolution or mass revolt. Hitler too gained great power by offering to serve as peace broker between the two sides. He would protect the great wealth of the bourgeoisie if the bourgeoisie forked some extra cash to Hitler so as to provide jobs for the workers–and build his political machine.
Will Keynesianism work? It’s funny how it didn’t work in the US while it worked in Germany under Hitler. Some economists think FDR didn’t spend as much as the Germans. But, it must be said that even German growth was unsustainable due to the high deficits it created, which was one of the reasons why Hitler was eager to cause trouble with neighbors. Just like Hussein didn’t want to pay back the Kuwaitis, Hitler wasn’t too keen on paying back the money he borrowed for the work projects. Hitler had other advantages to be sure. Germany was smaller than the US, its population was united and homogeneous and disciplined, and the government had enough power to do as it pleased. FDR never had that kind or level of power.
The U.S. manages the world’s business, economically and militarily. Our problems are the world’s problems, and vice versa. They need us, which is why they haven’t let us collapse up to this point. This arrangement could change, however. Europe, Russia, and China could each step into the role that we occupy, but I don’t see it happening, at least not now. The Europeans are not solidified, the Russians don’t have the discipline (and their people will never allow themselves to be enslaved again to achieve it), and the Chinese just don’t have it in them to take over the role of world leader. This is not to say that we Americans can just sit here, getting fatter and more stupid every year, and think that nothing will change for us. Islamic extremists are on the verge of destroying us, and we had better take them very seriously. We also need to take much more seriously our position as world leader, and do more to help solve the other problems of the world. Global warming, pollution, depletion of resources, overpopulation, the excesses of capitalism, the frictions created by globalization, the fragility of computerized systems, and the limitations of getting people to get along in general, all need to be put on the front burner. Let’s get moving, people! Quit getting drunk, smoking dope, eating garbage, watching stupid TV, not reading, not saving, and getting divorced. If you want to believe that God is sitting up there in heaven, just waiting to step in and solve all of our problems, or that there’s a reason that He is letting all of this happen, you’re wrong. This little planet is just a speck of dust in the universe, and what happens to us means nothing to anyone who doesn’t live on it. We create our own meaning, and whether we live or die is totally up to us (unless, of course, a gigantic asteroid comes along and obliterates us, but other than that, we’re in control of our own fates).
“What would the Founding Fathers think of us now?”
Quite frankly they would think us fools for abandoning the Gold Standard. Also, they would think us unlawful as the Constitution forbids the paper money society we have capitulated to. It was Kuhn of Germany’s Kuhn-Loeb, a century ago, that fast talked the United States into the Fed. The Federal Reserve is unconstitutional and nothing but a fools bet. Banks printing money and demanding payment from a Government held captive which then bills the American taxpayer for the IMAGINARY debt. Yes, IMAGINARY. Quite real in terms of paying it. The idea, however, that a usurious group of banks is required to govern, yes GOVERN, debt flow for payment of trade balances to be prosperous is diabolically evil.
First, history – in the ancient world, one of the primary duties of a King was to rightfully and honestly govern trade so that his country produced something of value for that which it obtained in return. Money (such as gold), rather than barter, did not change this as the limited amount of gold which was valuable, would insure that it represented something that it could redeem. The amount of redemption was not subject to fluctuations based on usurious practices. Those practices of usury were frowned upon not just in the Bible but in societies generally as leading to selling out one’s own country, or being the parasite that would be hated, even to the point of exclusion and even war. In simple language people recognized that hard work and production of real wealth (that which you can eat, wear or house oneself in or even build a city like Rome when it was brick, before the Marble) was an enduring economy. If you produced something that was REAL such as clothing) and someone else produced something that was REAL (such as grain for food) then trade and payment on both ends of the trade was a sound and natural economy based on hard work and real production on both ends. When Rome was a Republic it was strong, based on hard work and production by its own citizens. Both Cicero and Seneca lauded this phase of Rome. Julius Caesar wanted to be a dictating ruler and was felled during at the ides of March for his presumption. Augustus asked the Senate to give up its Tribunician power and make him temporary dictating ruler for four years. The Roman Senate was bi-cameral in its constitution and operation and equivalent to today’s two houses of the U.S. Congress, namely the House of Representatives and the Senate. Instead of Julius’ presumption in trying to simply take what he wanted, Augustus asked the Senate to vote it to him, temporarily, for the “good of Rome”. The Senate gave up their Tribunician power and gave Augustus what he wanted. The Roman Senate’s Tribunician power was equivalent to our House of Representatives power to control funding and direct the Government in crucial matters such as maintenance of the military. The beginning of Empire rather than Republic was with Augustus and after the four years were finished it was made permanent and the Roman emperors after that held the same military dictatorial powers and Rome was an Empire and a Police State. The empire part of it meant a slave state that ruled in the economic sense by taxes and a literal slave class. The military part was exemplified by the Roman sixth legion which when anyone resisted them, they were immediately crucified.
Adolph Hitler when he was Chancellor of Germany in the Weimar Republic, wheedled the same power from the Weimar Republic by the Enabling Act from the German Reichstag for the same length of time – four years. Then it too was made permanent and Nazi Germany was created. Nazi Germany was funded in large part by Kuhn-Loeb, and especially in its military expansionism was able thereby to wreak havoc upon the Europe which had housed the parasite usurers, namely the Banking Houses such as Kuhn-Loeb and Rothschild etc. owned and run by Jews who had their Zionist agenda to invade Palestine as part of their motivation for their scheming. The turning of Germany with its concomitant Empire Expansionist actions into a Police State requiring a requisite utterly obedient populace and a literal slave class (Eastern Slavics) insured its destruction. It also diverted people from the Zionist schemes for the invasion of Palestine (exemplified by the Haavara – the transfer agreement) that was the real goal of Kuhn-Loeb, Rothschild et al.
Second, the above: ‘Banks printing money and demanding payment from a Government held captive which then bills the American taxpayer for the IMAGINARY debt. Yes, IMAGINARY. Quite real in terms of paying it. The idea, however, that a usurious group of banks is required to govern, yes GOVERN, debt flow for payment of trade balances to be prosperous is diabolically evil.’ Think of it this way, you are at home and working hard and producing and prosperous. Your money is not much but things don’t cost a lot and you are solvent. Along comes the Devil and talks the formally conservative bank (where you keep your little bit of hard worked for gold) into accepting paper notes of debt that the Devil can use for any scheme he wants. The Devil gets your gold in return. The Devil then uses the forged paper money to fund any scheme he wants (especially wars killing with diabolic abandon unspeakable numbers of people) and charges everybody and his brother usurious rates of interest for the “privilege” of exchanging real gold for paper debt and owing everything to the Devil and continuing to invest in the Devil’s paper money scheme to by up, with worthless paper debt, real goods and services and even Governments and the Governments’ policies. This is the Federal Reserve. Its purpose and result are as predictable as history and the Devil’s utterly evil nature. The United States has been reduced to the “Imperialist” lackey of Israel and the Illuminati dominated NWO. When the husk that was once the United States of America is totally ex-sanguinated by these vampires, this country will be dissolved and the U.S. Republic will be no more. The North American Union is slated to take its place. Bush was equivalent to Julius Caesar and Obama is equivalent to Augustus Caesar (who by the way, in Suetonius, was noted for his extreme murderous paranoid cruelty and instant award of death to anyone he perceived to be his enemy).
I, indeed, shed a tear for the country I love and know, short of a miracle from God, will soon be no more. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to love good and hate evil. In this vein I look forward to the return of Christ when he sends these usurious bastards to hell forever. The impress of their greed upon the foolish will in short order include a modern form of the ancient “teserea” of pagan Rome, that is – the mark of the beast. To take it will make the recipient equally worthy of only hell along with the murderous usurers.
The bold action that we need is to shift the tax burden from income tax to consumption. This will encourage saving and investment.
I think the fairtax is a very important part of changing the economic direction of our country.
A good part of the bailout is buying stock in banks worth $5 today, and selling them in a few years at $8. In contrast, part of the bailout may be a gift, investing in walking zombie enterprises, with the money going to New York lawyers when those firms fail. We don’t know what the bailout will cost, because we don’t know how much is smart stock purchase and foolish investment in those doomed to fail.
A recession will cost the economy a trillion dollars and a bad recession will cost 2 to 3 trillion dollars. With luck, the net cost from the bailout will be 300 billion and it will save two trillion from the added cost of a bad recession.
Its time for change as the old way ain’t working.
When an economy and its people become stagnant, it needs massive national projects to get people off their backsides (welfare), and moving.
Its no good standing in soup lines producing nothing.
It cannot afford to pay, the lazy, drunk, or drugged, criminal, these types must be made to work or go hungry.
You have not got cash to print and waste.
All non cost affective projects must cease, including overseas adventures, alongside foreign aid.
Anything that drains cash for no return must stop, cash must only change hands for meaningful work done.
If this means bankers and millionaires have to dig holes, so be it.
America, if she does not get a grip of her dire situation will end up like Zimbabwe, Super inflation and social unrest.
America must re-think its money and banking/loan system, as the present one has reached it end of life point, and brought you to your knees.
There has to be change, if not the consequences are dire, a devalued dollar, massive social unrest, and a break up of your state system, IE. why should a hard working state fund and prop up a lazy state?
And still immigrants pour into your country draining
your vaults and demanding everything, even now.
You had a revolution many years ago, perhaps its time for another one now?
PS. I have never been a liberal, but I realise nothing grows in a vacuum and change is inevitable as humans evolve.
The privately managed system of global financial capitalism gives too much opportunity for the world’s richest people to combine for their mutual benefit. The world is locked into a debt based financial system run by private banks, where the only way currency can be entered into circulation is through lending with indiscriminate interest attached to it.
Every sovereign government should treat credit as a public utility, and not the private property of the banking system. It is, in fact, the banking system and the politicians they own who have stolen and abused the monetary system which should be a fundamental piece of the social commons.
FDR had the right idea as far as spending money into the economy, but he should have created it directly from the treasury and not have borrowed it from the Federal Reserve. John Maynard Keynes influenced FDR to implement what has become known as deficit spending. That is, spending money you don’t have. Under the Keynesian system of economics, a continuous process of inflation allows governments to confiscate an important part of the wealth of their citizens. Keynes was against the concept of saving or thrift.
Private fractional reserve banking should be outlawed.
Money is a social instrument which gives everyone the right to draw on the goods and services in any given sovereign society. It is not the bankers who give money its value. It is the production of the country. Bankers produce absolutely nothing. They only create figures that allow the nation to make use of its own producing capacity: its real wealth. Without the production of the citizens of the country, the banker’s figures are worthless.
Direct government issuance of credit calls for the conversion of real credit into money. This conversion must be made in keeping with the facts of production and the needs of consumption. Bookkeeping money results, but it must not be loaded with interest or limited to an arbitrary period of time. Any increase of real wealth will increase the base for this conversion into money, and any destruction of real wealth will destroy this base. The money must not disappear unless its base disappears.
Unfortunately our Founding Fathers have been rolling in their graves for decades now. A country, which has strayed from one of the world’s greatest documents The U.S. Constitution the guidelines for a successful Nation, will undoubtedly become a failed State. We have learned nothing as greed has consumed our common sense and patriotism so I guess we will get what we deserve. It’s going to be painful and agonizing as hell.
Meanwhile citizens are stockpiling food, guns, ammo, gas. etc. Don’t think we all know what is coming? The period of Tribulation appears to be on the horizon before us. I hope not but all the signs indicate it.
One may ask how did we get here and I have just one word for you. Greed.
This “$700 Billion bailout” is now over $8 trillion, last I checked.
The only way to stop us from becoming communist now, is to get rid of the banks, and have a legitimate currency that is coined by the congress and not run by some fraudulent privately owned bunch of sharks. Will that happen? Over Rothschild’s dead body, perhaps.
This article has the merit of actually grasping just what’s wrong here. All devices currently under consideration by the regime have as their object the recreation of the bubble the collapse of which got us here in the first place. Until the counterfeit value is flushed from the system, no realistic recovery can be achieved. Our dear savior’s fiscal stimulus can only be launched on the backs of an increasingly large network of zombie banks whose investors have been satified only at the expense of the taxpayer. Buchanan is right to see one possibility in the government’s printing money. The other option, further Chinese investment, is increasingly unlikely. At one point or other we will be forced to eat the consequences of this outrageous profligacy and rather than have that happen, the scum that lead us will resort to the printing press. Weimar, not the Great Depression, will be the historical parallel at that time and hyper-inflation will bring the system to its knees. Its then that the real opportunities for change will present themselves.
If the superrich were “taxed naked” as Andrea, above, suggests, the gubment could raise maybe $50 billion. Big deal! That might pay the interest on our national deby for a few weeks. Then what?
No, liberals and neo-Republicans are out of control and totally inept. Their Globalist religion has turned America into a socialist debtor nation whose currency decreases a little more every day. They have spread our jobs, industry and wealth around so much there is very little left of any of these, here — all so the superrich can get richer, and the little-guy will keep his money in the market a little while longer. No long term economic view or strategy, just the next earnings report.
America doesn’t matter. What matters is next quarter’s bottom line. This is how we got where we are. This is also why America is in freefall.
All your thoughts and opinions are excellent and true.
While I didn’t vote for Obama, he seems to be quite serious about appointing the best and brightest members for his administration – among them Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. I believe Obama will want to be an historically great President and I firmly feel he will do everything possible to avoid or minimize the social and financial debacle we are all fearful of at this point. We all need to hope for the best and I guess, prepare for the worst. It wouldn’t hurt for the U.S. to become more protectionist. Keep the faith.
I know this is not the place to post this but since we don’t have a forum at this time, let me just say…
SATAN is back. We just cant get rid of her, her husband and the rest of the Clintonistas.
Satan…hard to kill!!!
…and beware the evil Cabal.
This is a very timely comment from an insightful individual. I see the dialectic of right and left coming together in the War by Terror on Everybody by the NWO and the Illuminist puppet USA replete with neo-con/lib Demicans and Republicrats.
By Rhiannon:
A p o s t a s y
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/9342#comment-38488
The facts aren’t the problem… The people in power are the problem, because they don’t care about the facts, or about you, or me.
to the rock:
You’re right- Satan is back. Why he did it, I don’t know (probably due to guilt over bumping her out of the way by using the race card), but Barack turned the entire world, so to speak, over to the Hill-Bill-ies. They’ll be travelling the world, throwing their weight around, for the next eight years. We’ll see Hill with her stupid grin, and Bill right beside her, acting like he knows everything, on the news every night. It might be enough of a distraction that we won’t notice that Barack will be dismantling our culture to make way for God knows what. Yee-haw!
TOYS FOR THE BOYS.
Meanwhile as billions more dollars flow into the pit, and thousands more lose their jobs and homes, the multi billion space program where those two deadly enemies Eagle and Bear have fun in space, wasting millions of dollars, enjoying their space game.
Crisis what crisis?
The space shuttle Endeavour has returned to Earth after an eventful mission to repair parts of the International Space Station (ISS).
The shuttle’s landing site was switched from Florida to Edwards Air Force Base in California due to bad weather.
The shuttle touched down safely at around 1325 local time (2125GMT).
The mission had been extended by a day because Nasa wanted the shuttle’s crew to make repairs to a machine which makes drinking water from urine. (that really is taking the ####)
(Lost tool bag, next time tie it to your belt dummy.)
The shuttle, with a crew of seven, was piloted by Commander Christopher Ferguson.
“Welcome back. That was a great way to finish a fantastic flight,” Mission Control radioed.
“And we’re happy to be here in California,” Commander Ferguson replied.
Earlier on Sunday a Russian space vessel docked with the ISS, delivering food, clothes and Christmas presents.
Russian flight engineer Yury Lonchakov remotely guided the Progress spaceship to a docking port after an automated system failed.
Is Satan up there as well???
I believe the situation here in the UK is far worse, almost every manufactured good has come from China, almost all textiles from the Indian sub-continent and 40% food comes from outside of the UK, the food that is often sourced in the UK is for foreign owned companies. The British economy is now 76% service-sector with most of that selling on the produce of other nations. The Pseudo-Socialistic British government has only been able to claim ‘economic success’ because of the cash-flow generated by financial services while five and a half million people, greater than the entire population of Scotland, has to live on benefits because there are only half a million jobs at the best end of the economic cycle. Now that the credit that fuelled service-sector demand has now collapsed the UK government is in a tailspin and is seeking to create a state-capitalist economy at double-quick speed because there is no longer a manufacturing or agricultural backbone to the British economy.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST.
Mortgage lending falls to second lowest figure on record
London Scottish Bank goes into administration
Manufacturing shrinks at record pace
Net mortgage lending dived by nearly 70% during October to just £459 million
Britain was hit by a raft of downbeat economic news today fuelling fears about the depth of the UK recession.
Mortgage lending collapsed during October, diving by nearly 70% to reach the second lowest figure on record, while manufacturing activity also shrunk at record pace.
According to the Bank of England, just £459 million was advanced during the month, well down on September’s £1.49 billion and only 6% of the level for October 2007.
The steep fall was driven by the ongoing shortage of capital banks have to lend.
It may also reflect a renewed tightening in their lending criteria in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, which triggered a new round of volatility in the financial
(Thanks wall street, nice one)
Just seen the TV line up of OBAMA’S team, raring to go, to save the world.
CHICKEN RUN.
No chickens, no eggs.
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the largest U.S. chicken producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection along with five affiliates after rising grain costs and a poultry surplus caused it to post four consecutive quarterly losses.
The company reported assets of $3.75 billion and debt of $2.72 billion in a filing today in U.S. bankruptcy court in Ft. Worth, Texas. Operations will continue as normal, Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride said in a statement.
The company said it will seek $450 million in financing to help it reorganize. Pilgrim’s Pride was formed in 1946 when Aubrey Pilgrim and his partner Pat Johns bought a feed store for $3,500. The company took on debt and surpassed Tyson Foods Inc. in production when it bought Atlanta-based Gold Kist Inc. for $1.1 billion in January 2007. Since Sept. 26, lenders agreed to waive certain conditions of its credit agreements until Dec. 1.
“Like many other struggling firms, Pilgrim’s Pride will have problems obtaining funding” amid a global credit crisis, Sean Egan, cofounder and president of Haverford, Pennsylvania- based rating company Egan-Jones Group Ltd., said in a Nov. 6 report. The “purchase of Gold Kist was a blow to credit quality which was exacerbated by weaker operating conditions.”
Wells Fargo & Co. is the biggest unsecured creditor in the case, with two claims totaling $25.6 million for senior- subordinated notes due in 2015 and 2017, according to court papers. International Paper Co. holds an unsecured claim of $6.08 million.
The case is In re Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, 08-45664, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas (Ft. Worth).
It seems everybody going bust wants tax payers funding to carry on going bust, madness!
to anthonymakara:
Thanks for that update on the situation in the UK. If it makes any difference at all, I for one am ashamed at the way that we Americans dropped the ball, leaving the entire world struggling financially. Hopefully, the Obama team will institute reforms that will prevent anything like this from happening again (not that anyone thinks Americans should have ever again have the opportunity to prove ourselves).
I think that all of this only proves that if we are going to have global systems that we all rely upon (and at this point in time, global systems are the only thing that makes sense), then a lot more is going to have to be done to make sure that they work, and that they’re protected against terrorism (of all sorts: bombings, state-sponsored computer hacking, etc.).
Patrick J.Buchanan, I am pained to read that the reason for our current economic collapse is that the average American does not save. He should get two jobs and save. The average American is in fact overworked and underpaid, that is when/if he gets paid. This smells like fascism. The value of labor is constantly stolen or undermined. The poor and working people have little recourse in seeking access to legal relief from Administrative or Courts in the justice system to their individual injuries suffered at the magic of the market. This is the business and social model most Americans live under. The degradation must be obvious. Why must the Fed and Congress illegally bailout Wall St. gambling institutions? Is it our duty to suffer and pay their Derivative service debts? No one thinks to put these facilities, including the Fed in Bankruptcy? How much money did the gambling institutions blow? Why were they never taxed? A per transaction tax should have been enacted, we/US would not be in debt now. The Fed acts like a collusive agent to the Wall St. power.How much of a ready stream of money did the FED, US Congress and the American people give to Wall St. in the “benefit” of mortgage loans, investments, mortgage tax write-offs, tax deferments, investment credits and write-offs, invested pension funds, etc., etc., etc.? It should be calculated. There is a crime here, people ought to be arrested. We may not be able to get justice in this matter at this time, however we should have the collective sense to see that the current monetary system is dead. Many of the current remedies being offered will make the situation worse. The usury of Wall St. is killing us. Declare the monetary system bankrupt and start our US National Bank system. Introduce high paying jobs, not free money to pay usury credit cards and the like. As you know Patrick, Lincoln said all wealth is derived from labor. Bring back this concept to the forefront of economic prospective. The current financial collapse has at its’ core the degradation of man and the benefits derived from his labor and brainpower. Remember you can not eat gold. Gold will not farm or manufacture. Only man can turn a desert like California into the 6th largest economy in the world. Only the American System can save mankind, and defeat the Malthusians.(Coolidge) It is our job now to resurrect the American System Ideal, by patiently communicating its tenets to our own population. We must investigate and undo a lot of damage created in the curriculums of our schools, colleges, and the communications of news media. Good luck to you, Patrick
to friscokid:
The hard lesson the UK must learn is that economic success cannot be measured in neoliberal terms like cash-flow from financial services, but must be measured in terms of productive capacity and the ability to supply its internal market, supppllimented by a viable export capacity.
The fact that the UK economy is 76% services-heavy means that low wages and part-time working hours are the order of the day. This has led to the state having to impose a minimum wage, which in turn is topped up by a state subsidy of tax-credits, yet even with these measures people have had to resort to a constant stream of credit to achieve a decent standard of living. Now that the credit supply has dried up, the service-heavy economy is collapsing.
The UK must return to being an economy based on the hard industries and agriculture. One that can pay for better wages out of productivity, ending the ball-and-chain dependence on credit to fuel consumer demand.
Sadly all the senior political figures in the UK are still behind the curve, still wedded to the idea that neoliberalism and free-trade are the great cure-all, which is quite astonishing given the events of the last few months. Unless these career-politicians change track soon they will turn the UK and the rest of the west into little more than dumping grounds for the ecnomic powerhouses of the east, with credit, most probably state generated credit being the only source of ‘wealth’ available.
Cking, excellent points! You are right, the ‘robber barrons’ should be arrested and sent to hard labor camps-chain gangs!
Pat, Cking got you on this post. Labor is not rewarded but Wall Street schemes and thieves are!
If more and more companies face economic problems, won’t’ the demand for cheaper labor go up? To make a profit and stay in the black in a depressed economy, they may be more willing to hire cheaper illegal labor.
We need to rethink and redefine the so-called economic classes of this country.
Right now, we take the short route logic and simply define the classes as, Rich, Middleclass and Poor. If you step back and think about it for a minute, it’s not a very accurate description of the people that drive and maintain the American Economy. Who really makes the difference? Who do we really count on?
Thinking in terms of class is an old European way of classifying people according to their purchasing power and influence. It is a snap-shot of status, it doesn’t describe who is driving the economy and who is benefiting.
The Production view is much more accurate. The problem with the old Producerism philosophy was that it was militant. It was born with a chip on its shoulder and wrote off anyone that wasn’t getting his hands dirty as parasites – Hardly an argument that could win over the powers that be.
In reality, we have two main classes: The Producers and the Non-Producers. Within the Producer Class we have all three income levels: wealthy, middle and working poor. This class consists of all of those that directly and indirectly drive the economic engine. These people are the investors and lenders, inventors, manufacturers, skilled workers, unskilled workers – basically anyone creating wealth.
The Producer Class is broadly and simply defined by contribution. For instance, where would the Producer view place lawyers? A trial lawyer that spends all of his time suing everyone is a non-contributor. You can argue his value to society, but the bottom line is that he benefits from the work of others and contributes nothing to the economy. On the other hand, a Patent Lawyer supports and protects the interests of innovators and businesses, enabling them to stay in business.
The definition of a Producer depends on what one does, not ones profession.
Many, non-producers are people that work in service jobs and support roles. They are valuable and create a sort of grey-zone between the classes. But, without the producers, they’re out of a job.
The non-producers, also, consist of the wealthy that don’t invest in our economy. They live here, they sell their products here, they benefit from the producers / consumers, they even pay taxes, but they add little or nothing to the American economic cycle. They benefit more than they contribute. This is the same for the non-working poor or the severely disabled.
An example of semi-non-producing rich may be Warren Buffet. He invests some in the American economy, but in one case has hurt the economy by investing in Vietnam and essentially shutting down American furniture manufacturing. He would fit the definition of an economic parasite for the most part. But, because of our skewed view of class, based on income and wealth, he is seen as an economic hero rather than a parasite that benefits far more from America than we do from him.
However, it is dispassionate to define the very poor and disabled as “parasites”. They are people that either need help or care and if we are a compassionate people, that value human life, they are our responsibility. They are a problem to be solved.
The non-producing rich, however, are another issue. They are most definitely parasites. Because of them, we need to restructure our tax codes to lift the tax burden on all producers and increase it on the non-producing rich.
When it comes to the wealthy, we need to reward those that contribute to the American bottom line and make it clear to the non-producing rich that they are not admired.
I’m certainly not an economist, and even hate my own checkbook…..But, I’ve got a good memory and remember the America that I was born into. And it is a fact that:
A. Japan was a destroyed nation in ruble in 1945.
B. 20 years later, they were a vigrant economy in 1965.
C. In 1975 they controled many industries on a world scale.(And are now sitting on the largest GOLD reserve in the world, having NO oil.)
What do they know that we don’t?
Willis, I agreed with most of your post, but when you started talking about the poor ole people riding the disability gravy train that is where I strongly disagree with you!!! I believe about 10% of the people on disability and or ssi truly deserve it. Most that are on those programs are lazy scammers. If most people like this are made to work or do without they will be forced to become producers or do without. Case in point, my disabled neighbor that weighs somewhere around 400 pounds and is on disability do to a bad back. I’m no doctor, but I know if he would lose half of his gluttenous weight that his so called bad back would miraculously get better. He drinks from sun up to sunset and is using many illegal drugs. Some people have to be forced to help themselves like rodfish stated in his post. I vehemently oppose using my hard earned tax money to assist these types of worthless slobs!!!
PJB, where did it ever cross your mind that Bush came away with the same thoughts as Obama, after studying the “Great Depression”. The man is incapable of study, and if you ever studied his bio you would know that Yale didn’t really want him, and the Bush family made some significant contributions just to get him in there, and to keep him there. The same could be said for Andover, another institution where the well to do like to hide their less than stellar offspring, and pass it off as an education.
Al Franken? Who would vote for that goofball?
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The same people who voted for Obama and Biden, both goof-ball gaff-masters. The Liberal frame of mind has taken us to the up-side-down politics and the deepening recession we are all finding ourselves in. It’s called dishonest money, politics, pork, earmarks and chicanery, which has taken us to the level of what, is being the accepted way of doing business. It may work for a season. In the long run as history has shown us, it ain’t gonna work! The quicken spirit in a person will take that person to “diligent business productivity” and “honest money prosperity,” and with what it can do for the good of all. It’s called FREEDOM!!!!!!!
In the end, the truth and freedom will continue to march on. This is something that people who long for freedom have had to fight for through the ages. Our time is no different. This will govern everything. I hope that we have learned from the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and build upon it and fight for what has proven to be life-giving and good.
There are many who want to see the truth and freedom America brought down. The wolves are using our institutions and laws to pervert the freedom of America. Be aware and support your community and country. Pay attention and get involved. We are only as strong and free as we are willing to stand up to being.