France Rises Up Against the New Fascism - Vaccine Passports 23:57 Jul 21 3 comments George Floyd: one death too many in the “land of the free” 23:58 Jun 23 0 comments The leveraged buyout, exploitation and punishment beating of Greece as warning to others. 11:45 May 11 0 comments Red Banner issue 60 out now 13:18 Jun 22 0 comments Red Banner issue 59 out now 17:46 Mar 28 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Anti-EmpireNorth Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi? Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi? Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi? ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi? US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Lockdown Skeptics
News Round-Up Mon Dec 23, 2024 01:12 | Richard Eldred
Staff at ?100 Million Alan Turing Institute Attack ?Chaotic? Management Amid Diversity Row Sun Dec 22, 2024 19:00 | Richard Eldred
?Our Irish Leaders Have Contributed to Hatred Against Jews? Sun Dec 22, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
?Grocery Tax? to Hike Britons? Shopping Bills by ?56 in Labour Net Zero ?Inflation Boost? Sun Dec 22, 2024 15:00 | Richard Eldred
Furious German Protesters Demand Mass Deportations Following Christmas Market Attack by Saudi Doctor... Sun Dec 22, 2024 13:00 | Richard Eldred
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionVoltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en |
Why has nobody in the media offered an alternative to handing over 700 BILLION to Wall Street?
international |
anti-capitalism |
opinion/analysis
Saturday September 27, 2008 20:05 by wageslave
Are the US government and their pals in media and big business pulling the wool over our eyes again? The entire media seems to be singing in unison on one of the biggest potential movements of public funds into private hands. And it looks like they might get away with it too. surely there's a better way? Here's one suggestion I came up with in all of 5 minutes to get the ball rolling. I invite your hopefully much better suggestions in the comments Everyone is saying the US taxpayer should hand over 700 BILLION to the banking sector to ease the financial crisis they colluded in. Caption: Video Id: XP4g_8OwEpU Type: Youtube Video |
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1www.votenader.org
Check out Ralph Nader's website - he foresaw the 'credit crunch' awhile ago
Simple...just reinstate the New Deal that FDR started back in the day. We should put money in the structure so that people will get more jobs and jobs equals money, with money people buy shit...when they do that then the money is circled around instead of being lost...i don't feel like explaining this better sorry...really tired
Thanks T.
He has this one on counterpunch currently too. Worth a read
"The Insanity of the $700 Billion Giveaway"
http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson09252008.html
They are "close to a deal" this evening.
Looks like they want to push this through quickly before people truly fathom what is going on.
All the media are currently pumping out the same scare stories
1999 saw US Congress take apart the Glass-Steagall Act which had underpinned Roosevelt's "New Deal" rolling debt solution to the famine, mass unemployment and financial meltdown of 1929 and thereafter. Destroying the Glass Steagall Act meant the final part of the "Reaganomics" or "Thatcherite" vision of financial institutions unfetterred by regulation came into being. Although of course the bill was signed after joint party talks by Clinton. If nothing else it shows one example of Republicans & Democrats working together before as they are now. Thus commercial and investment banking were no longer seperated. This allowed for huge profits and the appearance of boom built on real estate speculation but also allowed for the emergence of a shadow banking system. That's just one example of how the "New Deal" sorted out the mess the last time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act
The Commodity Exchange Act (1936) was another mechanism which has its equivalents in continental European banking laws and is exactly why continental European banking systems aren't going pop now. Though explicitely dealing with grain futures (the first futures to be traded in world history and vital to ending the famine of the 1930's in the USA) there were guarantees that deriviates and credit default transfers be excluded. Those provision were overturned in the year 2000. Had they remained in place then the sub prime debts would never have been traded and bounced from little bank to bigger bank along with their insurance policies all the way to the White House or runs on mortgage lenders in the UK or negligent public spending in Ireland.
It is very ironic that the solution to this crises lies in a return to the models of capitalism in the mid 20th century . if not the complete return to the FDR "New Deal" then the adoption of European systems with all their regulations which the US has been trying so hard to "reform" since the 1980's. We are not seeing the end of anglo-saxon capitalism but we are seeing the end of the neo-liberal nightmare which has done nothing but give a shadow banking mafia an opportunity for a killing. They are going to see that killing signed into law this week. They've brought everyone on a run around the board since the 1980's and are now collecting 700 billion$. It wouldn't have happened if the many "New Deal" laws had not been repealed. But they're not going back to the New Deal. Either with its top down regulation on greed or its bottom up veneer of a social state. Perhaps the temptation to fascism of the 1930's in not an element now. Nor are they choosing the Japanese solution of seeking foreign money by offering negative interest rates. Because they know they would lose their status as global market places shortly afterwards. Instead they are choosing the very British solution of "nationalisation" but without giving it that name. There is very little talk of the conditions - for example ought there be a cap on yields? on executive salaries? how much indemnisation is going to leave the US economy and go off shore? The "New Deal" regulations which stopped speculation and debt trading and swaps probably don't interest people on this site. What they want to hear about is the food vouchers for Walmart and guaranteed jobs in Mc Donalds style New Deal. Well that aint happening.
This time nobody is talking about the starving poor or chalk for the school kids. It's almost as if this 700billion dollars, the equivalent of 2,000 McDonald's apple pies for every US citizen alive with lots of crumbs left over for migrant homehelpers to eat, is coming out of the thin air you see around a hoard of edible gold at the end of a rainbow. Isn't it a pity the Progressive Democrats didn't live to see the day? But they're with Paul Newman now in heaven sharking a pool table.
Michael Hudson has a series of really good articles written over the last few years on the problems that have lead to the present financial crisis. These are well worth reading.
He also do some excellent interviews for which podcasts are available. Probably one of the better ones was this one last year titled.
Fighting Against the Class War (audio-mp3)
- Aug 15, 2007 in Guns and Butter, KPFA
Finance against Industry and Labor: "Liquidity crisis in the banking system; wiping out of credit; demise of the dollar; stock volatility; hedge funds; sub-prime lending, real estate tax versus labor tax, etc."
Another later interview is this one:
The Plot to Shift Taxes Off Wealth onto Wage Earners (audio-mp3)
- Aug 22nd, 2007 in Guns and Butter, KPFA
"AAA rating of subprime junk; inflation; change in world order; privatization of banking system through the Federal Reserve; Alan Greenspan and the 1982 Social Security Committee; junk economics; windfall profits; the law of fraudulent conveyance."
http://www.michael-hudson.com/audio/070815ClassWar.mp3
Embedded audio: http://www.michael-hudson.com/audio/070815ClassWar.mp3
http://www.michael-hudson.com/audio/070921taxplot.mp3
Embedded audio: http://www.michael-hudson.com/audio/070921taxplot.mp3
Here's a quick (and rather amusing) explanation of how the subprime crisis came about. Enjoy!
https://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdj...pli=1
And a proper link to (R.I.P.) George Carlin's IMHO rather relevant youtube clip
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=XP4g_8OwEpU