I've always believed that satire or parody is sometimes the
best medium to illuminate the truth and Obama's current finance reform
package begs for a ride on that wagon : Allen L Roland
Best wishes,
Your Buddies ~ The Wall Street CEOs
The House and Senate are expected
to vote on the final sleight of hand version of the highly suspect "financial
reform" bill ( HR 4173 ) this week ~ which is really a victory
for Wall Street who obviously have powerful friends in both houses of
Congress as well as a friend at the White House. For example,
top US banks could be given until 2022 to comply with the so-called
Volcker rule, which is supposed to restrict financial institutions'
riskier trading activities.
Meanwhile, "Fifty-five percent of Americans in the labor force have experienced a job loss, a pay cut, or a reduction in hours since the onset of the Great Recession in 2007," a new survey finds. Personal debt is at an all time high as Main Street struggles to survive.
The federal debt will represent 62 percent of the nation's economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released yesterday.
Meanwhile, "Fifty-five percent of Americans in the labor force have experienced a job loss, a pay cut, or a reduction in hours since the onset of the Great Recession in 2007," a new survey finds. Personal debt is at an all time high as Main Street struggles to survive.
The federal debt will represent 62 percent of the nation's economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released yesterday.
Let's make it simple ~
The financial debt crisis was caused by these three principle factors ~
The financial debt crisis was caused by these three principle factors ~
1.The
Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low.
2. The Federal Reserve
inflating the money supply to satisfy Congress's deficit spending.
3. Government policies
encouraging or forcing financial institutions to issue credit to
undeserving people
Together, those policies caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the easy money debt bubble. The result was our current deepening Depression ~ masked as a Recession.
Together, those policies caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the easy money debt bubble. The result was our current deepening Depression ~ masked as a Recession.
The toothless Obama-Dodd-Frank bill does nothing to address
these debt problems ~ and instead insures the appearance of
another mad money debt bubble which benefits only Wall Street.
In the spirit of gratitude, Wall Street has sent a letter to President Obama and his Congressional friends ~ courtesy of Dean Baker / Truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/wall-street-congratulates-washington-a-job-well-done60845
In the spirit of gratitude, Wall Street has sent a letter to President Obama and his Congressional friends ~ courtesy of Dean Baker / Truthout. http://www.truth-out.org/wall-street-congratulates-washington-a-job-well-done60845
Dear President Obama and Congressional
friends,
We want
you know how much we value the support of the leadership of both
political parties in your efforts to ensure that we did not suffer from
the crisis that we ourselves created. As you recall, back in the fall of
2008, our banks were flat on their backs. If you had not rushed to our
rescue with trillions of dollars in loans and guarantees from the Fed
and the Treasury at a time where no sane investor would talk to us, most
of us would be among the unemployed today. Instead, our banks
are hugely profitable and we're happy to say that bonuses are again
hitting record highs.
While this is the sort of support that we expect in exchange for our generous campaign contributions, we are especially impressed how you have managed to so effectively blunt any backlash from the public. After all, with the unemployment rate still near double-digit levels, millions of people facing the loss of their homes and tens of millions seeing their savings wiped out, there is naturally considerable anger. However, you have managed to deftly deal with this problem by diverting their attention elsewhere.
While this is the sort of support that we expect in exchange for our generous campaign contributions, we are especially impressed how you have managed to so effectively blunt any backlash from the public. After all, with the unemployment rate still near double-digit levels, millions of people facing the loss of their homes and tens of millions seeing their savings wiped out, there is naturally considerable anger. However, you have managed to deftly deal with this problem by diverting their attention elsewhere.
Instead
of people being angry at us for the billions that we are pocketing
while the economy is still in the tank, you have managed to make
scapegoats out of the unemployed. At a time when there are five
unemployed workers for every job opening, you have been able to whip up
public resentment over unemployment benefits that average $300 a week (a
few minutes' pay for us ~ chuckle ). This is truly skillful
politics.
We
were also impressed to see that you are taking steps to have the
government punish people who default on their mortgage loans to us. Just
because we are enormously rich and have huge banks doesn't mean that we
know what we are doing when we issue a mortgage. We didn't think about
things like the housing bubble when we issued a lot of those mortgages
back in the boom. As a result, we lost a lot of money. We stand to lose
even more if people keep defaulting - even when they are able to pay
back our loans (sometimes referred to as a "strategic default").
Therefore, we appreciate your actions to have the
government punish borrowers who default. By telling defaulters
that they will not be able to have future mortgages insured by the
Department of Housing and Urban Development or purchased by Fannie Mae,
you are helping us squeeze more money out of these homeowners. This must
be especially difficult since we know how much pressure there is on
many of you to actually be helping the homeowners. But you folks have
had the courage to stand with us even as foreclosures are continuing at a
near record pace. We appreciate this.
And
now, you have decided to put cuts to Social Security at the center of
your agenda. This really takes courage. Here is a program that people
have paid for with their taxes. This tax will be sufficient to fully
fund benefits for the next 33 years, according to the Congressional
Budget Office, and even after that date it could indefinitely pay more
than 70 percent of scheduled benefits, assuming no changes are ever made
to the program. This means that current and near retirees have already
paid for their Social Security benefits.
But
you're going to cut Social Security benefits anyhow. And this
is even after the collapse of the housing bubble and the resulting
downturn wiped out most of the housing equity of the baby boomers and
much of the value of their 401(k)s. Frankly, under the circumstances, we
wouldn't have been surprised if you were talking about increasing
Social Security benefits. But, we're absolutely delighted to see you
moving forward with plans for cuts. This will mean that we won't have to
be taxed to repay the bonds held by the trust fund.
And, of course, there is the financial reform bill. You killed any plans to break up too big to fail banks (leaving us with huge government subsidies) and kept any talk of a financial speculations tax from being taken seriously.
Keep up the great work; we'll remember you at
campaign contribution time.And, of course, there is the financial reform bill. You killed any plans to break up too big to fail banks (leaving us with huge government subsidies) and kept any talk of a financial speculations tax from being taken seriously.
Best wishes,
Your Buddies ~ The Wall Street CEOs
To top this all off ~ The Democrats have just dropped the $19 billion dollar assessment on large banks and hedge funds, to pay the administrative costs of the legislation ~ inorder to appease Republicans and blue dog Democrats and ensure passage of this disgraceful sellout to Wall Street.
If you're not angry, you're on life support.
Allen L Roland
Allen L Roland is a practicing
psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political
and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national
radio show TRUTHTALK
Cartoon
courtesy of Tom Toles / Washington Post