By Jim Hoover
Greed is good. Big government is bad, unless government (us) is bailing out the greedy.
This bit of propaganda has infiltrated America since 1970, and gained momentum around the time that Ronald Reagan came upon the scene. Remember, he is the one that said, “Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
The goal even then was to free Wall Street from regulatory shackles, to let it soar like the vulture it has become. Bankers are the life blood of democracy the propaganda goes. We are learning that banker blood is taken out of our own veins again and again, transfusions of our hard-earned tax money.
Have you ever provided blood for a donor and had that donor flip you off? Taxpayers just had that experience.
A continuous cast of villains transformed the banking industry from vigilant guardian of industry to high rolling gambler. From the 1970s, presidents and Congress changed the nature of banking from a safe and secure operation since the days of FDR to the equivalent of a roulette wheel.
Since then it is no accident that we have had a growing swell of booms, following by calamities growing subsequently worse and with greater frequency. We thought that with the bailout of financial institutions too big to fail in 2007-2008, we were done, but a double-dip recession is looming, what with the Republican stranglehold on the economy, and banks sitting on trillions of Federal Reserve dollars.
The Federal Reserve seems to be increasingly a plaything of big business, its job more and more centering on maintaining the solvency, and prosperity, of large financial institutions, while the unemployed of America languish.
The pattern of boom and bust is becoming increasingly familiar, increasingly larger in scope, and increasingly more frequent – from a small scope to one very large. As we totter near a double-dip recession, Germany in the European Common Market is rescuing a near-bankrupt Greece and worrying over the state of the Euro in other countries, wondering how long it can continue this effort, one that the German people don’t seem to favor.
It is no coincidence that de-regulation and banking crises go hand in hand.
In 1970 the Federal Reserve saved Penn Central from default by rescuing its bank, First National City. The bank has since renamed itself Citibank. Sound familiar?
The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (dubbed the S&L Crisis) was the failure of 747 of over 3,000 savings and loan associations. It came as a result of de-regulation, led to a taxpayer bailout of about $100 billion, uncovering somewhat shady dealings by some prominent individuals, including Jeb Bush, and most probably led to the recession of 1990-1991.
The current demonstrations on Wall Street, as well as those in several cities, are an exercise in frustration for thousands who know that the rich one percent of Americans has perpetrated a government takeover and are perpetuating a greed fest that must end soon, for the good of our country, indeed, for the good of the world.
John
5 Oct 2011Have you ever provided blood for a donor and had that donor flip you off? Taxpayers just had that experience.
So, I keep hearing some folks here complaining about people on welfare and unemployment but advocating for business.
1. How are you able to justify rescuing banks and businesses who, by their own greed and error have problems while denying the victims of their greed?
2. How are you able to attack unions while defending Congress which is the most corrupt union imaginable.
Jim
5 Oct 2011@ John 1. I think bail outs suck. If a business or bank cannot make it they should fail. There is no such thing as too big to fail. 2. I do not like unions I think they do more harm than good to the working man. I do not support all the benefits congress gives themselves. I think it sucks they get a lifetime pension and health care for such a little commitment on their part. I think they need to be held accountable to the same laws as the rest of us. So now what? Your premise is erroneous.
Simone
5 Oct 2011They’re the job creators, they need less than a 0% tax rate. Sure, they’re not creating jobs NOW, but if we don’t keep giving them taxpayer money think of how many jobs we’ll lose!
Jim
5 Oct 2011Simon nice link but if only a dozen companies out of thousands pay no or negative tax that means thousands pay taxes. The twelve out of that many companies can be explained be low profits or many other factors. If it was something other than that it would be many more corporations than 12 that were doing this. 12 out of all the corporations in the US? Not even worth mentioning.
Simone
5 Oct 2011So are you saying we should keep giving taxpayer money to these corporations who pay no taxes? Let’s cut out the loopholes and stop making stupid excuses, I’m sick of it
”Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.” – Bloomberg
Drop in the bucket, right? Let’s do nothing about it.
John
5 Oct 2011No taxes is just insane. They get the labor! They get the profit! Its just beyond comprehension that they would get a free ride.
What the hell meds are you guys on???
Christy
5 Oct 2011Corporate greed & cronyism does exist – see BHO’s Czar Immelt of GE for one.