Moyers, Black, Obama, Holder, Trump & Crew, and Mega Banks

All you need to watch is the 1st 11 minutes & 40 seconds to see how the Mega Banking "Cartel" (rather than people with sub-prime mortgages) was the cause of the last Financial/Economic Crisis, and how/why the failure of the Obama Admin to prosecute Mega BankERS (not Banks) has set up the next overdue, soon-to-be-here Crash.  [Trump & Crew most likely will not do the same thing that Obama & Holder did not do.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXWaAQpofqE&amp=&index=28&amp=&list=WL

Bill Moyers is well known...Bill Black not as much.  He's a brilliant academic in Law & Economics, as well as a former bank regulator.  After the Savings & Loan scandal of the 1980's, Black's team investigated & made about 1,000 criminal referrals to the Justice Dept.  All resulted in successful prosecutions of Bankers, rather than Banks (which are fictitious "persons" & only can be fined, not jailed).  Even fines in the billions of $$$ are considered merely a cost of doing Biz by the "Cartel".

It's all coming our way again.  This time, not only home mortgages, but also car loans & home rental receipts have been bundled up & then chopped up to create "securities" sold by Wall Street.  Plus, bizarre financial derivatives (bets on those securities, and bets on those bets, and bets on those bets, etc.) are back in the game with virtually no regulation.

Don't believe DC's propaganda that "everything is going great".  Everything is going pretty much where it went from 2007 through 2009.  Get ready...all it will take is one glitch, one Black Swan event, or one who-knows-what and the whole system again will be in chaos.  At least, the probability of that is extremely high.  Trump & Crew's deregulation blitz is making it all the more likely.  [I believe that in many areas of society, there are too many regulations; but in the case of the Financial Sector, there are too few.]

Not only my opinion.  Be Prepared

We Deserve Corporatism, and Notes on Fed Income Taxes, & on Banking

Most Americans today appear to know very little History, Geography, American Government, & Logic, and pretty much zero about the Constitution.  Never mind knowledge of how Propaganda works, or anything at all about Corporatism, or the significance of gerrymandering, or how political candidates really are selected.  And worse, they don't see the relevance of any of it to their lives.  They don't care that they don't know.  But most of them know the really important stuff, such as when the new I-Phone will be coming out and whether or not it will be able to fry eggs, or perform some other mundane or silly function.  The whole situation is an utter disgrace...on all of us.

In this country, we deserve the Corporatist Clinton (both of them), the Corporatist Bush (any of them), the Corporatist Obama (the Fake Populist), and the Corporatist Trump (the doubly Fake Populist)... along with Global Private Rule.  We all deserve it all...because we all have let them (the Elites) get away with egregious, rampant Edward Bernays style Propaganda---the molding of the public mind---and with blatant violations of the U.S. Constitution.

....................................................

Notes on Fed Income Taxes & on Banking---

In 1946, the Chairman of the New York Fed Reserve, Beardsley Ruml, presented a paper to some auspicious group or another.  The thesis of his paper was this:  the idea of Fed Income Taxes for government revenue is obsolete.  I don't have the time or energy to explain his reasoning, so if you're interested, Google/Bing the topic.

I do have the time for this much.  A good deal of his reasoning was centered on the central planning of monetary issues by the Fed Reserve, and on the changing of the Gold Standard by FDR.  A fairly recent example of Ruml's thesis is as follows.  Between the times when Congress voted down the 2008 Bailout package for the Mega Banks and then fairly quickly afterward approved it (about $700 billion), the Fed Reserve felt it had to do something, so it made TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS available to the Big Boys in the form of loans at essentially zero percent interest.  Not one cent of those trillions was from taxes.  Nor was any of it from government "savings".  [There are no gov't savings; the National Debt is $20 trillion...an amount impossible to repay in full.]  The Fed simply added a bunch of digits to its balance sheet; it created the "money" out of thin air.  That's entirely possible with a fiat currency.

Banks do it every day.  For example, let's say you deposit $100 into your bank account.  Because of the obscenity known as fractional reserve banking, your bank is required to keep only $10 of that $100 on deposit.  It loans out the other $90 to someone else.  So now, you have $100 on your account and the other person has $90.  That's $190 from your $100..."money" created out of thin air.  This is all possible because only 3% of the "money" in circulation is actual paper or coin.  The rest of it is nothing but digits on a computer.  In a nutshell, that is our goofy "money" system.

The point of all this is:  Ruml was correct; Fed taxes (NOT State & Local taxes) are unnecessary for revenue.  That's especially true ever since Nixon took us completely off the Gold Standard in 1971.  The Fed Gov't never will "run out of money"; to get more, all it has to do is add digits to its balance sheet.  Some people counter this argument by saying that the Fed Reserve doesn't just add to its balance sheet; instead, it buys Bonds (T-Bills)...which means the Fed loans "money" to the Gov't.  Yes, it does that...but it doesn't hand over a wad of cash to the U.S. Treasury.  It simply adds digits to its balance sheet.

Without a Gold Standard to restrain spending, any Gov't with a fiat "money" system can "print" (97% of the currency never gets "printed") as much currency as it needs...and anytime it so desires.  Some people counter that argument by saying:  in such a scenario, people would lose confidence in the Dollar.  Hello!  All around the world, that's exactly what's happening right now.

Finally, during the Reagan Era, the Grace Commission did a two-year study and found that 100% of Fed Income Taxes goes toward paying the interest on our National Debt.  Not one cent goes for Gov't services.  And who gets those interest payments?  Primarily they go to Central Banks around the globe, other Mega Banks, and other Mega Corporations...the really Big Bond Holders.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

How to Prepare for the Coming Financial and Economic Crash

I've written a concise Guide (15 pages, large type) with the title above.  [The Table of Contents is found below.]  Sometimes I copy things I've written elsewhere and post them here.  Unfortunately every time I do that, the copied piece does not paste correctly onto this venue.  To get it readable requires a lot of editing.  Due to time constraints, I can't do that amount of editing for 15 pages; therefore, I'm offering the following alternative.

If you're interested in having a copy, email me and I'll reply with the file attached.  There's no cost to you whatsoever.  This blog doesn't have thousands of readers at any one time, so I should be able to handle any requests.  [In 8.5 years (or so), there have been only about 44,500 pageviews.  I suspect that's because most of my posts irritate both the "Right" and the "Left". :)  UPDATE---as of August, 2016, this blog is at 58,000 pageviews...better, but still puny.]
For a copy, email:  AbstractCowboy@gmail.com .  Title your email:  My Order.

                              Table of Contents

Subject                                             Page

Part I---  Causes

          Brief History of Underlying Factors....1

          Summary of 2007-2008……………..2

          Beyond 2008………………………...3

Part II--- Steps to Prepare

          The Problem with Mega Banks………5

          Will Any Bank be Open?…………….6

Will Paper Money be Any Good?.........7

          Commodities, Tangible Assets………8

          Home Security………………………10

          Barter………………………………..11

          Psychology…………………………..12

          Time…………………………………12

Part III--- Going Forward

The Powers-That-Be…………………14

We the People………………………..14

The subtitle of the Guide is:

A Bit on the Causes,

And

A Lot on How to Weather the Storm

A Very Concise Guide

I'm still of the opinion that a severe Crash may or may not happen, but it seems logical to me (given current conditions) to prepare for one.  Even if it doesn't happen, 99% of the commodities I suggest that you stock up can be used by you & your family in the future.  If the Crash does occur, then you'll be better prepared to handle it than a lot of other people.  Preparing is a win-win situation.  By the way, the Guide is much expanded from my last post...and includes a lot of that post in a small section of the text.  Finally, sometimes emailing a document messes it up for some reason.  I've emailed the Guide twice so far, and both times some of the page numbers (found at the top of each page, not the bottom) were somehow out-of-place; nevertheless, the text was completely readable & the Table of Contents still worked.

Be Well

Iceland & Greece Have it Right

Iceland is well on its way to a complete economic recovery.  Greece has just started, but is on the right path.  How are economies saved or returned to a healthy state?  The answer to that has several facets; the solution to the problem must be based on History, Logic, and plain common sense...as follows.

1.  Mega Banks are not the Holy Grail of Economics.  If they run their businesses into the ground by making bad investments, they should be allowed to fail.  Bailing out casino-type banks is a horrible idea... it saves the rich & powerful, not the economy.  The "too big to fail (and jail)" banks here in the USA became 38% larger than they were before the 2008 Crisis.  Most of them took their bailout money AND the trillions of dollars loaned to them at POINT 25 percent interest by the Fed Reserve and used it to:  give huge bonuses to top management; engage in more casino capitalism; loan money back to the Fed Gov't; increase their lobbying efforts in DC; and buy up other banks.  Did they create any jobs?  Almost none.  In general, Financialization does not create jobs or benefit the economy in the long term.

2.  Whether owed by consumers or governments, in a crisis debts either should be written down to amounts that feasibly can be paid back, or totally forgiven.  Selling off public infrastructure to private companies and/or instituting or coercing "austerity" will not benefit the economy or the People.  About 70% of our economy here in America is driven by consumer spending; I'm guessing it's a similar figure in most other developed countries.  For an economy to be saved or to recover, people have to have money to spend.  Saving a bank that can afford to pay a $30 billion civil fine for FRAUD is not going to save the economy.  Such a bank should be left to die, and the top management (where appropriate) should be sent to prison.

3.  Stop drinking the Edward Bernays style Propaganda Kool Aid put out by Gov't elites and the Corporate Media saying that the sky will fall and the world economy will crash if speculative mega banks are not saved.  That's a complete fairy tale... at best, it's ignorance... at worst, it's blatant deceit.  Many economists agree that no such thing would have happened.

4.  Never get involved with the IMF.  It's nothing more than an oligarchical racket.  If you're already involved, never accept their "structural adjustments".  Years ago, several countries in South America learned that lesson the hard way.

5.  Understand that Neoliberals in both the public & private spheres are creating economic structures that are rushing countries into NeoFeudalism.  Very few politicians are opposing them.

6.  In a very real sense, banks should be a public utility.  They should be loaning money to encourage manufacturing on home soil, rather than gambling on derivatives, foreign currencies, and other insider scams that create no jobs.  In terms of the economy, the bane of the last 30-40 years has been Financialization... paper shuffling for the benefit of the Super-Rich.  We need public banks.  Private, casino-capitalism type banks could still exist, but should not be allowed to use depositor funds for speculation OR to get beyond a certain size.  Reinstate Glass-Steagall.

7.  Understand that agreements such as the proposed TPP are a disaster for economies and the People.  They benefit the Oligarchs at the expense of the rest of us.  Don't believe politicians like Obama or McConnell, who both lie about the TPP.  Even our new Secretary of Defense either is ignorant about the TPP or lying about it.  See citizen.org/tpp

8.  Stop being partisan in politics.  Using America as an example, at the highest levels the politicians are almost ALL on the Neoliberal Team... the Team benefitting Oligarchs at our expense.  Consider this:  80% of us are in favor of raising the minimum wage; 90% of us want the Mega Banks broken up; 80% believe our agreements regarding NAFTA and the WTO should be revised or dumped; and, a vast majority (I forget the %) of us want corporate criminals to be sent to prison...which usually does not happen here.  So, what are our so-called "representatives" doing about all that... not much at all.  42% of Americans now are neither Republicans or Democrats; rather, they are Independents.  The strategy of the Oligarchy, which is using hot-button social/cultural issues to Distract-Divide-Conquer us, is beginning to fail.  Many, perhaps most people, are seeing that the economy is the number one issue in this country.  They are fed up to the gills with stagnant wages while the Rich & Powerful have seen a 700% increase in their incomes in the last couple of decades.

9.  Finally, this next statement is obvious, so consider it simply a reminder.  To determine those responsible for any economic or financial crisis---and to get a clue as to how to reverse that crisis---just follow the money.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well

KUDOS to the New Leader of Greece!

Congratulations, Greece!  Your new leader is a guy who is telling the Neoliberals to go to hell.  Every country, including the USA, needs just such a person.

Via the IMF, and/or central banks, and/or other mega banks, Neoliberals at the highest levels (including the Democrats and Republicans here) through deceptive practices entice countries to take on massive debt.  Then, when the debt is unsustainable, these same mega banks and the IMF coerce countries to undergo austerity or in some cases sell off their public infrastructure to private, mega corporations.  It boils down to this:  Neoliberals save the mega banks, not the economy...Wall Street, not Main Street.  All for Globalization and privatization.  The ultimate Goal is the world as one giant Business...and none of it is a "conspiracy".  For the most part, it's in plain sight.

As David Rockefeller stated publicly in 1991:  "Surely it is preferable to have the world run by unelected elites than by the corrupt politicians of today."... that's pretty plain.  Despite that, Neoliberals often are deceptive.  For example, here in the USA they go by the labels of "Democrat", "Republican", "Liberal", and "Conservative".  They use Edward Bernays style Propaganda to dupe people into accepting things such as N.A.F.T.A., T.A.R.P., T.P.P., and T.A.F.T.A., all of which serve the Oligarchy, not Main Street.

The Neoliberal Congress and Fed Reserve in this country have given us an eighteen trillion dollar debt... and it's still growing.  There is however, no visible austerity here.  Instead, it's just under the facade of "the economy is recovering" Propaganda.  Here's how it's "recovering":
1.  with continued Financialization, which transfers wealth from the Middle Class to the Upper Crust;
2.  with continued sale of bizarre Financial Derivatives, which create no jobs;
3.  with continued debasement of the dollar;
4.  with a massive Trade Deficit;
5.  with continued off-shoring of factories and jobs;
6.  with the creation of lower-paying permanent jobs, temporary jobs, and part-time jobs;
7.  with continued deficit spending;
8.  with an estimated one quadrillion dollars of Financial Derivatives still out in the Market... many bubbles just waiting to burst;
9.  with QE-4 waiting in the wings;
10.  with Gov't promoting another housing bubble;
11.  with someone or some institution (or a combination) manipulating the crude oil market; and,
12.  with rolling back regulations on the mega banks that caused the 2008 Crisis.
This is not what I would call a recovery.

[NOTE:    The 2008 Crisis was not caused by sub-prime mortgages; they were simply the trigger.  The underlying cause was the fact that mega, Neoliberal banks sold trillions of dollars worth of essentially worthless Derivatives.  Many (or perhaps most) of them were credit default swaps which were supposed to "insure" investors against losses... but didn't.  The mega banks knew they couldn't possibly serve that function when they sold them to pension funds, cities, counties, countries, and other investors.  It was a massive fraud.  Under the Corporatist Obama here, almost no one has been held criminally liable.  Plus, things are now set up for the whole scam to happen again... I'm guessing within five years...easily.]

Neoliberals and Neoliberalism must be confronted and resisted.  In order to do that, we must stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid.  First Iceland, and now Greece are showing us the way.  Heartiest congratulations to both.  There is no reason whatsoever that Globalization must take the form that is espoused by Neoliberals.  There are other options.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well