The Financial Coup in the USA is Almost Complete

First, again I must state that this Coup is not any kind of massive, dark "conspiracy".  It's more like a bunch of greedy control freaks, a few of whom probably are well-meaning, working mostly independently toward a mutual goal---Global BIG Business as the governing force in the world.  Their tools are Edward Bernays style Propaganda, so-called "Free Trade" Agreements, and institutions such as the WTO, the IMF, the Bank of International Settlements (owned by national Central Banks), Central Banks, the G-20, the G-20's Financial Stability Board, numerous mega multi-national corporations, and the like.  Some of their members have referred to the rest of us as "the little people".  Such is their mindset.

Since the 1970's at the very least, this Juggernaut of Crony Capitalists has been shifting our economy from one of manufacturing to one of Financialization.  In that ongoing process, Middle Class jobs have evaporated, their replacements have been lower-paying & less secure, the incomes of the Super-Rich have increased exponentially, the dollar has been debased to an obscene degree, the Poor have become poorer, and our great Land has rushed at great speed toward NeoFeudalism.  The minions of the Crony Elites, the DC politicians (of both major Parties), have become millionaire "public servants".  A few exceptions to that do exist...but not enough.

These Crony Capitalist Elites make up what Bill Moyers and others refer to as the Shadow Government.  Their footprints are everywhere...all you have to do is look.  For example, CitiGroup (CitiBank) lobbyists wrote the draft of an Amendment to the last big DC spending bill that essentially rolled back some of the Dodd-Frank protections against the illegal & unethical practices of the Financial Sector.  The legislative banking "reforms" wound up being window-dressing...a joke.  Another example--- not long after the 2008 Financial Crisis, the Fed Reserve made available (in virtually zero-percent loans) to several mega banks the same total amount of money as was spent by the Fed Gov't from the Revolutionary War up to the 2008 Crisis.  Think about that for a moment...trillions of dollars.  One estimate is twelve trillion; another is $13.1 trillion.  Did those banks then use that money to make loans to small businesses, or help the economy in other ways?  Essentially, no.  Some of the windfall was loaned back to the Fed Gov't...the banks bought U.S. Treasuries (bonds) & are receiving at least quadruple the amount of interest that they are paying for the loans.  Some of the windfall was used to buy physical precious metals which now are stockpiled in mega bank vaults.  Some of the windfall was used to continue placing gambling bets on bizarre financial derivatives.  Some of the windfall was simply "banked".  None of the foregoing produced any jobs for the economy.

So now in 2016, we're basically in the same boat as we were in 2007.  The difference is that the Asset Bubbles and the Debt Bubble all are much larger than in 2007.  Plus, crude oil is tanking.  Plus, China is deflating.  Plus, the Fed Reserve essentially is out of ammo.  Plus, the Derivatives Bubble is estimated to be $1.5 quadrillion.  Plus, wages basically still are stagnant.  [51% of American working families make $30K per year or less.]  Plus, mega companies are buying back their own stock, thus posting phantom earnings in order to prop up their stock prices.  Plus, the real unemployment rate is estimated to be somewhere between 20% and 43%.  And on & on.

The goal seems to be to destroy our Financial System and our Economy...to be replaced by who knows what.  In the meantime, the Super-Rich are getting richer...and richer...and richer.  Almost nothing is "trickling down".  Also in the meantime, there's a War on Cash...a move to only digital "money".  If implemented, that will be the end of any semblance of privacy.  As to the U.S. Constitution, forget it... for the most part, it's long gone.  DC politicians violate it on an almost daily basis.

For ways to peacefully combat this entire obscenity, see a few of my previous posts.  More ways to come in the near future.  Forget voting at the national level...presently at least, that won't solve a damned thing.  The last forty years or so prove that; Democrats & Republicans have led us to where we are today.  They've both individually held the majority Power at different times.  SSDD.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Wall Street Loves the Iowa Winners

Even though the race between Clinton & Sanders arguably could be considered a tie, technically the multi-millionaire Clinton appears to have won.  Cruz, also a multi-millionaire, won on the Repub side.  [The Clintons, ~ $45 million total net worth; Cruz & his wife, ~ $3.5 million total net worth.]  SSDD.

Wall Street has contributed millions of dollars to both candidates.  Clinton has made more money giving speeches to Wall Street Banks than has husband Bill.  Cruz's wife works for Goldman Sachs.  SSDD.

Does all that prove anything?  No, but it is highly suggestive.  Each of those candidates is working hard to convince voters that he/she is a Populist.  The question arises:  why would Wall Street support a Populist candidate?  I can't think of one good reason.  In both 2008 & 2012, Wall Street gave more in campaign donations to Obama than to the Repub candidates.  Obama, the Corporatist who poses as a Populist.  Wall Street knows who's who...even today.  [I suppose one could argue that Wall Street conceivably could contribute to a Populist candidate in order to attempt to corrupt said candidate.  That was unnecessary in Obama's case; he already was a Corporatist.  His record proves that.]

It's too bad that the Corporate Media talking heads don't/won't ask all current candidates the following.
1.  Will you push for the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall in order to put a stop to Casino Capitalism in which Big Banks use our money with which to gamble?
2.  Will you push for the break-up of the monopolistic Big Banks?
3.  Will you push for stiff regulations concerning bizarre financial derivatives so that Wall Street gambling bets on them won't crash our economy as they did in 2008 and are doing now?  [Presently, massive oil derivatives are on the cusp of crashing the financial & economic systems again.  Never mind the derivatives on most all other commodities.  As a result, many (perhaps most) 401(k)s already have lost a few thousand dollars each.  SSDD.]
4.  Will you make a promise to NOT appoint Wall Streeters to Financial & Economic positions in your Administration?
5.  Will you promise to push for a full audit of the Fed Reserve?  [Wall Street pundits and the Fed itself often say that the Fed has been audited in the past...that's true, but it's always a restricted audit, never a full audit.  Trillions of dollars are unaccounted for.]

Too bad, indeed.  SSDD.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"An Economy for the 1%: How Privilege and Power...

in the Economy Drive Extreme Inequality and How This Can Be Stopped".  That's the title of a new Oxfam America report.  From the Report and as reported on Democracy Now, the 62 richest billionaires in the world (a majority of them in the USA) now are as wealthy as the poorest 3.6 billion people worldwide combined.  The inequality is due primarily to:  deregulation (i.e., Crony Capitalism), privatization (more Crony Capitalism), and offshore tax havens (even more Crony Capitalism).  [Those are key components of Neoliberalism...which is subscribed to by most Democrats and Republicans (at the highest levels) here in the USA.]

In one such tax haven, the British Virgin Islands (population 24,000), there are 800,000 shell corporations associated with real corporations from around the world.  Anxious to get in on the action, there also are a total of fifty banks there.  Here in the USA for the last 20 years, politicians have talked about closing the loopholes in the Tax Code that allow tax havens.  In that timespan, there have been periods when both the Repubs and the Dems each have controlled Congress separately.  Nothing has been done.  Lobbyists.  More Crony Capitalism.  Democrats and Republicans both are to blame.

Some here would argue that the corporations need every break they can get, and that allows them to expand and create more jobs.  It's the old "Trickle Down Theory of Economics".  Unfortunately, nothing much is trickling down anymore.  The tax avoidance wealth is either being held offshore, or being used to close, dismantle, & ship factories out of the country, or buy/lease existing factories in another country, or raid companies here & the downsize them, or invest in bizarre financial derivatives, or in foreign currencies, or in foreign bonds, or in a number of other ventures that also create zero jobs in the USA.  So much for the Trickle Down argument.  Mega Corporations seem to rarely invest in their communities anymore (or even in the USA); instead, they move their operations to wherever the labor is the cheapest.  Apple Computer is a prime example:  they don't make even one of their products in this country...not one.  Remember that the next time you buy something from Apple.

Meanwhile, the Middle Class here shrinks, wages essentially are stagnant (& have been for 30 yrs), our manufacturing base rapidly is disappearing, jobs are becoming more & more inferior, employee benefits are shrinking, and the income of the Upper Crust has increased 700% in the last thirty years.  Plus because of the crashing economy, in 2016 alone many 401ks already have lost from $2,000 to $6,000.

While eight million jobs here evaporated after the 2008 Crisis, the Mega Banks grew by 37%, significantly increasing their profits.  At the same time, their Executives avoided prosecution for what was blatant FRAUD during the time leading up to the Crisis.  More Crony Capitalism.  Politicians know on which side their bread is buttered.  SSDD.

NeoFeudalism is well on its way to being here.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

"Bespoke Tranche Opportunity"

Crazy title, eh?  That's because devious, "legal" criminals came up with it...meaning, Wall Street Bankers.  As the beloved Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again.".  Bespoke Tranche Opportunity is another bizarre financial derivative.  Financial derivatives... you know, those invented instruments that played a huge role in the 2008 Crisis.  If you've seen the popular, dynamite movie, The Big Short (based on the true story of Wall Street's role in that Crisis), then you may recall the Bespoke name at the very end of the film.  Derivatives produce nothing...except money for Wall Street insiders; they contribute to our economy not one bit.

So, after all the braying rhetoric from politicians (both Democrats & Republicans) about how they would rein in the Mega Banks & Mega Hedge Funds, the same thing is happening again.  The same Crisis Path began shortly after 2008.  This is why many economists and monetary theorists (all across the political spectrum) are predicting another Crash anytime within a year or two.  Only this time, they say, it will be much worse.

The Captains of Financialization are waging a war on workers, industry, and the Middle Class.  The Money Men & Women are winning that war.  The objective is to siphon wealth from industry, jobs, & workers straight into the nonproductive pool of mega, out-of-control Finance.  The overall goal is to convert Free Market Capitalism into Crony Capitalism.  Voila---they've succeeded!  Essentially, there is no Free Market Capitalism in the USA anymore...and that has been true for quite awhile.  The same is true for the rest of the world.  The result eventually will be NeoFeudalism across the globe.

Years & years ago when the Super-Rich made millions and millions of dollars, they would pump a significant portion of it back into American industry...thus creating jobs, good-paying jobs.  Now that money is sunk into derivative deals, foreign currency deals, foreign bond deals, and other ventures that do nothing for the American economy.  Surely even the most uninformed citizen is aware of that.  Surely that citizen is aware that millions of jobs have been shipped offshore or South.  [The TPP, supported by both Obama & McConnell, will make that worse...much worse.]  Surely that citizen is aware that most all politicians have promoted & supported this Oligarchical System.  Surely that citizen is aware that those politicians, the Fed Reserve, and the Captains of Financialization are in collusion.  For the most part, it's all in plain sight.  One has to do very, very little digging to see it.  People such as David Stockman, Paul Craig Roberts, Michael Hudson, Thom Hartmann, William K. Black, James Rickards, Ellen Brown, etc. have pointed it out (with supporting documentation) over & over & over.

Meanwhile, USA voters & campaigning politicians debate about social Hot Button issues.  Common sense and Logic tell me that the Financialization of our economy DWARFS all those Hot Button issues combined in terms of importance to our well-being.  We the People are being distracted & misdirected by Propaganda from the Neoliberal politicians (Democrats & Republicans) so that we will ignore (or be unaware of) the greatest HEIST in all of History... all over again.

Not only 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

Congratulations

Someone in DC finally stated the obvious.  "Washington is not working for hardworking Middle Class families."  ~ Senator Elizabeth Warren.  It's significant that Warren, a Democrat, did not say, "Republicans are not working for...".  Her statement was totally nonpartisan.  She also went on to say, "The system is rigged."...and, "The large banks are now 38% larger than they were before the Bailout."...and, "They have not been held to account."...and more.  Congratulations to us, the People...we finally have at least one honest, national politician.  I predict that she'll be smeared, or marginalized, or both.  I hope I'm wrong.

It should be glaringly apparent that "voting" (in the present corrupt system) is not going to save us.  Ever since I took a keen interest in American politics (in 1956, Mr. Benson's American Government Class, Highland Park High, Highland Park, Illinois), I've watched our Fed Gov't, our society, and our country proceed on a steady downhill slide.  During the time from then to now, there have been periods when the Republicans were in the majority in our Gov't, and times when the Democrats were in the majority, and even times when the power was more or less evenly split.  Throughout it all, the downhill slide remained fairly steady.  Corruption grew, the Fed Gov't threw off its Constitutional restraints, the rich became the super-rich, poverty grew, the Middle Class continued to shrink, the Fed Gov't expanded and became more intrusive, unconstitutional wars became the norm, and politics became more and more about money.  It didn't matter whether Republicans or Democrats held the majority power.

On average, only about 50% (sometimes as high as 60%) of eligible voters actually bother to vote in any USA national election.  Before I became a nonvoter, I thought such people were lazy, or didn't care, etc.  For some time now, I've believed that the paragraphs above describe the real reason for people not voting.  The Game is rigged.  James Madison once stated something to the effect that there will come a time when our Republic will be in grave danger because wealth will be concentrated in the pockets of the very few.  We're in that era now.  He went on to say that it will be up to the People to change our laws if we are to remain a free, prosperous country.  Glenn Greenwald (a former Constitutional attorney and now a dissident independent journalist), Noam Chomsky, and others have explained very clearly how The Law is used to rig the Game.  [See YouTube.]

Who writes our laws?  Many, if not most, Legislative Bills are written by lobbyists...and then hawked to Representatives and Senators.  [A cabal of Fat-Cat Bankers wrote the Bill that became the Fed Reserve Act.]  Who determines Fed Gov't policies?  Let's take Hank Paulson as an example...net worth in 2012, over $700 million.  He came from Goldman Sachs (the world's largest investment bank)...he was the Head Honcho, salary---$40 million per year.  Both Dubya Bush and Obama had him as Secretary of the Treasury.  [Apparently the concept of a conflict of interest no longer exists in DC.  Just because he liquidated his Goldman Sachs assets doesn't mean he had zero conflict of interest.  By the way, because of an obscure tax loophole for the rich, he was able to avoid $200 million in capital gains taxes on those assets by going to work for the Feds...in case you're wondering why he would go from a salary of $40 million to one of $183,000 & change.]  During the financial crisis of 2008, "Too Big to Fail", Paulson tells Congress that we have to give billions to the big banks, including of course, Goldman Sachs.  He said our entire economic system would collapse otherwise...a complete fairy tale.  Bernanke and Paulson also decided that about $13 TRILLION in loans must be made available to the Big Banks...at POINT 25 (.25) % interest.  That whole scenario was the greatest heist in American history.  The legislative "reforms" since then are nothing but window dressing.  "Voting" will not solve this problem...at least, not until the system is unrigged.

So, what's to be done?  There are many good, peaceful options...none of them include the present bought-and-paid-for Republicans and Democrats.  [There are very, very few exceptions to that statement.]  That means the very first step is to stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid.  Until that happens, there's no point at all in even discussing the options.

Partly just my opinion.
Happy Trails