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The American Dream is Dead…And We are Responsible (Sort of)
The American Dream is dead, and we are responsible. Yes, I
know what you are thinking. How can I possible say this when corrupt
politicians and even more corrupt bankers are responsible for killing the
American Dream? Of course I acknowledge this fact, but without our willing,
gleefully ignorant participation in their “Death Race to the Bottom 2014” game,
the death of the American Dream would not be possible.
About two years ago, just three months into Obama’s US
Presidency, I wrote a highly critical article of the Obama administration,
citing facts that led me to conclude that Obama would solve nothing and only
exacerbate the current global monetary crisis we were facing at the time.
Because my criticism was so stinging at such an early juncture of Obama’s
tenure, this post engendered a lot of hate email, including some emails that accused me of being
“ignorant” and “racist” for my criticism of Obama. However, the conclusions I drew
in that article were never based upon speculation, but rather well-researched
facts. Thus, I felt very comfortable that my conclusions would be proven true
in the future. Back then, those that levied ludicrous and slanderous cries of
racism against me were so blinded by their loyalty to Obama that they could not
process the argument I presented to them for my opposing view. In fact, earlier
this year, I produced a three-part video series called "How Ideological Subversion Enables Financial Fraud" to
explain why people fail to process truth even when you hit them over the head
with it.
Back then, one of the eight arguments I presented for why I
believed Obama was undoubtedly just a puppet of the bankers was an inspection
of his cabinet appointments.
Two years ago, I stated the following: “Thus far, President
Obama’s cabinet appointments do not reflect, in the slightest manner, the
enormous change that he spoke of during his campaign. On the contrary, his talk
of change, quite honestly, appears to be 100% rhetoric. A clear example of this
is President Obama’s appointment of Timothy Geithner, the former President of
the New York branch of the US Federal Reserve, to the US Secretary of Treasury,
and his appointment of Paul Volcker (Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board,
1979-1987; Chairman of the New York investment banking firm, J. Rothschild,
Wolfensohn & Co.; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Washington-based
financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty; founding member of the Trilateral
Commission; and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the New York-based
International House) to head his economic advisory board.”
“A further inspection of Obama’s economic advisory board
reveals a who’s who of executives from the institutions that created this
current mess: William Daley (Midwest chairman of JPMorgan Chase; secretary of
commerce, 1997-2000); William Donaldson (chairman of the SEC, 2003-2005);
Robert Rubin (chairman and director of the Executive Committee at Citigroup;
secretary of the Treasury, 1995-1999); and Roger Ferguson (president and CEO of
TIAA-CREF; former vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve).”
“Furthermore, Volcker was highly instrumental in ensuring
one of the worst decisions in economic history, the US decision to suspend gold
convertibility in 1971 that subsequently allowed a 100% fraudulent monetary
system to spread globally, and consequently almost resulted in the collapse of
the US dollar in the late 1970s. Obama’s cabinet appointments are perhaps the
most damning evidence that he is strictly about maintaining the status quo and
not at all about change when it comes to Wall Street.”
Despite the fact that none of the eight arguments I presented
focused on Obama’s skin color, and despite the fact that I never attack Obama’s
intelligence, I still received hate mail for this post with Obama supporters
accusing me of being no different from racist cartoonists that had depicted
Obama in unflattering stereotypical drawings. “Unbelievable I thought!” The very people
that I am trying to warn against trusting this man are the very people that
refuse to consider one single fact about Obama that I have presented in this
article. I thought to myself, what would this world be like if all Koreans
supported egotistic dictator Kim Jung-il just because he or she is Korean and all Hutus supported the slaughter of 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda just because he or she was Hutu? What about supporting someone because their actions vet their words instead of just listening to someone's words and granting that person your undying loyalty? And that’s when I concluded that we were our own worst enemy in this fight against the banksters and that we were going to be all-too-willing participants in killing the American Dream.
By no means am I implying that voting for Obama caused the
death of the American Dream because the reality of the US political system is
that Americans are given no choice by TPTB when it comes to Presidential
elections. Elect a Republican and the Republican President will serve his banking masters.
Elect a Democrat and the Democrat President will also serves his banking lords. It’s a lose-lose
situation for us and a win-win situation for TPTB. However, we still have the
ability to resist the machine with our minds and our brains, and this is where
we fail and fail miserably.
I know that you, the person reading this article, are
probably not the reason the American Dream is dead, but you are likely also not
to reside among mainstream America. The American Dream is dead because as a group, we are
unthinking sheeple that need to be instructed what to think because we are either
incapable or too lazy to form our own independent opinions. To
this day, we the masses, STILL love Bill Clinton because he was a charismatic
smooth talker and because markets yielded 18% every year under his
administration. We still spout foolish yearnings for the days Clinton was
President because while everything was fine on the surface, we are still too ignorant and lazy to
put in the time and effort to understand that the Clinton administration was
responsible for dismantling Glass-Steagall and ushering in an unregulated era
of financial derivatives. We the masses that reside in the Bible belt of America loved
George Bush because his common-man approach (or act, depending upon how you interpreted
his demeanor) made us think that he was “one of us.” And we the masses fell
spellbound under Barack Obama’s NLP-laden speeches and cult-of-personality even
as he removed our liberties and constitutional freedoms while promising us a
more transparent government. I don’t know about you, but one in 7 Americans
living in poverty sounds more like nope than hope to me (and these figures were per the 2009 census
and likely to be even worse for this year). But when I warned Barack's supporters just a couple of months after Barack took office that he was destined to severely disappoint, no one wanted to listen.
The American Dream is dead because, we the masses, can’t even properly
identify who should be our heroes. We raise up seriously morally-deficient global
political leaders on a pedestal as our heroes even though the last American
President to fight for the rights of the people and not kowtow to the wishes of
the bankers and the military-industrial complex was JFK. We ignore REAL heroes like Aung Sang Suu
Kyi, Ghandi, and Ken Saro-Wiwa and
foolishly place our trust in government officials when no real change will come
from a top government official…ever. The American Dream is dead because we
continue to give up our Constitutional freedoms without resistance and a fight,
and ignorantly believe that it’s okay for TSA employees to harass and
intimidate little children and to feel up people’s boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, husbands, sons and daughters
in the name of “safety and security”. If all Americans attended an
economic SERE training, then maybe, but just maybe, the American Dream would have more than a bat’s chance
in hell of being resurrected. Of course, one of my mandates for economic SERE
school in America to Survive, Evade, Resist and Escape the greedy throes and
wanton wealth destruction of amoral bankers would be the following: Not to buy just one ounce
of gold or silver as some are advocating, but to immediately convert at least
80% of the fiat currency that sits in your savings account to physical gold and
silver.
The American Dream is dead because we are too dumb to figure
out what is really going on and we want to blame every single person for our
woes except the real culprits, the bankers and ourselves. We refuse to educate
ourselves about the reality of what is happening in this monetary crisis and
amazingly even blame those that DO understand this monetary crisis for our woes
merely because they had the foresight to protect their wealth and we didn’t. The
American Dream is dead because we willingly waste three hours of our lives
waiting in line at Walmart for a 80% discount on a lap-top computer but we
childishly refuse to spend even one hour of our lives learning how the monetary
system really works and how bankers steal our wealth on a daily basis (as
opposed to what universities and MBA programs teach us).
It is often said that when people fear their government,
tyranny reigns but when government fears the people, liberty reigns. My
response to this oft-repeated statement? Today because we don’t even know who
or what we should fear, we focus all of our energy and time in precisely all
the wrong area. And for this, the American Dream now lies six feet under.
How the American Dream Has Now Become "to Pay my Rent"
About the Author: JS Kim is the Founder and President of
SmartKnowledge Pte Limited, a
fiercely independent investment research and consulting firm. His monthly investment newsletter,
Crisis Investment Opportunities, has yielded 28.12% YTD in a tax-deferred
account as of December 3rd. Since January 1, 2008, the CIO newsletter, in less
than two years, would have turned a $1,000,000 portfolio into more than
$2,000,000.
»
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RT is Russia Today, and the reporter's name is Cherkinoff.
'Nuff said, although Ms Cherkinoff is a hot chick.
All empires have a life cycle: Rome, Spain, England and now the US. They're all prone to overreach, especially financially ruinous wars. More to the point, they become "financialized": they stop making actual goods and start moving money around via various financial instruments: the US, with a population of more than 300 million, exports less than Germany, with a population of 80 million. That's just pathetic.
Kevin Phillips has been writing about this for years, and he's been on the mainstream media talking about it. So have others. The simple fact is that most people have ignored them: they're too busy watching vampires f*ck on HBO and posting treacly inspirational quotes on Facebook. The only conspiracies here are of willful ignorance by the American people and unlimited greed by those good enough with numbers to hoodwink them.
Here's a prediction for 2012: the next President will be more of the same, regardless of party affiliation. If you think otherwise, you're either ignorant of how American politics works or irrationally optimistic.
Not this time Web. The next President will be much better than what we have had in the last 10 years. I suggest that the next President will be elected with a vote count never before registered in American politics. The winds are blowing and a storm is forming. We will get louder and the storm will intensify, because you see The American dream is in fact alive. All you close minded pessimist need to go ahead and choose your Country of choice and get the hell out of here or take a positive approach in fixing the challenges that we are all facing in America.
Why don't you idiots just leave America if you think the American dream is dead. Maybe you can move to Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, anywhere in the Middle East, anywhere in Asia, anywhere in Africa, Russia, China. Give me a break.
How about France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Canda...they have right to free speech and liberties, shoot French protest in streets way better than we do, they have good democratic controls in all these countries, they treat women and racial minorities pretty well in all these countries, they all have better economies than US, they all have much stronger middle classes than US, they all get something back from their taxes (low cost education, good retirement, universal health care).
As a middle class American, I would gladly move to any of these countries for the extra security, lower corruption, good business climate, better economies, lower defense costs, kids less likely to get killed in foreigh war, their govt less controlled by financial sector/big corporations, guaranteed health care, more liberal social policies... if I had the means and ways to be able immigrate I would, gladly.
I've been to these countries, they have nice clean cities and great public transit, their infrastructure is way better than ours, they have beautiful and convenient neighborhoods, they have beautiful countrysides with nice roads, they have five bars on their cell phones even remote places, they much more competive prices on cell phone serice, they have thriving big and small businesses, lots of shopping districts with products from all over the world, they have lost of good entertainment, public parks, they have good food and restuarants. They are, in short, better places to live than the US.
The American Dream is not Dead. When you see the foreign migrants choosing another country over the US, then you have an indicator. The Dream is not Dead as seen on the bitch, hand wringing, gripes, ideas, analysis, etc right here on ZH. Some talk of leaving but the majority response is to stand and fight.
It is true that the US population is lacking in history and attention to the political/leadership/government. That may be changing with more home school education, bad times (which gets people’s interest/attention), Information sites like ZH, and a 3rd party that has actually grown and is not smashed yet.
“”To this day, we the masses, STILL love Bill Clinton because he was a charismatic smooth talker and because markets yielded 18% every year under his administration.””
NO, hell no. There is no doubt there is a Clinton Cult (Bill not Hill). Many supported Obama to prevent Hill from gaining control of the White House and the Nation. Both parties had bad choices for President. I don’t know if Obama was the best choice, the least of the worst. IMO in a fair election, he will be gone next round.
There is more than one America, or USA --- in respect to the other Americas. The liberal media and the conseritive media are neither one what America is. They are part of only 2 segments. However, the anger at the Banks and political leaders who appear to facilitate the Banks and continuing collapse of the US economy is missing the Media. You don’t know what you don’t know and you cant understand situations if the input information is faulty. Media is key to the pitch fork movement. The media is vulnerable to economic pressure thru consumer purchasing and public pressure. Pick a network and put the pressure on. ABC is the start of the alphabet.
foreign migrants are and have been choosing other countries, they go to Middle East, they go to China, they go where the freaking money is, or where someone will give them legal status, US had neither to offer.
Maybe the American Dream was bullshit to begin with.
The Constitution was the only path to an American Dream. Once government operated outside of it, the dream became bullshit.
My suspicion, as well.
Awesome. GC RIP
The American dream will continue to die for some due to irresponsible, ideological and blatantly stupid articles like this. I have never met a failure who didn't blame someone else for their failures. Their failures are never as result of the decisions they have made. Your article validates this.
What type of Society do people like you envision? Do you envision a society being the great Utopia, where everyone is successful and all wealth is distributed equally? You need to change the kool aid and anti depressant you are taking. You are no different than the Socialist politician who successfully calls attention to the problems that people are facing and convince the people that the problems are a result of someone else's bad decisions that are in fact made to destroy them. You think and continuously promote the fact that there is a problem therefore you are in fact part of the problem.
Why not use a podium like this as a podium that offers solutions, that if implimented, will help someone change their personal finances.
The American dream is not dead. As a matter of fact, for those who choose, it is more alive today than ever before. The great people of our great Nation are waking up to the fact that they can indeed change America for the better so that they may improve their personal financial situation. These changes, which I believe are in fact beginning to happen are a result of more and more Americans realizing that they themselves can make more of a difference in their lives that "our government" or anyone else.
We, you and I and everyone else in America are responsible for where we are as an individual and as a society as a whole. People have been conditioned for years that they, individually, do not posses the necessary tools to make any changes in the way America is run. Not anymore. America is slowly waking up to the fact that they, as a unified whole can in fact reshape America. It will happen, it always does.
We the people are in control of our own destinies and I can assure you that the American dream is alive and well.
I find it ridiculous that you rag on so-called "Socialism" and completely ignore the full-tilt toward corporate statism.
>>>What type of Society do people like you envision? Do you envision a society being the great Utopia, where everyone is successful and all wealth is distributed equally? You need to change the kool aid and anti depressant you are taking. You are no different than the Socialist politician who successfully calls attention to the problems that people are facing and convince the people that the problems are a result of someone else's bad decisions that are in fact made to destroy them. Blah...blah...blah...<<<
So, I guess you're OK with the no corporation (that can pay for a K Steet Lobbyist) left behind welfare state?
It's really the SSI payments to impoverished Granny and disabled Timmy that bother you so much?
There is no doubt that there needs to be some reform. Disabled Timmy & impoverished Granny should be taken care of. Any and all banking or financing institutions, insurance, car company or ANY individual should be forced to realize any loss they incur.
As far as equality. There will NEVER be 100% equality across the human spectrum. There can't be. NO two people are the same. If I am smarter than you and make smarter more educated risk decisions than you then I will more than likely experience a higher quality of life than someone like you who is a dumb ass making uneducated stupid risk decisions.
OK Dallas...as long as dumb ass banks, coporations and other entities--that made so many stupid risk decisions that it nearly took down the entire global economy--have to take what they got coming to them.
And I don't think anyone was calling for total equality via a redistribution of wealth.
You raised the ugly specter of socialism like so many posters on ZH who try to take the moral high ground by calling anyone who disagrees with them a "Socialist" when it comes to any kind of payments from govt. to individuals.
I am frankly tired of my tax money going to assist individuals because corporations won't pay a living wage, provide minimal, affordable health care to employees etc...
This isn't socialism. This is corporate statism.
I am subsidizing irresponsible corporations on a number of differentl levels.
OK Dallas...as long as dumb ass banks, coporations and other entities--that made so many stupid risk decisions that it nearly took down the entire global economy--have to take what they got coming to them.
And I don't think anyone was calling for total equality via a redistribution of wealth.
You raised the ugly specter of socialism like so many posters on ZH who try to take the moral high ground by calling anyone who disagrees with them a "Socialist" when it comes to any kind of payments from govt. to individuals.
I am frankly tired of my tax money going to assist individuals because corporations won't pay a living wage, provide minimal, affordable health care to emplyees etc...
I am subsidizing irresponsible corporations on a number of differentl levels.
Read my posts flatthead before you jump to a conclusion. The whole banking scandal is the very thorn in my ass. I would have let everyone of the institutions that were truly broke go out of business or I would have taken them over, dismantled them and sold them to the stronger banks. The banks have committed the highest of crimes, actually the banks haven't committed these crimes, the Fed, Treasury and our legislatures have committed this crime.
Hey DalASS,
I see ONE post from you on this thread where you raise the ugly specter of "Socialism" right out of the box in the second paragraph, when no one even mentioned any kind of redistribution of wealth as a function/condition/outcome of the American Dream ...talk about jumping to conclusions.
I'm hardly going to track your posts in other threads.
"...How can I possible say this when corrupt politicians...".
You must have forgotten that the whole premise behind a REPRESENTATIVE Government, was to free the people to not have to watch their governors every single day to make certain they would carry out the responsibility for honoring their campaign promises and doing what is best for the people.
Since the moneyed lobbyists nullify the vote, for the benefit of their sponsors and themselves, that speaks then to the much larger issue of the utter failure of a democratic Republic as the best type of government.
Not really darling. Don't you see? America (USA) just got too greedy. It happens to the best of them in spite of themselves...
Using broad terms like "America" to capture 320,000,000 citizens, in a country that is adding 175,000 per month to its population is ridiculous.
There is no "America".
There is no more similarity between the weeny liberals in New York City and the conservative ranchers in Montana than there is between a real american breast and a silicone one. There is no common ground between the Chuckie Schumers and the likes of John Boehner.
The notion that this is one nation, indivisible. is the greatest myth (besides the insane myths of Mohammed, the Trinity, and Yahweh) ever told.
This politicians of this country have continuously attempted to force feed the people of this country thru a funnel, pieces of pork thru a sausage grinder and it ain't working. Sweet-cheeks.
wrong, their ideas, attitudes that we share...and most importantly, we share a constitution.
If you plunked a Manhattan weenie banker, a suburban white trash manufacture worker, and home boy from the hood, an academic African American history college professor, a rancher, an Iowan farm wife, an Alaskan roughneck all down in medium size town in Bangladesh, Mumbai, or in Riyadh, South African segreagted slum with no pumbling where people were forced when they were removed from their prime coastal lands... Alls these American would have SOME same reactions and responses to the government and culture of these other places. They would all likely opposed worse treatment of woman that happens in many places of the world, like bride killings, stoning of women, legality of beating them. The would dislike bribes needed for petty govt officials in many of these countries. They would dislike massive inequality and poverty, lack of a middle class just all rich or all poor. They would all dislike to overt racism of segrated, force displacement and the idea of govt taking some one's land.
I could go on....yes we are different, but even that marks as uniquely American.
Oh, boy! Now we get the swishy Ajax!
You really shouldn't be defending yourself against charges of racism. It's maddening that any critique of Obama must include some form of apology.
Grow a set of nuts and quit pandering to the creeps.
The best part is he is half white. Charges of racism against president Half Black are ridiculous. What if we all started calling him a no good, Thieving, Honky, Cracker, Piece of White Trash, would there be any backlash then?
Regardless of racial makeup; that guy is an idiot in WAY over his head.
I propose that all Obama opponents use the word "Racist" as a term of endearment for eachother, like blacks did with n*gger. It really takes the wind out of the term.
Whats up my racist? You see those Beige book numbers, racist? Whats a racist to do? Buy gold, racist.
GOLD RACISTS!
I think it is time to rescind the ban on the NIGGER word. The whole thought police thing has mushroomed into something detestable.
Somewhat insulting actually; I am not "we" that voted for Obama; who you describe as mindless sheeple. Yes, mindless masses followed the clown off the cliff and being largely racist, they labeled, (successfully as far as their propagandist MSM is concerned), all those who opposeed Obama as racist. In years to come, I have to wonder if people won't look back on this era and realize that the "Real" Americans voted in Obama. The "Real" Americans are both the servants and the "served" of this Gov't; they have the free housing and food and the jobs with the TSA; they are a function of this gov't. But this thing went bad long before Obama came unto the scene. The "plantation" that feeds this gov't was actually created under Johnson; it's grown under ever administration since then and if not, "is" the Real America, it's rapidly becoming that. And that's why it's so important to diversify, as have the multi-national corporations, out of the "Real" America.
Johnson regarded his Great Society programs as the final stage in a process begun by Roosevelt. He began his political career as a Roosevelt supporter (rare in the south at that time) and never changed.
And he (Johnson) was right and he was a Big Swinging Dick and our present President would do well to study Johnson more than Lincoln.
umm, Lincoln fought a war to keep the union together and in process, freed slaves in war time act and got amendments to constitution passed, that ensured slavery would not return in any state of the union. Not exactly a wuss. Lincoln could have just severed north from south, never attacked after Fort Sumter but could have withdrawn signed a treaty after a couple hundred thousand people had died...to let south do whatever, just ask North not be required to return slave etc...instead he persisted when many said not too, he freed slaves when in North did not want him too etc..he got the amendments passed.
More than a whiff of racism ringo3khan. Get a grip. NAACP Sir.
Watch 'The Wire' and get back to us.
Racism?? WTF?
When I was young and in the first blush of intellectual life, I would have enjoyed this rant. It recalls the April of my adolescence. Seasoned now, I prefer a softer touch. Thanks, Mark
What, only one flag? Would you stop being so parsimonious!
ron paul 2012
Another very common mistake is the idea that going off the gold standard in 1971 was the bad decision that started the rot. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Going off the gold standard was the inevitable result of a series of bad decisions going back to the end of WW2. America's gold horde was dissipated by the same kind of short sightedness that resulted in the present crisis. Going off the gold standard was forced on Nixon by the simple fact that if he hadn't, there would have been no more gold in another year or 2. America had spent so many dollars overseas, and they were being cashed in by foreigners (particularly the French government) for American gold. America had issued so many dollars abroad, there was no way they could cover, so they reneged on their long standing promise to redeem dollars in gold.
America needs a DE GAULLE not a Fab de Goldman.
What a load of bunk. The American people have been AGAINST every one of the bad moves. The latest example is the overwhelming Republican victory in the recent election (which did no good). This swing from Democrat to Republican was in protest against Obama's extremely unpopular policies. Obamacare, brought in over the protests of the public. His bailout of the big banks, opposed 100:1 by the public as indicated by letters, emails and phone calls to congress. The Tea Party, begun as a protest against Obama and hijacked by the usual political hacks.
Obama's election was a protest against Bush and the Republicans. A stuffed dummy could have won that election, the public was so sick of the Bush administration's mismanagament (which Obama continued, in spite of his promises to do the opposite).
And has everyone forgotten that Bush stole the election in 2000 and was put in place by legal chicanery and ballot box stuffing IN SPITE of the fact that he got LESS votes than Al Gore?
So, don't blame the people for the extravagance and mismanagement of the government. The people have been against it every step of the way, for at least 10 years. The government has done what they have done against the will of the people, at first by dirty tricks and now they just ignore public opinion and do whatever the hell they want.
If you are going to rant like you know something, get your facts straight: you say "His [Obama's] bailout of the big banks, opposed 100:1 by the public as indicated by letters, emails and phone calls to congress."
When did TARP get enacted?
Fall, 2008.
Who was president?
W.
Which Sec of Treasury literally got down on his knees and begged Nancy Pelosi and Dem Congress to pass TARP?
W's Sec of Treasury, Paulson.
Who proposed the amount to be paid in one lump sum, with no checks and balance, limits, auditing, nothing, in one of the shortes (3 pages) bill in the history of congress?
Paulson, Bush Administration. Fall 2008.
When was there the outpouring of opposition to TARP with Congress staff's recieving 100:1 emails, letters, phone calls opposing it?
Fall 2008. W was President.
Who proposed instead to split TARP into smaller tranches (not all at once) and attached some checks and balances, like the bi-partison "Congressional Oversight Panel" that later grilled the Treasury Dept handling of TARP?
Dem Congress, Fall 2008.
Which President continued TARP but diverted remaining unspent tranches of TARP (that W and Paulson wanted in one lump sum in 2008) to away from big banks and into credit to small businesses?
Obama, 2009.
So W and his Sec of Treasury proposed the bailouts, came up with the huge sum that was greater than Iraq war spending, lied to congress about likely marital law and bank runs if they didn't pass TARP, and W and Paulson did this just two years ago, during a high-profile presidential election and global financial meltdown and you characterize this as Obama's bad policy, as his "bank bailouts"?!!?!
So I guess you make the author of this article's case, you are ignorant of who proposed, created, promoted, pushed, begged, scared congress into TARP, even when it just happened two years ago.
I readily concede as the article notes, that Obama continued with very similar programs as W and Clinton (he did push for some mild reforms in Financial Reg bill and did get something implemented that Wall Street and big banks were very opposed to, the CFPB, but still he did little different than W) but to call the bank bailout Obama's, as if he was the initial, lead, and sole architect of TARP somehow miraculously before he was even elected is just plain wrong. If you had said "W's and Obama's bailouts", I would have let it go as that is sort of right...but we call them the Bush Tax cuts because Bush started them, would you now call them the Obama tax cuts because they were continued during first 2 years Obama admin and he now is willing to sign a bill of compromises that include extension of these tax cuts? No, we still call them the Bush tax cuts, but bank bailouts that started under Bush, continued implementation under Obama became Obama bailouts the moment he stepped into office is curiouis thing. To say bailouts were Obama's, is akin to saying all bad starts and ends with Obama, this plays into partisan hands which keep us captive to Wall Street.
I agree with your point the people have opposed some of the Wall Street's hijacking along the way the last 20 years and it has been a bi-partisan sell out from various Dem and Repub presidents and congresses.
Clinton and Repub congress voted for Gramm deregulation, with only opposition a few Dems like Senator Dorgan. W and Repub congress from 2000 to 2006 further catered to Wall Street by stripping any policing of fraud, supporting Fan and Fred as much as Dems, loosening levearge limits in 2004, nominating Bernanke etc. W and Dem congress, with some Repub and progressive Dem opposition, passed TARP in 2008.
But really, besides the cry about the bank bailout, (implemented in Fall of 2008 when W was president, sorry I have to repeat but no one seems ) no one gave a crap about Gramm bill repealing Glass Steagal, no one got up in arms about the warnings Brooksley Born and Dorgan issued about completely unregulated, non-transparent, over-leveraged derivatives markets (which is what AIG bailout, in Fall 2008, when Bush was president, was all about). 99 percent of us did not pay attention or bought the crap the regulations in place since the Thirties were hurting us somehow (even thoough US economy envy of world from 40-90s) and the Banks had to be FREE because they were doing so poorly prior to Gramm bill!
How did they get away with this?
Primarily by telling people, if only we had all Dems or all Repubs, everythign would be better.
Like either Dems or Repubs were ever going to act on behalf of the people.
And by also telling us if we let rich, powerful insiders do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want, it will be good for us and that's all they cared about us, it wasn't about them.
They also told us police and rule of law and equal protection is a good idea on Main Street but its a job killer and Wall Street and if you keep police away from Wall Street, no one will do anything bad because markets are enough discipline, no one would lie, commit fraud, if you don't watch them...instead they will create prosperity that will reign down on the rest of us idiots. They told us and we believed police were just for little people, anarchy on Wall Street was a good idea.
You attributing bank bailouts, to Obama when clearly Bush admin proposed them and pushed them, plays into partisan hands.
There are many on this site who never thought to distrust their govt when a Repub was President, but now that Dem is back in, they see this as source of all evil, and solution is all Repubs (like 2000-2006 - when the Repub really kicked ass on bankers and narrowed the deficit/ sarcasm). Be accurate in statements and don't let the "bank bailouts are all due to Dems" meme continue....
Like Republicans will be harder on Wall Street than Dems. Huh! unlikely. House Rep. Cantor, second in command, said, in a public quote last winter, that Wall Street had buyers remorse over the money they had given Dems because Dems had implemented some weak reforms and Cantor was happy because it meant that Wall Street was back to primarily giving to Repubs.
Tea Partiers will be so dissappointed to find out Wall Street corruption did not start with Obama and a Dem congress, just as liberals were surprised Obama changed financial policy by about 2 or 3 degrees, not 180.
Cut the partisan crap, know what actually happened when, and we might have a chance.
The point is the present mess is NOT the fault of the American people. They were against the bad decisions that brought us here, so don't blame them. The present mess was created IN SPITE of public opinion being AGAINST the decisions that brought us here. Hope this is plain enough.
agreed
Folks, today there is still hope of saving the American dream.
But tomorrow there might not be. If Bernanke has his way, the bottom 70% of this once-great country will LITERALLY STARVE.
And don't think Gold is gonna save you - I guarantee that it won't. Just like I guaranteed that the recession wasn't over last summer, or I would wear a clown suit on Youtube.
You need to MAN UP and GROW A PAIR fast to save the American Dream.
Here is your opportunity to tell CON-gress and the Banksters what you think of them:
http://www.suckerforum.info/forum/topic/a-peaceful-siege-on-washington-1...
You need to stay in DC until you either FREEZE TO DEATH or STOP OBAMACARE AND GET THE FED AUDITED, folks.
Otherwise, I will CALL YOU OUT from the comfort of my trading desk in sunny Florida.
Don't totally agree with all of the premises, but interesting food for thought....
Geez, what a racist article!
/snarkasm
The American Dream is probably lost somewhere in the price of the subscription for your CIO newsletter.
@BeerGoggles,
We haven't increased the price of any of our services in years. We had the foresight to price our services at a CONSTANT price in gold a long time ago. It's only the price of devaluing FIAT currencies in terms of our CONSTANT gold prices that have soared. In real money, or in terms of gold, our prices have not changed. When we launched our newsletter, the price of our newsletter was roughly about 0.5 ounces of gold at less than $330 a year. The price today is STILL 0.5 troy ounces of gold today though now twice as expensive in just several years. Here's a testimonial (unsolicited) from one of our members, many of whom have more than doubled their portfolios in less than two years with us and that also avoided any losses with us in 2008, when US markets lost nearly 40%:
"I did buy some [of the investments you discussed]. They're up 125%...I've always believed that knowledge is power. Not only do you have a huge arsenal of knowledge, you have the intuition. You are truly gifted, and I am blessed to have SmartKnowledgeU™ as a friend."
We happen to believe that the price of our newsletter is truly cheap for the yields we've provided (more than 167.40% returns since our launch in mid-2007 in a tax-deferred account) for those that purchased silver and gold every year with us, though you obviously disagree with us. In fact, even with soaring fiat currency prices, break down the price of our newsletter per month and it currently costs less than $60 per month. We estimate it requires about 60 hours a month of work to produce each newsletter so if you think that charging $1 an hour for our work is too much, then we can't possibly change your mind . In fact some of our members have mentioned to us how cheap our service is given the yields we've returned (we suppose cheap or expensive is a matter of perspective, but the price is cheap for our long-term members because they listened to us and our heavy overweight towards physical gold and silver since our launch).
For those that haven't understood that gold and silver is REAL money and that nothing else is (even though the bottom feeders that didn't want to pay for anything could have read our blog in 2006 when we urged people to buy physical gold when gold was still trading at $550 an ounce), we're truly sorry that the purchasing power of paper fiat money has gone down the toilet but that is not our fault. Perhaps you should be blaming the right parties (banksters) for your loss of wealth/purchasing power rather than us. We're only trying to protect ours.