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Cartoon: How The American Dream Purchased On Credit Became The American Nightmare
With an endless supply of cartoons striving to fill a niche of information lack created by the silent but deadly combination of attention deficit disorder and a fear and loathing of anything math related, below we present the latest animated explanation of how the recent transition of the American Dream (purchased entirely on credit), was virtually guaranteed to become an American Nightmare... and how this is nothing new in the grand scheme of things.
From the description by theamericandreamfilm.com
The AMERICAN DREAM is a 30 minute animated film that shows you how
you've been scammed by the most basic elements of our government
system. All of us Americans strive for the American Dream, and this
film shows you why your dream is getting farther and farther away. Do
you know how your money is created? Or how banking works? Why did
housing prices skyrocket and then plunge? Do you really know what the
Federal Reserve System is and how it affects you every single day? THE
AMERICAN DREAM takes an entertaining but hard hitting look at how the
problems we have today are nothing new, and why leaders throughout our
history have warned us and fought against the current type of financial
system we have in America today. You will be challenged to investigate
some very entrenched and powerful institutions in this nation, and
hopefully encouraged to help get our nation back on track.
Full clip:
h/t Stacey
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Goldman's Jan Hatzius on CNBC talking giddy on the 'stock market economy'. Takes back his $2T of QE, says $600B is going to be enough.
8 minute video
http://www.fundmymutualfund.com/2011/01/video-cnbc-goldman-sachs-jan-hat...
Things must be getting desperate if CNBC now has to imply that the stock market is not a true reflection of the real economy, just to keep any remaining investors from cashing out.
When things are bad the markets are not a reflection of the real economy but when markets are up the economy is surely floating on a cloud.
Just like Fed rates. They buy them for the specific purpose of keeping them low but when they are climbing higher it is a sure sign that everything is peachy.
Ya know I hate to be a troll but a fool and his money are soon parted. It is unfortunate that some people are stupid enough to buy houses and other stuff on credit that they cant pay for. People overestimate employment stability and underestimate income volatility but even our socialist-in-chief understands that it is not the responsibility of prudent taxpayers to make the house payments for the imprudent. A cynic would point out that people who bought houses did not seek someone else to blame for their purchases while the housing market was rising. Sorry but ther stupidity does not obligate me nor anyone else to make their payments for them. The sooner all these people are de-housed the sooner real estate can find a bottom and build a healthy base. Faster with the repossessions!
... as soon as we apply the same rule to the TBTFs, right?
Yes, let's repo the banks as well. If we don't get a bailout neither do they. And I since I don't believe in bailouts...
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
It is too bad that central banks can issue a fiat currency and steal the wealth directly from your pocket. Called counterfieting and degradation of currency in the Coinage Act of 1792 and punishable by Death, exactly how many bankers have suffered this fate?
0
So it is not applicable?
Yes, it is not applicable.
Why?
Since 1789, the US has been in receivership. The Constitution (defined as a pool of suckers to pay a bill: in this case the moneys borrowed to finance the Revolutionary War) is a bill that delegates signed every man, woman, and child up in perpetuity to pay this debt. And it has never, ever gotten smaller.
Sure...learn and grow and find your way out?
No..understand the lessons and encompass and transcend the Bankster behavior by incorporating it, along with your fair side, into you.
Become Super Yogic Bankster People.
Balance It All And Shit won't Stick to You!
:) [ this message was a paid political ad of the corporation entitled no-one-home, it is meant for the use and dissemination of anybody to anybody, so help me dog. amen and awomen, too. ]
My info indicates the national debt was paid off in the 1830's under Jackson. The only time it was completely paid off. Are you referring to something else?
By the way, always enjoy your posts.
degradation of currency in the Coinage Act of 1792...punishable by Death,
This "punishable by death" clause was revoked by The coinage Act of 1965, Public Law 89-81, 79 STAT 254.
FYI
If a bank is stupid enough to loan money to someone who is not going to be able to pay it back, then let the bank reap the consequences. Why involve me or you or tax dollars at all?
There will always be people who can't do basic math. That's why it is called 'predatory lending.' A sane society does not prey upon its weakest members.
Taxpayers have been bailing out banks since the 1800's. Read 13 Bankers by Simon Johnson. It's well worth the time.
X2 on the book.
Also check out the Gods that failed.
Dupe a dupe dupe
I like Julia.
Ok to make it simple it is in the banks interests to find people to sign loans that they won't be able to pay for. In the scenario that they can pay the banks make money off interest payments and get money that they never had to begin with and created by signing the loan paper. If the person doesn't pay, the bank gets property that it never had the money for to begin with and can then sell it. Of course they have to pay taxes on a foreclosed property which is why no bank is excited to foreclose on people until the housing market picks up because they can't flip them in the present "recovery."
Additionally if the GSEs via the Fed hadn't guaranteed that no bank entity would ever lose money more due diligence would be done on borrowers and fewer loans would be made thus less money would exist and the kleptocratic system would look like a decaying sham.
+1 - The banks loan money they don't have due to reserve lending. Then when the customer defaults the bank gets a property. Paying some taxes on a free property sounds like a good trade. It is modern day alchemy.
When you foreclose, the bank that issued you the loan does not get free house.
Here is an easy to follow description of money flow when someone buys a house. And let's assume that the loan is issued from a small regional bank in the Midwest. Here's the flow of money:
1. Federal Reserve takes paper and ink and prints money.
2. Even though that freshly printed $100 bill may only cost .75 cents to make, the Fed loaned it to a member bank (banks that meet certain Fed requirements) at face value, plus whatever small interest the Fed charges. The difference between the cost to make money and the face value of it is called seigniorage - that's the Fed's profit.
3. The Fed loans this newly printed cash to a member bank for virtually free. Member banks can be any bank that meets certain Federal Reserve requirements. Primary dealers are an entirely different category with very special privileges.
4. So a member bank (like Chase) is now indebted to the Fed for this cash/loan, and it pays the Fed virtually no interest for this cash. But, nonetheless, it is a loan and it does require interest. When you hear about debt-backed money, this is where it begins. That cash created by the Federal Reserve goes into the bank system as a debt, not an asset. This is fucking horrible for many reasons, but that's another day.
5. That member bank then loans this cash to your small regional bank for a higher rate.
6. Your small regional bank now has a debt to another bank (Chase), and is on the hook for this loan just like you are.
7. Your small regional bank takes this cash, pays the homebuilder for you, and issues you a loan at - yet again - a higher rate. You get the keys to the house and begin living your American dream. Both you and your regional bank are on the hook for this cash. Keep in mind, if you default your regional bank still has the original loan with the member bank. That does not magically vanish.
8. Because there is risk of you defaulting, your regional bank sells your loan to a big Wall Street bank like Goldman Sachs.
9. Assume for a moment that your mortgage loan was for $200,000 and would have generated $100,000 in interest profit over 30 years. Of course, there is the chance that you might default at some point in 30 years, so your small regional bank sells your loan for face value ($200,000) plus a fraction of that $100,000 in future interest revenue - maybe $10,000.
10. Your small regional bank collects $210,000 from a bank like Goldman. Your bank just made $10,000, pays off the original Chase loan, and now has no risk of you paying it back. Often times your loan is sold within just months of you signing your documents, and this is why the bank that issued the mortgage in the first place has no interest whatsoever if you default or not.
11. Goldman Sachs takes your loan, packages it with a few thousand others of varying degrees of credit worthiness and divides it into various different tranches with various models of risk. These packages are called CDO's, and are so confusing to value that it's pathetic. In fact, it's so confusing, that it basically made the banking system insolvent.
12. Goldman Sachs tells Moody's "hey, if you don't rate this AAA, we won't send you anymore business" (or something like that). Often times Moody's would tell Goldman how to make it AAA, so it could pass whatever horseshit standards they had.
13. Moody's rates the senior tranches AAA, even though it has no fucking idea what it just rated. It will rate lower tranches with lower grades and these will pay higher yields to investors.
14. Various municipalities and retirement pensions like California Teachers Pension will buy the AAA portions. These AAA securities pay more than treasuries, so they are very appealing to the pensions. Plus, Moody's just rated it AAA - just like a treasury - meaning that it has virtually no risk of default. A pension is lured to buy the CDO because it pays a higher yield than identically rated treasuries. As Goldman sells these CDOs to pensions, Goldman gets off the hook on whether or not you default. Thus, the faster Goldman can sell them, the less risk they have. Often times, your mortgage has switched owners several times in just a few months.
15. As you make payments on your mortgage, that money does not go to your bank nor does it go to Goldman. That money is divided quarterly to the various investors that bought into the CDO.
16 When you stop making payments, that revenue stops, and those that bought into the CDO are fucked.
17. Some investors like John Paulson bought insurance on that CDO and those are called credit default swaps (CDS). He can buy insurance for $50,000/year (or whatever the figure is) and if you default, the insurance company (like AIG) that sold him the CDS must pay him the full value of the CDO. Hilariously, it is not necessary for Paulson to own any portion of the CDO for him to buy insurance on it.
18. You default - pensions get fucked, investors get fucked, and banks holding unsold CDO inventory get fucked. Fabrice Tourre writes really funny emails. John Paulson becomes Master of the Universe.
The End.
++ Temporalist. Nice explanation. I particularly liked the nuance about how to avoid paying taxes on forclose-able, but unsellable property. Cute.
The real extent of criminality surfaced when the banks were bailed out.
Great cartoon too!
the banks interests to find people to sign loans that they won't be able to pay for
That's just not true.
You need to read "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis BEFORE you assume what's true and what's not.
I know everything about the Big Short. That is a very unique case, and does not reflect real banking in the slightest. The implication of the above quote is that banks are incentivized to issue bad loans, and that is just ridiculous.
The only interest a bank would have in your foreclosure if there is equity there. The vast majority of foreclosures from the past few years are underwater.
Additionally, the more defaults that occur on debts issued by a particular bank, the more likely they are to loose funding. Why do you think that over 150 banks failed last year - for issuing good debts that continue to be serviced?
I agree in part. I am junking your post though because it is so "simplistic" that I wouldn't know where even to begin explaining what I mean. But... nonetheless, a "junk" deserves an explaination IMO.
Yes, just like in Florida:
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/banks-and-the-courts/
Leave about 50 million people homeless, including children. "De-house" them, on a scale that makes the displaced persons of WWII Europe look tame by comparison.
But you will have been right: the fools and their money will have gone separate ways. Perhaps you can pick up some of those properties on the cheap and rent to the rubes, except that they won't have any jobs either if you get your way, and won't be able to pay any rent.
Protect yourself, then! Do a credit check on them all - but wait, you'll see that they can't pass it. So you'll be sitting on a lot of empty homes while millions go homeless.
Maybe you can sit in your attic and count them, congratulating yourself on how clever you have been.
You're a short-sighted egotistical moron.
Further reading is recommended, if not for you (since it's hopeless) then at least for others:
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com
What about division of labour?
Why should a guy asking for a loan know better than the guy who is paid to assess the risks of lending?
How is it compatible with division of labour?
So why is it better for the banks to sit on empty, underwater foreclosed houses that turning into ruins rather than try to work some something out with the people? It's a lose-lose situation. It punishes people who lost their work or went broke paying doctor bills, but it doesn't accomplish anything positive & makes no money for the banks.
It's an enforcement mechanism. Don't pay your "debts" and you will be homeless.
I know of a situation where these people bought a new house. It was loaded with mold, made them so sick they couldn't work anymore. People toik up a collection to pay their mortgage.
It's a nice story in a way, but it never seemed to occur to anyone that the lender should eat some of this catastrophic loss. Paying the bank was never questioned.
Later, all the banks went to DC and asked for a bailout so that they wouldn't have to pay their debts.
Amazing.
1) Bank creates money out of thin air.
2) Loans it at interest to homebuyer to buy home.
3) Homebuyer falls behind on repayment.
4) Bank foreclosues, getting home for something they created out of thin air, i.e. for nothing.
You support this?
Exactly. How simple it really is.
Not to mention exponential expansion of debt via interest = pulling circulation out of the economy. Head eats tail -- gets dicey when it gets to genitals -- Head pretends to be tail so as to avoid exposure. Se La Vista ...
www.perfecteconomy.com
++ Sounds like a chant! Maybe we ought to chant this, include the question. Ans: Hell NO!
Call /Response Street Politics.
Who has the bullhorn?
I guess the problem with this comment is that its the whiny little weasel, corrupt lying banks for whom 'it is not the responsibility of prudent taxpayers to make the house payments for the imprudent' which is what happens when the FED buys toxic MBS and other assorted toxic bank assets.
When the author writes 'A cynic would point out that people who bought houses did not seek someone else to blame for their purchases while the housing market was rising. Sorry but ther stupidity does not obligate me nor anyone else to make their payments for them', he should be again refering to the welfare begging, corporately bailed out banks.
Again when the author writes 'The sooner all these people are de-housed the sooner real estate can find a bottom and build a healthy base. Faster with the repossessions!', he should apply his same tough love to the banks, who have been granted the right to abandon honest mark-market valuations of their crappy assets, and replace them with mark-fantasy island valuations.
I'm working on some economic history and gold/silver comic strips,
and decided that comic books are too long--the average attention span for reading
is 3-4 panels long. Of course they are quicker to create, too.
Perhaps single panel comics are the best of all.
A good example of why throughout history the average person was never considered worthy of unsecured or poorly secured bank credit. We relearn an old valuable lesson. People who need comics to help them understand economics are too stupid to be allowed to buy a house with less than 20 percent down.
The choice of a medium to educate a population is as important as the information that is taught. This "cartoon" is a perfect choice. It is clear, concise, uses appropriate examples and is completed in less than 1/2 hour. Brilliant.
The Bible was illustrated in Medeival times becuase nobody except monks and aristocracy could read, let alone Latin.
You have to adapt teaching methods to your audience.
To that end, look at the chart for the BDIY:
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/cbuilder?ticker1=BDIY%3AIND
Even a politician can see that the demand for shipping bulk goods ain't what it once was, and it is heading lower.
That is all part of the Great Recovery of 20??. That chart just means to all the propagandists that there is nowhere to go but up. See everything is going just perfect. Some people just can't see the rainbow because they are standing inside of it...don'tcha know.
I say package the economics lesson in a video game for penetration. Perhaps World of Warcraft could intorduce a banker faction. They loan money based upon promise to pay. They take your gear if you do not make payments.
goblins.
I have a perpetual traveller friend who uses internet "cafes" in various asian countries, which are inevitably heavily populated by gaming dudes. . . he emailed with a "lol" about the new "race" - goblins - who have, shall we say, a remarkable (stereotyped) resemblance to a certain human "race" complete with a gold obsession. . . goblins are known for their love of blowing things up/explosives, and accumulating monies - a "racial" characteristic in game is a "free personal hobgoblin bank" that travels with them.
as a cultural observer, he knew I would find it of interest ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnGAYbVsLR0&feature=related
that's what iPhones are for.
so you are ok with the whole fraud side of this mess as well? you mineaswell just say only people who can buy a home with cash should be home buyers... that is how far you are ignoring the other side of this ordeal
Or how about institutions having enough assets to not be 40 leveraged and end up screwed to have to beg for public bailouts??
To me the bailouts were obscene.
so you are ok with the whole fraud side of this mess as well? you mineaswell just say only people who can buy a home with cash should be home buyers... that is how far you are ignoring the other side of this ordeal
Or how about institutions having enough assets to not be 40 leveraged and end up screwed to have to beg for public bailouts??
Actually, it's morally blameworthy to borrow for personal expenses of any kind, and also to so lend. 20% down, 50% down, doesn't matter. If you borrow at all to buy a home you are part of the problem.
I don't expect you to understand that, though. But just for fun, try. Think about it in a less ego-centric way, if you can manage it.
Boring asshole!
That was three lines too long!
dupe[r] and dope[r]
Dodd and Frank???
please make them. this cartoon is perfect for getting the message out.
get your message out too.
the attention span of the youth today is short, but the youth are the key to long term change.
spread the word, folks.
US Steel starting another breakout. Olympic Steel up 3% ...
The young people today have no excuse for being a dumbass with the internet at there finger tips. I'll be glad to saddle them with all the debt we are incurring now. They want to play sheeple, let them pay for it!
I junked you.
This was a silly comment.
ZH will be a mainstay of the Tea Party yet.
But my goodness, is there any wonderful thing that JFK wasn't just about to do the day before he died - like end the Vietnam War, end The Fed and what else? cure cancer?
What side of the Fed issue do you think Teddy was on?
TP is DoA, as it is inside the system.
Leave it behind Merc, let it go.
:)
I agree with your assessment. Boehner is their chosen leader. All you need to do is watch his tearful plea to pass TARP to know the TP is doomed. I know, Boehner is not TP, but the TP is vulnerable and the GOP will prey on them.
The Tea Party was dead the moment Fox News coopted it and handed it to Glenn Beck as a trophy, and the goons who normally wouldn't touch anything Ron Paul with a ten foot pole hopped on board because Glenn Beck is their idol.
I am Chumbawamba.
I don't know you from Adam, but I am glad to see you posting again.
I don't know Chumba either, but it's great to see you back - a harbinger of sorts, and certainly no shit gets by you sir!
2011. Chumbawumba.
bring it!
I agree Chumba puts up some terrific, ballzy posts.
Heeeyyyy!!! It's little Hitler!
Still painting with that absurdly broad brush, I see.
1.) Find your rock
2.) Go back under it with your brethren.
You're back, thanks be. I appreciate your being here.
Oh I don't have anything invested in the TP although it appeals to me a lot more than say MoveOn.org does.
I do think that the TP will be more effective if it remains a loose, amorphous affiliation and not an actual, third political party.
If you look at what the Executive Order actually was, it's nothing like what the film or other conspiracy theorists say it was.
I mean, the currency was still tangentially backed by gold, and the US still used coins that contained silver. Authorizing silver certificates was not exactly a radical stretch.
Frankly, I don't consider who killed JFK to be a particularly important issue. The fact that he was assassinated is historically important, but it will probably take more time to establish why. JFK was no saint, he was never going to "save" America, he had little to no understanding of economics, and he was never on the side of "the people."
I do find it interesting that pornographers like John Stagliano have moved into producing effective propaganda films. Holding up the Rothschilds as the major villains in the story is not necessarily an effective choice.
If it were just the Rothschilds, it would be much easier to end central banking. It's not. It's an entire culture of corruption of which the banking families are only a small part. Sure, they may have created the virus in its modern form, but it's been airborne now for a long time.
Word. There's plenty of blame to go around. We're going to have to learn to forgive each other. Even the Rothschilds.
Or just kill them all and let God sort them out.
I'm sure Blankfein will find his place in heaven, doing God's work as his sidekick.
I am Chumbawamba.
Well said.
neca eos omnes. deus suos agnoscet.
I do find it interesting that pornographers like John Stagliano have moved into producing effective propaganda films.
Can you explain this further. I'm lost. I know he's active in the libertarian community, but I didn't know he actually made a propaganda film.
Not just the Rothschilds bit, the whole post reads like an appology, a mea culpa.
Where is Apostate and what have you done with him/her?
One key event which will end the insane fiscal deficit policies will be the pricing of oil in other currencies or barter trade. If the US can not trade a worthless promise (US$) for something of value (oil or other commodities), either the US would collaspe or something worse. Iran Just announced that it will sell its oil priced in yen, not $s. This can't be allowed by US policy makers. Watch for an increase in Middle East tensions.
Fantastic!
So far, Hatzius is right on the money.
Higher oil prices being totally ignored, consumers remain giddy, credit is plentiful.
Absolutely Perfect !
It's not like it's porn you know...
Absolutely Perfect !
or even the Simpsons...
Absolutely Perfect !
I even think looking to marth steward is more funny!
Excellent!
I'm working on some economic history and gold/silver comic strips, and decided that comic books are too long--the average attention span for reading is 3-4 panels long. Of course they are quicker to create, too. Perhaps single panel comics are the best of all.
"I'm working on some economic history and gold/silver comic strips, and decided that comic books are too long--the average attention span for reading is 3-4 panels long. Of course they are quicker to create, too. Perhaps single panel comics are the best of all."
Back when Thomas Nast was attacking Tammany Hall he came to the same conclusion. Boss Tweed famously stated that he did not fear editorials or written exposes but "those damn pictures" had to be stopped.
Read this Wikipedia article on Nast's cartoons and see if you can find any parallels between politics in his day and politics in ours.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nast
They learned from the S&L crisis: push ordinary Americans into real estate loans during boom times. Soon enough the bubble bursts and you reposes the real estate with a full bailout by Federal agencies. Ride it out and you're back in biz, made whole on any bad loans AND you own the real estate. Wash rinse.
Awsome!!
Great video. What a hoot.
Great vid made for mass appeal.
This could have the same effect the old "Why We Fight" films during WWII.
Change can only come when butcher, bakers, and candlestick makers are brought to understand how they are being ripped off.
Hell, thanks to the Ally commercials, even my 4-year-old knows that bankers are bad.
Great video, with the exception of the false Thomas Jefferson quotes (there's no evidence he said those things, though he likely agreed with the sentiment). I wish people would stop repeating these likely made-up quotes, it detracts from the veracity and credibiilty of the underlying mesage.
A video like this makes me feel completely insane. Almost everything in this video is true. Fractional reserve banking is inherently fraudulent. Even if each depositor understands that his money will be lent out in exchange for an interest payment, it is still fraud to make loans based on capital that doesn't exist. Ron Paul said it best in his statement in Congress on 2/25/09: "We have a total misunderstanding of what credit is versus capital. Capital can't come from thin air creation by the Federal Reserve system. Capital has to come from savings. We have to work hard, produce, live within our means and what is left over is called capital. This whole idea that we can recapitalize markets by merely turning on the printing press and increasing credit is a total fallacy..."
It pisses me off that 99% of the people who criticize free market capitalism don't even know what capital is, and think that douchebag politicians can implement regulations to create a utopia. It also pisses me off that 99% of people who are happy with the current system don't think about how banks make money. And finally, it also pisses me off that 99.9% of people don't even think about what money actually is versus what a Federal Reserve note actually is. So yeah, I'm pissed off.
I've heard the debate go back and forth on this. Here's what Snopes has to say, for what it's worth:
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/jefferson/banks.asp
Of course, Snopes is a CIA front, just like Wikipedia, Wikileaks, McDonald's, and probably ZH.
I am Chumbawamba.
Tyler is a CIA front man???
Wow! Who knew!
Send those 99% here:
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/money/
And here:
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/money-ii/
And here:
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/money-iii/
Welcome to the party!
"99% of the people that are happy with the current system"
I don't think that is too many people...
I just want to point out that this entire synopsis of American history didn't have a single Native American, or African American in it. Thomas Jefferson fully supported killing the former, and imprisoning and raping the latter. Even if he was wise enough to fight againt a banking cartel, does not make him the model that this country should follow.
agree.
it would be good for people to drop the tired old myths about this nationstate - until that happens, it's really just continuous running around in circles trying to "get back" to mom & apple pie.
it never WAS that.
Yeah, sure, the cartoon works for about 1/2 a minute because the solution is to kick Hank Paulson down a bottomless pit (great idea, BTW), but it offers no real solution, except to agitate.
Then, it's back to the x-box or football game, dudes! You want to fight this 600-year-old monster. Be my guest, but the end is futility. Quietly work inside the system, wait for an appropriate opening, then LEAVE.
I agree with your post for the most part... no solutions and I could've been watching ice road trucker re-runs... but the point now is to inform the naive public (however simplistically) as to how money is created and by whom. If solutions were simple, the federal reserve, the inherent interest, and built in scarcity our monetary system creates, would've ended long ago.
Really? Because the message I got was to stay and fight.
Use the system against itself. There are so many methods, so many grappling points.
Rip an appendage off the System and beat its head in with it.
That's my message, anyway.
I am Chumbawamba.
it was great for a person with so less knowledge, like myself. i really followed it, and the action. thank you TD for the post. this is perfect for my types and i emailed it to my daughter. i encouraged her to watch and learn. honest i just have put 2 + 2 together and i get 4. so something sunk in.
Should have had him forge a sword out of silver and slay JP Morgan with it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrotherJohnF?feature=mhum
Wow...heavy stuff...you hear one word here and there but this cartoon kind of puts everything together in an easy to understand language even for me...
"a fear and loathing of anything math related" courtesy of a public education system that deliberately has dumbed down the masses to become willing labour slaves since the 19th century , helped by the media . In such a society , true democracy is impossible , and the sheeple will be easily manipulated politically against their own interests
Kewl ... Schoolhouse Rock on bad drugs.
There was a time when there were nobles, serfs, and a few freemen (so few that they really didn't matter). The nobles owned all the wealth and the serfs worked the land of the nobles and kept enough for themselves to survive. This has been the natural order of things for millenia of human history, so we really were foolish to move away from a tried and true order that has worked for most of our history.
Long story short, the black plague wiped out most of the serf labour and forced the surviving nobles to bid up the price of labour, essentially turning serfs into a thriving new class of freemen (enough now that they started to matter). This state of affairs went on for 8 centuries or so, but over the course of the last 100 years the nobles have used the power of central banking, money creation, and their inbuilt tool of inflation to ensure that the wealth achieved by the freemen in the prior 700 years was returned to its rightful owners.
Who are you to question the ways of millenia??? Back to your plows, serfs.
I can't stand defeatist attitudes like this, even if said in jest.
A nigger is as a nigger does.
I am Chumbawamba.
Does not Chumba perceive the odor of troll feces?
Not sure, I'm still recovering from a cold.
I am Chumbawamba.
unjunked x 1
Defeatist, Chumba??? I'm part of the Noble class. Now give me your money, and get back to work for me, slave.
Nobles were free men.
...free to exploit everyone else.
One thing the serfs had, was the commons... land that could be used by everyone for hunting, farming, etc. The commons (institutions that benefit the public) in America is vanishing fast.
It's not just houses that's involved but also high wages, easy credit, much of the economy based on consumer spending, 40 years of trade deficits, financial speculation, and rigged credit ratings.
I thought that E.O. 11110 conspiracy got debunked as it was an amendment to another Executive Order. Even the silver certificate they showed in the cartoon was like from 1957.
F.
T.
W.
!!!
For comedy gold, it's fun to go into the Reason tv archive. Like this video from a couple years back : "Living Large: America's Middle Class"
http://reason.tv/video/show/living-large
Drew is a leftist pig.
I wonder how the guys who gardened and sold building materials are doing?
Not sure why that's junk, it seemed like a pretty good example of a credit bubble giving a false sense of security to me.
+ Trillions
Brilliant.
The sheeple wont wake up in time.
The cake and circuses are working.
Make according preperations.
F the FED. Now!
Who is this Hartman?
I couldn't read ALL the comments...but I didn't see a single one that noted how freakin' amazing this animated film was. The quality work that went into this is so bloody impressive. Some people are obviously donating a ton of their time and expertise to a cause rather than sitting around writing useless comments on a blog...like me. ;-)
Hey Skip
Writing on the blog helps, reading it more so, especially on the ZH channel.
40 years ago I started reading books on the JFK assassination as the Warren Report seemed a white wash to me - only recently have all the pieces fallen into place and I can positively say it was a government conspiracy with Allen Dulles behind the kill. Once you digest the fact that it was people in "our government" that did this, you realize our government is capable of anything/everything, including screwing us all in this fiat money/IRS scam.
So please keep reading & commenting - once you take the red pill there's no looking back - and once you become a believer, go spread the word.
The credit cycles cause reckless growth in credit and get magnified by poor central bank policy and artificially low rates leading to speculative market bubbles characterised by reduction in saving and excessive debt growth. This results in unstable and volatile imbalance between investment and saving where excessive easy credit seeks out increasingly risky investmentopportunities!
http://archive.wbai.org/
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1/3/2011
talk back, 3 pm , hit play
As far as I know there is one big inaccuracy in here (and it's a big one)... the money the federal reserves "earns" by collecting interest on loans and whatever else they do gets refunded back to the treasury at the end of the year doesn' t it?
If not please direct me to somewhere that I can educate myself on what's really going on.
If not why people keep making this ridiculous claim that unammed "private bankers" just get to keep all the money charged on loans extended from the fed to commercial banks.
The interest earned off their balance sheet, less expenses is returned to the Treasury. This is not the interest earned from the national debt or for loans carried by banks funded by fractional reserve banking.
There are great books by Murray Rothbard on the subject. Check out www.mises.org for information.
Will check it out thanks. Well any interest from the national debt that the fed ever sees would be from treasury bonds/bills that htey hold which would be on their balance sheet no? This would mean the movie is incorrect. The banker scum don't keep the national debt interest but perhaps the interest earned from loans to commercial bank.
As far as the loans they give to commercial banks do they, and in effect their shareholders, just get to keep it?
Either way it doesn't really matter I guess because the fed makes zero or near zero percent loans to commercial banks who in turn charge interest on money that is free to them...
Wow what a scam. When do we get to start lynching bankers?
+1 to freakin' amazin
Very very good movie and explained the whole think well. You'll never see this on CNBC or any network.
None dare calle it treason, theft, mendacity and terror; in a word, a Shylockracy.
This movie should be required viewing in every primary school in the country.
*****Excellent short movie that's funny and illuminating. Perfect for the mass sheeple who won't read, but could watch an animated film such as this one. Watch it and pass it on to everyone.
Strikes a golden (silver) stake through the Red Shield!
It deserves to go viral. It will expand minds, and even if it's not 100% accurate, it's close enough. A big part of the cartels strength comes from it's secrecy. This hits them where it hurts. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant".
Where did the video go. YouTube says: "This video has been removed by the user."
Gone baby gone, vid is gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExBE651_vOY