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I stand with the protesters.
Lee Adler explains WHY he is standing with the OWS protesters. I concur with his reasoning, and am glad to see that people in our country can get together to make a public and long overdue statement about the corruption that occupies the top. ~ Ilene
Courtesy of Lee Adler of the Wall Street Examiner
I stand with the protesters.
My mother and millions of other senior citizens are among the victims of the game that policy makers and those who empower them are playing. Their life savings are gone because Bernankecide, the financial genocide of the elderly, forced them to spend their principal. Now the government is indirectly confiscating 8% of my income because I must support my mother. That percentage is likely to grow as her health deteriorates.
Millions of other boomers are in the same boat. They are forced to pay this immoral hidden tax because Ben Bernanke decided that the innocent must pay for the sins of the guilty. While Bernanke’s ZIRP goes on allowing the banksters to continue to collect their fat bonuses, it steals the savings of millions of Americans, eliminates their disposable income, and cuts the spending power of millions of others who must now support those rendered destitute. The guilty benefit, and the innocent are punished.
Bernanke knows that, yet he continues to side with the criminal bankers in support of the financial genocide of the super elderly, and their children, the baby boomers who must increasingly support them.
Among the OWS protesters are those calling for forgiveness of student loans. They may be acting in their own self interest, but it is a just cause, and must be a part of the cleansing of the system. The student loan thing is a long running racket that preys on the inexperience of children and young people just starting out in life. When I was 20 years old I trusted the system (wrongly). What did you know at age 18 or 20?
The fact is that the people’s “savings” that funded those loans, including the fake savings backed by phony assets that have yet to be written down, are already gone. These loans cannot be repaid. Bond holders must get wiped out. Then we’re all going to have to take a haircut. The student loans can’t be repaid because these kids either can’t get jobs at all or can’t get jobs with pay high enough to pay the loans. These loans never had any backing. They were fake from the moment they were issued. But the issuers didn’t care. They got their fees up front.
The student loans are the tip of the iceberg. Bankers have made and sold trillions of dollars worth of loans that they knew, or should have known, could not be repaid. That’s fraud. It must be prosecuted. Today, central bankers and governments are refunding those loans, knowing that a substantial portion of them cannot be repaid. Worse, they are buying them above par because of today’s fake low interest rates. Then they guarantee them by obligating us and future generations to repay them. This is criminal.
I figure that at least a third of our deposits are worthless because they have no assets behind them. Those running the scam know that. Those investing in the scam know it. But they don’t care because they get to collect their fees off the top. That is a system that institutionalizes theft. It must be changed to a performance based model. If you don’t earn a positive return, you don’t get paid. Instead, governments have taken over the scam while transferring wealth to and protecting the criminals who built the system.
If you are blaming the protesters, or are mystified by them, then you just don’t get it. Denial is part of the problem. Too many people have yet to wake up to the fact that they have already been victimized. They are playing along with the dishonest shell game of extend and pretend that the Fed and other central banks and governments are running. It’s time to get real, wake up, and face the music. The longer the game goes on, the worse the consequences for the 99%, and ultimately for the 1%, whose ranks will be decimated at some point, and probably not peacefully if this scam is allowed to continue for much longer.
As long as we continue to avoid cleansing the system of the fraud, as long as we refuse to put the fraudsters in jail, they will continue to bleed us dry. If those in charge of administering justice, like President See No Evil Obama and his worthless AG Eric Holder, refuse to do their jobs and seek to punish the guilty, our society and our culture could spiral into chaos and mob rule. Those in the top 1% who are responsible for this fraud, either directly by running it, or indirectly by supporting it financially, must ultimately be brought to justice or society will perish. There’s no way out other than reform, or revolution, or societal collapse. Those are the choices I see. We had better take the first one, and take it now.
So stop worrying about yourself, and start worrying about the future of your children and grandchildren. The government practice of constantly doubling down in support of the fraud is only digging a deeper and deeper hole. Demand reform of the system now. End the fraud now. Make the guilty pay. Instead of rewarding the bankers, prosecute them. They knew, or should have known, that the loans they were making and selling to others could never be repaid. But they did not care. They only cared that they got their fees up front, and their bonuses in the end.
It’s time to reset and start over. We will all pay a price in the short run, but the longer we wait, the steeper the price will become. Reform and reset now is the only way to begin a real recovery. Stop the fraud, return to the rule of law, prosecute the bankers, punish the guilty, figure out what our assets are really worth and pay us a fair return, and most importantly, return basic standards of fairness and ethical behavior, something that many in society must relearn. It must be done. There is no other way, no other reasonable choice. Failure to act now will consign us to a future in hell.
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Pic via Jr. Deputy Accountant
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"It is the general opinion that revolutions begin with the common people, but this is not true; the benevolently informed always guide and direct public opinion." Manly P. Hall
"...revolutions begin with the common people,..."
Perhaps true, but let's take a look at the 20-year-old girl in the article's photo for a moment. I fully understand that employment opportunities are a bit lacking nowadays for most people under 25 in America, but she can't use the proceeds from her part-time job to help support herself while at her parents' home? If she were out on her own, pretty much all her income would be spent supporting herself anyway. My own grown children are in a similar situation and cannot yet support themselves, and therefore are still at "home" with me. But they DO contribute financially to our household as a way to at least pay for what they eat or use.
When I was without medical insurance a decade ago, I simply told the doctor up front at the beginning of any necessary visit that I had no insurance and would be paying with cash out of necessity. Voila! the price of the office visit was slashed by almost 50%, and instead of a pharmaceutical prescription, he'd just give me some of the free samples he regularly got from the pharma companies. Most doctors prefer cash because it's in their register by the end of the day and there are no wait times (and hassles) with insurance paperwork.
As far as the strep throat and birth control...if she'd just stop sucking face with the guys in her dorm and hopping into the sack with them, she wouldn't have to worry so much about getting sick and getting pregnant...and sticking US with the bill via her trips to the "free clinics". Some things in life you can't control, but you can certainly think twice before dropping your panties for the next guy who comes along and promises to tickle your fancy! Sheesh!
One of the protest "organizers" read a Manifesto (whether collectively representative of all the protesters or not, I don't know), and he declared these three demands to the TV reporter:
1. Raise the national USA minimum wage to $20.00/hour, regardless of the work performed.
2. Forgive and cancel all student loans for everyone.
3. Nationalize all college-level institutions and provide free college education for everyone.
I don't agree with these people as much as you claim to do, ilene. They're simply the sum product of the past two generations' worth of welfare mentality. Wall Street needs to be cleansed, but these liberal protesters are the opposite-end counterparts of the problem as well.
Give me a break.
And thank you Hacked Economy for showing how these protests can be cynically turned into a wedge issue by pointing out the foibles of some of the protestors and ignoring their valid complaints (eg Wall Street and the banks have taken over the political process). That manifesto is merely one person who like Pelosi is pushing their own personal agenda.
By the way all of our competitors do pay for their populace's higher education, especially in Asia, and well...I guess the results speak for themselves.
I love all the folks who are clutching their guns to their chests and asking when people are going to take to the streets, and then when people do and they happen to be young people of low income, out come the ad hominem's and socially conservative bias (Get a job hippies and some of your are marxists so ALL of you are wrong...including those folks who do have jobs like the Airline Pilots etc. etc.). Once again playing RIGHT into the hands of the overlords.
Interesting...I made no mention of guns or the ownership thereof, nor of the term "hippie" which was coined by a previous generation and not mine.
Wall Street needs to be purged and then held accountable for future actions. That much I do agree with. But I definitely do NOT agree that I'm responsible for taking a part of my hard-earned income and funding someone else's whiney lifestyle. If that girl in the article's photo wants to clean up Wall Street and make the "shadowy overlords" pay for their wrongs against society, then that's great. But I draw the line where she chooses to live a certain lifestyle, and then wants me to fund the consequences of her choices. I'm not talking about morality...she can suck face and boink whomever she chooses. I just don't want her or her whiney friends weeping that she now has strep throat (again) from her latest string of boyfriends and wants us all to take care of her so she can continue making the same dumb choices. Financially speaking, of course.
Do you want to take a college class? Great! That's a great idea. But how about this novel idea...YOU pay for it.
Oh so much hypocrisy, and so little patience for it.
"But I definitely do NOT agree that I'm responsible for taking a part of my hard-earned income and funding someone else's whiney lifestyle."
-Unless its for our bankers and corporate elite on a much larger scale. They don't whine. They have lawyers.
"...chooses to live a certain lifestyle, and then wants me to fund the consequences..."
-Unless its for our bankers and corporate elite on a much larger scale. I prefer their lifestyle to that of the girl.
"and wants us all to take care of her so she can continue making the same dumb choices. Financially speaking, of course."
-Unless its for our bankers and corporate elite on a much larger scale. I prefer their dumb choices to that of the girl. Financially speaking, of course.
Looks like the welfare-state cronies are out and posting tonight.
Oh so much unguided irritation, and so little ability to focus it intelligently...
No you idiot - it's just that you're a smallminded naive envious coward.
You as so many fail for that phony classwarfare thing, where a lot of people get entitlements, because job-market in the USA is completely fucked up. That's right.... the entitlements will be paid ANYWAYS, because if they wouldn't be paid, not only would millions die, but also the already rockbottom purchasing power of the population would go into free fall, and the economy would collapse. Those entitlements, they do not exist to let annie live at the cost of betty. They exist:
1. As a compensation for TOO LOW WAGES PAID TO TOO FEW PEOPLE WORKING TOO MANY HOURS. You still didn't get it? Kay: THE GOV (or rather, you) PARTIALLY PAYS THE WAGES FOR THE CORPORATIONS, so that the corporations have lower expenses! Megacorps underpay the population, and the gov sponsers the missing amount via entitlements.
2. To keep people dependent.
But even the above is peanuts compared to the mass-theft done by megabanks via inflation and market manipulations. It's like you're complaining about someone stealing your breadcrumbs, while someone else behind your back is stealing entire loafs.
But right, complain about your neighbour.... i'm sure they're at the bottom of the pyramid, because they're stealing so much.
"...idiot...you're a smallminded naive envious coward..."
"...millions would die..."
I was hoping for a more intelligent dialogue, instead of rash statements pulled out of the air.
I support the ending of the Federal Reserve and the return of sound money. I support states' rights over a central federal conglomerate government. And I want to see the injustices on Wall Street ended and the people responsible for their part of our mess prosecuted and thrown in prison. But I absolutely reject the expansion of the minimum wage, the welfare state, and the expansion of entitlements. The major entitlements were irresponsible when they were instituted long ago, and they've grown to elephantine proportions that threaten our economic well being as a nation. And you want to expand them further and defend them?
Astounding. Your anger over the current situation in our country is understandable (we're all angry...as the now-famous 99%), but expanding the very welfare/entitlement programs that are undermining our economy is not the answer. It's socialism.
Get angry at the injustices in the world. Just don't think that using Big Brother to strong-arm your way into other peoples' wallets to fund your ambitions will make things better. That's the wrong way to go. Choose your own path in life, but pay for it yourself and shoulder your own consequences. Passing them off to others so they have to pay for them makes YOU an "envious coward".
Strawman reply - you have addressed exactly none of the arguments in my post. I mean fuck, your carefully snipped quotes of my post visualize exactly the way how you deal with your perceptions.
I did reply. Explain what you mean by this.
Of course, if one is against crony capitalist banksters who committed fraud and helped destroy the economy in the name of capitalism, he is a marxisit or "welfare-state cron[y]", or something else that sounds bad to idealogical shills who still worship Reagan (the father of the deficit state). Did you even read the article? Let me summarize it: the bankers committed fraud. They got away with it. The economy is imploding and people like the college student you detest have little chance of succeeding as a result. Summary of your narcissistic viewpoint: Let the muther fuckers eat cake.
Nope...the summary is:
Wall Street needs to be taken out to the cleaners. I heartily agree with that as the general message of the protests.
But I disagree with the demands I've heard espoused by the younger, left-leaning, liberal participants. I'm a libertarian-leaning conservative who wants to see the Big Brother/Wall Street relationship torn apart (if that were even possible) and a return to personal responsibility. I do NOT want to see the minimum wage raised and more freebies passed out to calm the masses, and the bill sent to the rest of us on top of all the bills we already have to pay.
I sadly shake my head at how many of you here want to go the socialist route instead.
I sadly shake my head at how many of you here want to go the socialist route instead.
When one is diagnosed with cancer, many of the treatments involves voluntarily ingesting poisons because it will hurt the cancer a lot more than it does normal cells.
Wall Street is a cancer on society, I want it hurt, a lot, even if it hurts me.
And when that hypocritical bitch Nancy Pelosi is supporting these protestors, well, draw your own conclusions.
That's like pointing to Sarah Palin's (semi-successful) attempt to hijack the Tea Party and claim that since "that dumb bitch" supports the tea partiers their positions aren't valid. Pelosi is trying to hijack it and it's also campaign time so it's time to pretend like you give a fuck about your constiuents instead of your shadowy overlords. Just because Pelosi supports them just means she is trying to steal some of their grassroots popularity for her own cynical agenda it means the protestors have some street cred whereas anyone with two firing neurons or more can see she has zero.