As we watch the battle for the Presidency get thrown into the gutter by a President unable to lead the Nation out of its disastrous stagnation, no serious action from Washington will be applied to the national debt, the deficit, or the international banking system heading for a major crash.
For well over one generation, America’s and the world’s middle class has been primed and pumped by financial institutions to borrow. The majority was persuaded to incur debt because debt was good. Debt fed the system and placed you in a home. Debt filled that home with appliances and furniture suitable to your preference and taste. Debt placed you in an automobile, and placed you in a boat. Debt had to be good. Wasn’t it the capitalist way? Wasn’t this the road to economic growth? The banks said so.
No. Absolutely not. This level of debt is not the capitalist way. It is not the road to economic growth. It is not the path to economic independence and sovereignty. Some debt can be stimulative to growth. The out-of-control debt we are now saddled with, is not. It has been a deceptive illusion. It has been a beguiling fraud. Savings? What savings? This beautifully executed but virulent elevation of debt to the dizzying heights of the economic firmament by banks has harmed savers and pushed them into risky and treacherous waters – right into the arms of brokerages which were also owned by the banks.
Load yourself up with debt – you can afford it. You have nothing to worry about, we’ll keep the interest rates low. Your dollar or pound or franc is dropping in value, and your earning power is sliding, but you won’t notice, because as far as you’re concerned, you’re doing fine. The new home you think you own tells you so, and aren’t you on your way to purchase the latest flat-screen-digital TV?
The mindset on main street toward personal debt, affected and infected the attitude toward debt in government. For too many years our politicians at all levels accepted the mantra – “what magic this debt business is, I can buy votes and support wherever and whenever I need them.”
Bankers didn’t care who was in office or what ideology they promoted. They still don’t. Couldn’t care less. The higher the office being sought, the more money the campaign needs. Who’s the weaker person running? Who has no understanding of anything remotely related to anything economic? Who understands nothing of the the critical elements governing finance, business and money? That’s what they really concerned themselves with. The weaker the politician, and the more ignorant, the better for bankers, particularly as it came to the most important office in the land. Ideology be damned. Why?
Bankers may appear to be based in New York or London or Zurich. Not true. Their game has no borders, and they control a licensed cartel. The best part of the monster they have created is that their frauds hold no consequences. Keep in mind, these bankers control debts worth Hundreds of Trillions of Dollars – not billions, trillions.
We are fast moving in the middle of a hurricane propelling us toward a world fiscal authority with no borders. Europe is the initial maelstrom where complete integration and absolute loss of national sovereignty will be effectively and surreptitiously implemented, with North America to follow, and the seduction of king dollar used as the convincing bait.
Loss of sovereignty will mean that someone not of your choosing or election, will dictate how you conduct yourself. Greeks have been maligned by all banks, central and national, and by the MSM parroting their message. What? Greece borrowed too much? Really? Borrowing like a marriage, takes at least two parties agreeing to the financial transaction. Bankers knew what they were doing better than did their prey. They were running hell-bent-for-leather to convert as many countries as possible into overwhelmed debtor nations. Already the same is being written of Spain, Italy, France, and other Eurozone countries – structural concerns, worsening deficits etc. And England? It’s economy has become principally dependent on banking. England is a lost cause and it will push to strengthen whatever demands satisfy bankers.
Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister, recently said “The European Union needs to reinforce its architecture. This entails moving towards more integration, transferring more sovereignty, especially in the fiscal field. And this means a compromise to create a new European fiscal authority which would guide the fiscal policy in the eurozone, harmonize the fiscal policy of member states and enable a centralized control of finances.” He is simply voicing the attitude and inclination of more powerful insiders who control the most critical strings of all.
The European Commission makes its demands and countries cower in fear. Just imagine a banker from somewhere in the netherlands levitating in the middle of the Atlantic, telling America, “your austerity measures aren’t enough and we don’t care that you have over 20% unemployment.” And yet, the trend is not encouragingly heading in that direction.
Amidst all this uncertainty which everyone hopes someone else understands and will do something about, we have Ben Bernanke announcing a non-announcement that he just might unleash QE3 on America. On that vacuous expectation we will see the markets buoyed, possibly with Greenspan type “irrational exuberance.”
What might come as a mid-term follow-on might just be a market implosion worse than we witnessed four years ago. This time, the shorts won’t be there to provide a floor and support. The big shorts have been scared and expunged right out of the system by such measures as government intervention on cave-ins which we have come to know and puzzle about called “bailouts.” Uncertainty is dangerous.
The world’s debt crisis is looming as America faces what may well prove to be the most significant Presidential election in generations. America must elect an individual who has understood economics, business, trade and entrepreneurialism. America must elect someone not from Wall Street and not a banker, but someone who understands them because they will have to be brought to heel and punished for their frauds. A different relationship to fiat money will have to be considered. Above all other considerations, America must bring creative energies to putting its workforce back to work. America is offered in Mitt Romney the only candidate who has a chance of filling the Oval Office with such capacities.
A constituent of the vast baby boomer generation with a career which has been fortunate to know the ponderous corporate worlds, as well as the intimately pressurized, and invigorating entrepreneurial domains of high tech and venture capital, I have harvested my share of mistakes meandering through corridors of enterprise from Silicon Valley, to London and endless, colourful, sometimes praetorian points in between. The voyage has provided an abundance of fodder for a pen yielding to an inquisitive keyboard, a foraging mind, and a passionate spirit.
Whether political or business or social or economic or personal, is it not all political? It is a privilege to write, and an even greater privilege to be read by anyone, and sometimes with the wind at my back the writing may occasionally be legible. I do not write to invite scorn, nor to invite respect, but if I get really lucky the writing can stimulate thinking. I also write for the very selfish purpose of animating my own processes, and engaging the best of what life offers. Above all, whether biting fire or swatting shadows, I am grateful to be gifted the freedom to write and publish whatever flows down to the keyboard. To all those who enabled this freedom, and to all those standing guard to preserve it, I am indebted.
Mit Romney might as well be from Wall, with all the financing he receives from that sector—and you think he’s going to change anything?
Back when we announced we were getting married I met Alan Greenspan.
(Distant relative.)
He sat me and hubby-to-be down for a chat about finances.
He made sure we were financially compatible.
This is a much bigger thing than people realize when they ”fall” in love.
He warned us about how advertizers would try to convince us that we were surrounded by ”the Jones’s,” but NOT to try to ”keep up” with them.
He emphasized putting money away for ourselves FIRST no matter how tough times seemed.
He emphasized saving up for big purchases rather than paying on a card or loan.
Except for the huge problems under Jimmy Carter we were able to follow his advice for over 40 years.
Even a new fridge or car or condo can be paid off early.
The $1,200 fridge in 60 days.
The $23,000 car in 31 months (a 60 month loan with no prepayment penalty).
The $28,000 condo had a 15 year mortgage but we paid it off (again without a penalty) in just 8 years.
No one can control what is going to happen to the dollar or to the American economy, but you can ignore ”the imaginary Jones’s” and take control of your personal finances.
@Liberal1 (objectivity): Really? And the Magic Zero has turned down how much Wall Street cash?
JR, that was an exemplary description and explanation of the situation. It is a chilling description, but is it realistic to think we can ever get this debt under control. I realize financing car companies in Europe and rewarding bundlers with hundreds of millions in stimulus funds was essential to keep the economy from being much worse, but now that the economy is flatlining in everything except debt, what possible solution do we have.
Will draconian austerity measures tend to stifle a failing economy?
Should we be sitting down with our creditors to seek terms to survive our debt service?
Is America facing bankruptcy like California and its cities?
Jerry Brown figures the only chance for success is to increase the debt and build high speed rail to little desert cities. High speed rail lines that will share the she tracks with slow moving freight trains. Rail lines that will be subsidizing the travel of agricultural workers at the rate of $10,000 a trip or more. Is this a solution or more lunacy?
Should Californians be ready to bail?
Can Canada maintain its economic growth (its citizens are now more wealthy than Americans) and independence with America wallowing in the depths of economic despair?
@Nan G: #2,
” . . . . ignore ”the imaginary Jones’s” and take control of your personal finances.”
That’s about as good as advice gets, and yet it’s so difficult to heed. The evidence is in the hundreds of trillions of dollars in value we have borrowed to temporarily enjoy things we don’t really own, while being forcibly morphed into an indentured species.
@cubiclecommando: #3,
Sadly there is a giant swath of the population which unfortunately squanders the right to vote, but understands nothing of either human nature or the critical element at the heart of a society’s well-being – the economy. Ideology blinds the willing.
@Skook: #4,
Skook, thanks. “Chilling” is about right.
Your comment reminds me that although I’ve moved through life with very positive outlook toward what was possible and achievable, I now feel a sense of concern for the society I enjoy, that is deeper than the concerns I felt in 2007-8.
Most disconcerting is that those who control the joystick (the guys like Bernanke, and those behind and above him), have no idea what to do. At least Greenspan admitted he got skunked, after it was too late. They hope and pretend, but are at a loss since they have no bullets left. They stupidly manipulated the world by dropping interest rates to zero, and now can only monetize the mess they created (accelerate the printing presses).
Here’s another piece of kindling for the fire: The BIS (Bank for International Settlements), has just issued a paper in which its ‘lead in’ says, “. . . . the level of financial development is good only up to a point, after which it becomes a drag on growth. Second, focussing on advanced economies, we show that a fast-growing financial sector is detrimental to aggregate productivity growth.” and later on, “Our interpretations that because the financial sector competes with the rest of the economy for scarce resources, financial booms are not, in general, growth-enhancing.”
. . . These are ‘bankers’ writing this, going against The Fed and against the thinking of all other international banking operations including other central banks.
The problem is that there is No Reversal. The only answer, it appears, is for the system to implode, and then we rebuild from the ashes.
Oh, and rebuild, using a World Currency, if the ‘behind the scenes bankers’ and moonbeam worshippers, have their way.
Liberal/progressives do not have a clue when it comes to what you have written about, JR. To them, there will always be someone else they can identify as a target, reach into their pockets, and pull out the money the government needs to operate. And as long as they can still do that, they will continue to be just as carefree in the personal lives with their own money and wealth, often living well beyond their means, accumulating more debt, and sending their wealth to the very people they demonize(as demonstrated by Lib1 above).
To the liberal/progressive, the banking industry is evil. However, they wrongly postulate that the banking industry is filled with their political opposites. Those in the banking industry don’t care, as you said, and instead readily play both ends against the middle. And who is caught in that middle? All of us, that’s who.
But, who really cares? After all, many of us are still enjoying buying a latte’ every morning, paying a small fortune for our latest vehicle purchase, living our dream in a house many of us can barely afford, eating like kings, buying the biggest TV’s we can possibly fit in our homes, placing ourselves in debt with college educations that continue to rise in cost at astronomical rates, etc., etc., etc.
As long as we are able to do that, and still live somewhat comfortably, too many of us could care less which direction the world’s economy is going, or who is working behind the scenes to, essentially, “take over the world”..
I fear that it will take an immense implosion of America’s financial health and well-being to wake people up to the damage being done.
@Liberal1 (objectivity): You know I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re not just empty, you’re also a coward….At least plug something logical instead of being the typical liberal…..Conservatives and Republicans are supposed to be the ones who can’t think outside of the box, but each time you prove you can’t even think outside a one line quip with no substance….”with all the financing he receives from that sector”, as with Dear Leader?….
@johngalt: #8,
Over the years I’ve attempted to explain to anyone within earshot the difference between “Wall Street & Bankers,” and the business sector including independent venture capital. It is not always obvious, yet the difference is a canyon of distinction.
I’ve ‘liked’ some powerful bankers who had more influence than they deserved. A few were seriously smart people. However, their purpose in life was always askew from my own whether in my periods as an antrepreneur or in the venture capital game.
One noticeable difference, was that the biggest bankers, seemed to have lost their deeper relationships with the borders which delineated their Nation from others.
Other differences: The entrepreneur, for example, has pride in the results of his/her effort and creativity, and if that effort results in building employment, and delivering profitability, the sense of pride is magnified. Not so the big bankers, in majority. I defy anyone to find a big banker, point to him, and confidently say, “there’s someone who is proud to be an American,” or Canadian for that matter. And their respect for most politicians? . . . Non existent. Respect for government bureaucrats? . . . Even worse.
I now suspect that the implosion is inevitable, although we will rebuild, however, there is way too much energy being addressed toward forming a world currency, which will lead to other stupid concepts. As I’ve written before, a nation’s currency presents its people with their last bastion of sovereignty. When that caves, society loses all its independence.
. . . . And that is the Socialist’s wet dream, even if most of these cool-aid drinkers don’t have a clue of the game that is really afoot.
I found this on the Charlie Daniels Website [2012 soapbox Archives] Such a Patriot!! Had to share…
“An Open Letter To Barack Hussein Obama” – by Charlie Daniels –
“Mr. Obama,
You recently made a statement to the effect that, “If you have a business you didn’t build it, you had help” inferring that the federal government helped build our businesses by virtue of paving roads and building bridges and keeping the nation safe from foreign invasion.
First of all, Mr. Obama, if I’m going to take advice about business it will not be from somebody who has had absolutely no business experience like yourself.
Secondly, Mr. Obama, I vehemently disagree with your premise.
Where was your government when I spent as much as 16 weeks away from my wife and infant son to get a business started?
Where were you on those cold winter nights when my old bus broke down in the middle of nowhere and we had to scramble to make the next show, nobody from the government came along to give us a ride.
Where was your government when I had to borrow money from a bank to make my payroll?
Where was your government while I was digging out of a two million dollar debt, playing every smoky beer joint I could to keep from losing everything I owned?
Mr. Obama, I want to make you aware of a fact. It is the federal government’s responsibility to build roads and bridges and keep the nation safe. That’s what the federal government is supposed to do, not create an entitlement society that is totally unsustainable and pile up debt that we can’t pay.
And who do you think paid for those roads and bridges in the first place, and have been doing it for 200 years before you were even born.
The citizens of this nation do not need to pay more taxes, the federal government needs to stop spending money it doesn’t have and has to borrow. Because the truth of the matter is that no matter how much taxes the government collects, things are only going to get worse because you’ll only spend it and demand even more.
Mr. Obama you have divided this nation by making the have-nots believe that anybody who has been successful has done so at their expense, that anything they’ve accumulated has been stolen, not earned. That hard work and risk had nothing to do with their success, they’ve just been lucky and should give a big part of what they earn to the government to pass on to those who don’t even try to be successful.
Look at what’s going on with your own race who put their hopes and complete confidence in you and voted overwhelmingly for you. The unemployment rate is 14% and the unemployment among the young African Americans is something like 40%
Is that what hope and change is all about?
Look at what’s happening in your hometown of Chicago where the murder rate is through the roof.
Do you think your baseless rhetoric about the unfairness of the successful in America is going to help soothe the situation?
Have you ever considered reaching out to them, instead of fanning the flames?
Mr. Obama I don’t think you like America very much. I think you’d like to redesign it from the ground up, to turn it into a lazy, unproductive, secular, socialist society.
Well, that just wont flush in a lot of ways, the most prominent being that when all the productive people have given up and stopped trying, when all the investors stop investing, when 80% of the population is living on government hand outs, your government is going to run out of money and this nation will sink into chaos.
But Mr. Obama, I’m beginning to think that’s what you want.
My help cometh from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth.
Not the government who made debt and class envy.
What do you think?
Pray for our troops, and for our country.
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels”
http://www.charliedaniels.com/soapbox-2012/soapbox-2012-0720.htm
Charlie tells it like it is…. GOD BLESS YOU CHARLIE!!
________________________________________
I am (also) citing this comment – and I say….my thoughts exactly!!!:
“Apparently, I’m supposed to be more outraged by what Mitt Romney does with his money than by what Barack Obama does with mine. ”
– HERB MGySgt USMC (Ret), Santee, California USA
http://www.charliedanielssoapbox.com/view_topic.php?id=9897&forum_id=4
@FAITH7: #11,
Thanks Faith7. I wasn’t familiar with Charlie’s site, but he nails it.
Obama is running hard to convince someone or everyone that we can’t do anything without the government. He’s obviously convinced himself.
This is NOT even a “Chicken / Egg” question. How is anyone possibly not clear? The people create AND fund the government from their hard earned cash. That cash, from those who work, produce and earn, . . . . comes first. That goes whether you were a farmer two hundred years ago, or a high-tech wizard today.