42 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 19 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 12/1/11

In Both Europe and America the Banksters Are Now Running the Government. Here's Why & How. And What We Can Do About It

By       (Page 1 of 3 pages)   12 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Richard Clark
Become a Fan
  (108 fans)
For years, Republicans and some Democrats have said that a strong government, careful regulation and progressive taxation are markers on the road to serfdom.   The politicians and neoliberal economists who spout this baloney say, "Let's take planning out of the hands of government and put it into the "free market.'"   What they don't understand is that every market is planned -- by someone or other.   And if governments step aside, then planning passes into the hands of the banksters.

 

The problem is that the banksters have not created credit to finance industrial investment and employment.   Instead, they extended credit and allocated credit for speculation on asset price and inflation, thereby encouraging millions of people to borrow, invest and gamble up their eyeballs.   By this means housing prices, stock and bond prices, and foreign exchange rates have been bid ever upward, thereby providing enormous profits and winnings for the few, at the ultimate, longterm expense of the many.  

 

Example:   Banksters convinced borrowers that they could get rich on ever-rising housing prices.   But this merely made new homebuyers go ever deeper into debt to buy a home.   And when banks say that rising stock and bond prices are good for the economy, in must be pointed out that these price rises lower the dividend or interest yield.   This in turn means that pension funds and individuals have to save much more for retirement.   So instead of improving their life, it makes them work harder and borrow more just to stay in place.   And when they are forced to work harder, for the same benefits, this makes banksters richer still.

 

The banking system's alternative to the alleged "road to serfdom" thus turns out to be a road to debt peonage.   Thus bankster-managed financial engineering turns out to be worse than government planning.

 

The banksters have taken over the Federal Reserve and Treasury and put their lobbyists in charge -- men such as Tim Geithner and the others with ties to Rubinomics (dating from the Clinton administration) and especially to Goldman Sachs and other giant Wall Street firms. Reference article

 

How hedge fund elites are surreptitiously raping Europe

 

In Greece and Italy, financial markets, banksters and their designated technocrats -- not the country's citizens or elected governments -- are determining who will run the country and what those countries will do financially.   To placate financial markets and increase "investor confidence," banksters have in each country replaced the country's leaders with economic technocrats who supposedly will "rise above politics" and "get each country's finances in order."  

 

Why is this happening?   The explanation is that those countries are being surreptitiously attacked by large hedge funds that are cleverly trying as hard as they can to create financial runs so as to be able to profit from them.   In their circles it's called a speculative attack.   Here's how it works.   Basically, these hedge funds try to start a stampede of selling, to drive down the value of bonds of a given country.   (Understand that when bond values decline, their interest rates go up.)   Hedge funds do this by finding ways to bet against those bonds.   To accomplish this, they can sell bonds they own, they can sell bonds that others own (shorting), and they can buy default insurance (swaps) to bet against the bonds.   And they create many toxic combinations of the above, using massive amounts of borrowed money to amplify their "negative' bets.  

 

If they do it right, all that selling drives down the price of the bonds, and that in turn scares other large investors (investors from mutual funds and banks) into selling their bonds as well, thereby further driving down the price of the bonds.   The more the price falls, the more the hedge funds earn.   And we're talking   about "earning" tens of billions from this kind of stampede.  

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 6   Well Said 6   Valuable 4  
Rate It | View Ratings

Richard Clark Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Several years after receiving my M.A. in social science (interdisciplinary studies) I was an instructor at S.F. State University for a year, but then went back to designing automated machinery, and then tech writing, in Silicon Valley. I've (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Was Pat Tillman Murdered by an American Sharpshooter to Shut Him up?

New JFK assassination bombshells

Two U.S. presidents implicated by ex-CIA black-ops assassin

The cholesterol - heart disease scam: How the medical-industrial complex is raking in billions at our expense

Four Ticking Time Bombs That Will Soon Ignite a Revolution

The Ultimate Goal of the Bankster-led Political-economic Warfare Being Waged Against Us Is . . . ?

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend