Usury, to be clear about it, is rich people taking advantage of poor people by lending them money on terms that are sure to make them fail - William Greid
It is often argued that times were a lot harder in the old days but this statement is far from true. Such an assumption rather tends to reflect on a poor existential knowledge and the superstition that a lack of control over the world events is beyond one's own reach. Like any other species, humans get used to their own (predatory) environment and deal with it accordingly. Many dangers have become so familiar to the point to appear rather harmless. And then there is this infamous cultural thinking that "good will prevail" anyway. While lies always get exposed eventually, truth carries in its wake a series of painful realizations. It has always been a jungle out there and in this time and place, something has radically changed the fabric of society; something so insidious that goes far beyond 'greed' and which is so deeply entrenched that is repellent to the mind to even think of doing something about it. To put it bluntly, if something were done, chaos would occur instantly and of course nobody really wants this to happen. This is the main reason why we'll have to wait until the system auto-destructs completely in order to finally envision the possible end of the tunnel and real solutions.
Although we've heard a lot about predatory lending lately, not enough about predatory borrowing was said and nothing at all about 'predatory rumors' without which the mania could never have existed. The 'buzz' is a major component that glued everything together and mesmerized everybody, even those who couldn't afford a piece of the American Dream. It is only when one realizes this, that the blame game is exposed for what it truly is. Back to reality: a study from the Center for Economic Policy & Research in Washington, DC. projected that the bust will most likely wipe out two decades of family-earned wealth. Who cares to listen now?
The total equity of the top 100 U.S. banks stood at $800 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2007. Banking losses are currently expected to rise by as much as $450 billion, enough to wipe out more than half of the banks’ capital bases and leave many of them insolvent...
Instead of succumbing to capitalism bashing, how about assimilating that financial illiteracy translates into monetary cannibalism? Meredith Whitney, a star bank analyst, warned last year - and still does today - that the 'incestuous' behavior between the banks and the credit-rating agencies during the housing boom will have a prolonged impact. In fact, she predicts a very deep recession.
Signs of distress are everywhere; even countries like Iceland and Ireland, long believed very stable are on the brink. In a short period of time, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis Bank have released grim assessments that have finally done 'gloom and doom contrarians' and 'perma bears' justice. While the stock market's volatility increases daily, two mortgage giants guaranteed by the state (i.e: taxpayers), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would need a (taxpayers) bailout. Both lenders have on their track records nearly 50% of the nation's mortgages. For several decades, many believed in this too good to be true Hollywood Story. Sorry for the hard landing, back to reality: If this is not a housing cartel, what is it? Unfortunately, there isn't any mystery when one knows that deep-pocketed lobbyists have spent $200M to buy influence among all political stripes. For what... a $5 trillion mess?.
(07/16) ... They’ve stacked their payrolls with top Washington power brokers of all political stripes, including Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis; Democrat Barack Obama’s original vice presidential vetter, Jim Johnson; and scores of others now working for the two rivals for the White House ... more
Global Pirates
Even though a majority of voters are in favor of interventions, they do not grasp that it makes them accomplices of the same predatory behaviors they're rebelling against. It is the best fashion to keep justice from being implemented and to bury lies under the guise of stopping the housing bubble from deflating further, and thus revealing the ugly truth about the boom. The same holds true for class actions and their so-called settlements. Let's not beat around the bush: bailouts and class actions are among the ultimate cons nowadays. It is important to understand the underlying psychological effects here to comprehend why those 'interventions' will not cease tomorrow unless people start waking up. While 'greed' is the main factor at stake motivating actions, if cases were brought fully to justice, litigations would last so long that investors/taxpayers would lose patience and not even be sure to see some of their money back. Time is money - indeed. But wait a minute: weren't we supposed to fighting greed in the first place?
Rationally speaking, and by colluding more or less openly for a so-called greater good, TPTB are seriously undermining the skills and smartness of everybody. What is your own college degree worth when you're misled to believe that TPTB are doing their jobs while working very consistently on destroying the purchasing power, banking on college tuitions which students cannot afford to repay and implementing global trade policies that eventually come home to roost. As the Globalist agenda machine runs like a freight train to nowhere, the United Nations announces that economic shocks may push an additional 16 million people of the Americas into extreme poverty.
While we're at it, it should be useful to mention that honest reporting has drawn the attention of The FDIC lately and the latter plans on paying closer attention to the blogosphere in the future: blogs are out of control, its chairman Sheila Bair declared. If she is really willing to act against whistleblowers, that task may well reveal itself Herculean. She will have to start with shutting down CNBC whose folks already debunked the brand new bailout bill. Rational Bloggers deal merely with the all data available on the net, have developed a very special ability to read between lines released by the mainstream outlets, such as:
220,000 homes repossessed in the second quarter 08
Nearly 1.5 Million Foreclosure Filings in 2008
U.S. banks borrowing $17BN daily from Fed
How Wall Street Wrecked Your Retirement
Dead Stocks Rallying... etc.
But let's close the chapter about the two mortgage monsters: anyone willing to dig a little will find out that Fannie Mae also runs the 'Fannie Mae Foundation, which contributes to local charities, arts and housing organizations, all of which gives Fannie the needed influence. Well, what we see here with the FM Foundation is widespread. Foundations help funnel large sums of money between lobbies and their cheerleaders. Don't even think of contacting one of them if you don't have serious connections: foundations generally reject unsolicited projects. Those not implementing such a policy are the most trustworthy.
It is all about 'networking' and admiring influential people who make 'it' happen. So, it goes without saying that something is deeply flawed in the way we view success and power in the broad sense. This takes another dimension when analyzing firms managed by Richard Branson and George Soros, GE and BP, Ford and Shell, Cargill and the Carlyle Group in their role in the Amazonian deforestation while funding so-called 'green projects' such as biofuels. Another hoax commonly named: The Clean Energy Scam. Actually, and this is appalling, there is a secret World Bank report linking biofuels to the food crisis. What, do you think, would happen if we stopped this insanity overnight? Considering the state of the current global affairs, the answer is utterly simplistic: this would speed up the dreadful domino-effect. As I type this there are signs that the Eurozone is tipping into deeper downturn than America. Talk of an achievement for the single currency, which was created to avoid monetary fluctuations in the first place - remember? An economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland even uses the term 'reverse-decoupling' as Europe sinks harder than the US; led by Spain spiraling into the worst crisis since the Franco dictatorship. Forget about the U.K where it is as bad as in the U.S: this week, a UK study revealed that 36% of citizens would see their cash run out within 11 days. How long would it take in America as the savings rate sank below zero two years ago already?
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