Grand Theft America

SAVE AS FAVORITE

VIEW FAVORITES

By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 4 of 9 page(s)

opednews.com Permalink

For over 30 years, an unimaginable wealth transfer to the rich has been ongoing. To the top 1% and corporate America from most others. It proves the failure of a system that rewards the few at the expense of the many. Licenses greed and creates this kind of global financial crisis so far uncontained. It begs the questions: what caused it and what's the fallout:

-- the ruinous effects of militarization; insane amounts of spending on it; "military Keynesianism;" believing capitalism thrives on foreign wars; "Global Wars on Terrorism" currently; their costs are unsustainable and are heading the nation toward bankruptcy;

-- the drain on an already weakened economy;

-- maxed out consumers now debt slaves;

-- so is government from unrepayable obligations in the tens of trillions; not the fictitious "official" reported numbers;

-- the possibility of future default; hyperinflation; national bankruptcy, and the demise of the republic;

-- human default as well: mass bankruptcies; home foreclosures; rising unemployment; increased poverty; and growing numbers of families unable to survive;

-- the subprime crisis is just part of it; seven million mortgages sold to the unwary; the idea was to criminally defraud them; offer two-year teaser rates; then reset them higher semi-annually based on an interest rate benchmark; payments soared as much as 30% and became unaffordable; the scheme was to cash in at the expense of mortgage holders, and five million risk losing their homes and life savings;

-- an "economic Pearl Harbor" for Warren Buffett; for Senator Chris Dodd a "50-state Katrina;" a "house of cards (built on) reckless finance" for author Kevin Phillips; Frankenstein finance; casino capitalism; for most Americans, a human catastrophe;

-- the demise of our manufacturing base; letting malls replace factories as the economy's engine;

-- permitting the financialization of the economy; speculative finance writ large; replacing productive investment; totally deregulated; run by fraudsters; free from government oversight; letting investment banks game the system at up to 40 to 1 leverage; until 2004, 12 to 1 was the maximum;

-- a government - business conspiracy for global dominance and the single-minded pursuit of profit; unfettered amounts of it through cleverly manipulated schemes; transferring multi-trillions of dollars from workers to the most wealthy; doing it without people even noticing;

-- creative destruction to let giant businesses grow larger by removing and devouring smaller ones; even large ones;

-- permitting and/or ignoring massive fraud; involving multi-trillions of dollars; the largest ever Ponzi scheme; a calculated crime with media complicity through silence; not reporting a growing problem as it emerged; waiting until it mushroomed and still not explaining it accurately and honestly; and

-- wondering won if the best and brightest can fix things or if no amount of money or ingenuity can do it.

The Plan's Architect - Henry Paulson

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.