Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 25 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds   

The Banker's Trick: America Takes the Bait

By       (Page 1 of 4 pages)   1 comment
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Patrick Henningsen
Become a Fan

Here we stand in the wake of the virtual financial tsunami, followed by the giant bail out. In the words of the next generation, I guess you could say, "we should have known better."

 

We just witnessed a full week of Wall Street experts on television threatening the American people, and President Bush threatening Congress, claiming that “to do nothing” will result in a economic crisis- possibly a depression. So constituents called their Congressional representatives telling them to “do something”. No one is entirely sure what that something should be, so most Congressmen and women guessed that ‘something’ must be a $700 Billion ‘get-out-of-jail card’ for the bankers.

 

Well, we really fell for it. Here we have a crisis engineered by the bankers followed by an unprecedented bailout for those same bankers…

 

Unbelievably, with a crisis this big, no one has presented an alternative plan other than the one served on a silver platter by the Fed’s own ‘Member Banks’- the very bankers who cause this mess in the first place. No other plan in sight. So it was all or nothing, a fait accompli.

 

In the Bailout Bill, Congress is proclaiming an era of reform and that there will be "Sweeping new powers for the US Treasury", powers not reviewed, and run by committees which they, the bankers, have set up. Total power. No oversight. What you have on paper are the bankers now openly running government. They have the power to create money and regulate themselves.

 

And regulate themselves they sure have. Americans might do well to know that there is now 14 times as much money in circulation as there was in 1980. This fact means that we are living on a borrowed bubble and that we are yet to realize the type of hyperinflation which routed Argentina in 2000.

 

Most Congressman (or Presidential candidates for that matter) could not tell you exactly how this great bail out will work. The big figure mentioned appears to be a vague, back-of-the-napkin figure. If there is a $700 billion bond issued by the Federal Reserve then US will have $35 billion per year it will owe the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank… in interest payments alone. If you are able to see how this skewed system works, the Fed never create the interest owed– so we must again borrow this figure into circulation… at interest! This creates a constant demand for money that’s greater than the supply. Surely this is not what we signed up for?

.

Aside from being a private institution who controls our nation's money supply, that very mechanism of compound interest is what gives the Federal Reserve unrivalled much power. Too much power in fact. Now you can see that this great system we have come to worship is nothing more than a simple parlour trick.


Knowing how we got here
 

Remember how we got here. Remember that the Fed crashed the housing market in the 80's with the Saving & Loan crisis. Remember that at no point in this current slide did the Federal Reserve Bank stop Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bear Stearns, UBS, Deutsche Bank or HSBC from issuing these rather toxic(and dead) financial instruments. Had they done so, there would not have been these gigantic claims against money, that in reality, was money never had. But they made their money already, approximately trillions stuffed away in off-shore banks.

 To call it 'greed' is a huge understatement. It's total fraud, no less. Americans should be calling for thousands of criminal prosecutions.

Banks have been allowed to bypass all the regulations put in place to protect the economy from fraud by allowing Hedge Funds to create fake fortunes and through openly shady practices like illegal co-signing of AAA rating junk debt. This is the junk, faux debt-based money that has crashed our system today. Similarly, banks have also been allowed to leave obvious under-performing loans on their books for long periods of time and claim them as valuable “assets”. If all of these banks’ bad loans where written off their books- as they should be... as a loss(like any normal business), then some banks would indeed have to declare themselves as insolvent.

 

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4

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

Must Read 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Patrick Henningsen 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

Patrick Henningsen is managing editor of 21st Century Wire online journal. He is a writer and communications consultant for the hi-tech, entertainment, charity and government/political sectors in Europe and the US. When it comes to political (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)

SO SAY THE BANKERS: Learn to Love the 'AMERO'

Representatives Were Threatened with "Martial Law" if Bailout Bill Did Not Pass

EU President Klaus Opens International Climate Skeptics Conference

The Banker's Trick: America Takes the Bait

Police Aggravate Peaceful G20 Climate Camp in the City of London

The Surge, the Bailout and the Orgy on Wall Street

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend