We were doing just fine putting huge tax cuts for the rich and two wars on the government credit card until they told us (and we believed them) that we should spend like they did. Housing prices started to rise 10, 15, 20% a year and we were urged to get a big equity line and spend the equity like it was really cash. We did and oh boy did we have fun. (I did, I didn't feel the joy) as I recognized the housing affair as the bubble it really was. Shit maybe I should have been Fed chairman , if I had been the world would not be facing horrible austerity programs that it now faces.
But our glorious leaders encouraged us to spend large, buy them SUV's , boats and houses we could not afford, and helped us do it by allowing gangster mortgage brokers to lie , cheat and steal us into mortgages they knew would blow up in due time. Even old duffers like me were talked into loans that would cause them to loose their houses a lot of which had been paid off till they did an equity line loan.
All this led to a maximum mortgage value of (2 to 7 Trillion) dollars which could have been corrected by refinancing loans that were made based on fraudlent lending.
Instead they sliced and diced and repackage crap loans and wrapped them in toilet paper brightly colored and sweetly scented to hide the crap wrapped up in them. Although we will probably argue on how big this problem really is the truth is we don't and they don't know how big it is. Big enough that the Fed put trillions into saving the biggest banks (we can't handle the truth) so they won't tell us how much or to who. Fine, we won't tell them we aren't going to pay for their fun, let them find out the hard way, when China comes to foreclose on the White House.
They not only took us down , they took the whole world with us. It's still hard for me to believe that investment managers of the world were so god damned stupid to buy this crap they couldn't find out what was in them or how they were rated. They bought them for a % or two above normal returns. It looked to be too good to be true (shit they taught us that in econ 101) promised high returns always carry high risk , we all know that. Why didn't they?
There are so many felonies in the mortgage problem that we would have to build new jails to house them (wait , we can't afford that) so , quick trials and quicker hangings somehow seem appropriate.
Although some will argue for the maintaining of derivatives markets I want them gone , they mean nothing to you and me even though they say they do.. Oh wait, they do matter they are so huge they move the markets as a whole or a company at will. If they decide to destroy you , you are probably toast.
So now they say we must endure huge austerity programs, which really means they are going to screw with your pensions, healthcare, and wages. Some countries in the EU have reduced wage by 30% and say they will do more. Our Deficit Reduction Commission wants to do the same to us.
A major focus is on Federal and State workers and their Pension funds both of which they claim are totally out of line with industry (which can only be true ) if you accept the fact that private wages and pensions have been destroyed by outsourcing and giant organizations like (Walmart) and some others who have been able to drive wages to the $10 range, with no or limited health benefits, and pensions and in most cases neither because they are held in part time positions. I draw a Federal Pension that me and uncle bought and paid for and according to recent stats is mainly funded by invest returns on the fund and contributions by uncle and me. The investment return pays roughly 70% of the bill most of the time. If it is underfunded it is because they didn't put in their share. I know this is true for city pension funds because they actually say so. Some claim they sold bonds to pay their pension fund contribution and now the bonds are due and they want to default. Seems like an honest bookkeeper is needed (is there one?) Have to be a little guy all the big one's are either out of business, in jail , or under indictment.
What the hell , corporations do it and the courts say it's perfectly ok to screw the troops. Remember Chesley Sullenberg he was working for half his former wages, with a pension fund destroyed, by management who was crooked at best. It has happened time after time starting when Reagan busted the Air Traffic Controllers Union.
Now they want to do the same to the last remaining workers who earn decent wages, and pensions (they call them contracts negotiated by evil unions) which proves they don't have a clue on how these contracts are negotiated. Having did a little time as shop steward and a contract negotiator for the USBR I can tell you our wages were set on wages averaged by other utility workers in our region. I can also tell you that there were times when we couldn't negoiate even though those in our comparison group got them. I will also tell you when we finally would catch up the good times rolled. As all pay raises the euphoria lasted a few months and then we would start bitching again. I might add new federal employees after 84 I think that was the year they changed to them paying into SS with investment plans to supplement the SS retirement funds. Not as good a deal as mine at least so far, if the second leg of the downturn goes as I think they will do a lot worse.
So here we sit, waiting for the Austerity axe to fall on us, we just don't know yet how many limbs they will cut off. They are after wages, and benefits, Medicare cuts,healthcare cuts, SS cuts. If the cuts racing across Europe come here there is more than a 50% chance that the predictions of some of riots in the street will come true. They will kick our collective asses if we go to the street and odds are we won't win.
I like my idea better, prepare for a 3 month siege, and then don't show up for work. It doesn't require a leader, it just requires you and me on our own to say Fuck It and quit. Mail your credit cards back to the bank that holds them, and your keys to the house if your deep underwater on the mortgage and just refuse to move out like some are already doing with success, They cannot prove they own your house in a huge number of cases.
They are planning on getting rich or our pain. Pain can be given to them maybe easier then they can inflict in on us. By cutting off their profits and their capital investment to boot my guess in that way before your 3 month is up they will cave. If they cave, Congress will cave , and say ok what is it you want. It's pretty simple "WE WANT OUR LIVES BACK"
Look , it's simple, the measure of wealth for them is the stock market, which has become nothing but a casino for the super rich, which in actuality means exactly nothing to you and me. We cannot play in a market that is controlled by Fast Track Trading, Hedge Funds and government Plunge Teams. I know the Pension Funds could loose their asses but only if they are as stupid as they have been in the past. If they get taken to the cleaners like the rest of us. They will be in good company of honest hard working Americans that don't deserve what is about to happen. If we can pull this off the market will crash, the big banks will fail , but they will loose all and we will loose damn little. The simple truth is , if we don't take action , we will loose it all and learn to say Yassa Master as the best of slaves were taught to do.
I like the phrase "Kiss my rosy red ass you pricks" hope you have fun on the rock pile..
No comments:
Post a Comment
THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT