Wall St.'s Next Profit Scheme -- Buying Up Every Piece of Your Home Town

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/wall-sts-next-profit-scheme-buying-every-piece-your-home-town

The pace of Wall Street’s war against the 99% is quickening in preparation for the kill. Having demonized public employees for being scheduled to receive pensions on their lifetime employment service, bondholders are insisting on getting the money instead. It is the same austerity philosophy that has been forced on Greece and Spain – and the same that is prompting President Obama and Mitt Romney to urge scaling back Social Security and Medicare.

Unlike the U.S. federal government, most states and cities have constitutions that prevent them from running budget deficits. This means that when they cut property taxes, they either must borrow from the wealthy, or cut back employment and public services.

For many years they borrowed, paying tax-exempt interest to wealthy bondholders. But carrying charges on these have mounted to a point where they now look risky as the economy sinks into debt deflation. Cities are defaulting from California to Alabama. They cannot reverse course and restore taxes on property owners without causing more mortgage defaults and abandonments. Something has to give – so cities are scaling back public spending, downsizing their school systems and police forces, and selling off their assets to pay bondholders.

This has become the main cause of America’s rising unemployment, helping drive down consumer demand in a Keynesian nightmare. Less obvious are the devastating cuts occurring in health care, job training and other services, while tuition rates for public colleges and “participation fees” at high schools are soaring. School systems are crumbling like our roads as teachers are jettisoned on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Well, they've bought up pretty much everything else, haven't they? nt

[xchrom]

2. i think one of them tried to buy -- and rent back -- granny's panties the other day...

[banned from Kos]

3. What a load of BS. Wall St doesn't have the money to buy Rhode Island.

much less all the home towns.

Plus, the article offers no example of how they would do this.

[WinkyDink]

4. Bwah! YOU apparently have never heard of Goldman--$1 TRILLION in Assets in 2007--Sachs, BoA, .....:

http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/goldman-sachs-assets-top-1-trillion/2007-10-16

October 16, 2007

Financial News Online notes that Goldman Sachs' assets have topped $1 trillion for the first time. Morgan Stanley entered the club last year. So what you have is the top investment banks gaining a bit on the commercially oriented banks.

Merrill Lynch's stands at about $1 trillion.

Citigroup's assets total $2.2 trillion,

while Bank of America's stands at about $1.5 trillion,

with JP Morgan Chase coming in at about $1.4 trillion.

MEANWHILE:
The Associated Press June 12, 2012, 10:19AM ET

RI Senate passes $8.1 billion budget

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9VBKVTG3.htm

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. The privatizing of public services and lands is rapidly increasing

and I think that is somewhat close to the OP's point.

Need facts?
Just Google News, type in "privatize" and add the service..
Privatize ...water...roads...prisons...health systems...schools ( which is what charter schools are)
and be amazed at the list of headlines that roll down.

[cali]

5. not happening anywhere in Vermont. We have no balanced budget amendment yet always

balance the budget here. We had no real estate boom and no real estate bust. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.

It's a state run by democrats.