Uncle Ben Is In The House - Hide Your Wallets !

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http://www.321gold.com/editorials/hoy/hoy110708.html

Wake Up Americans !

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Welcome to Uncle Ben's Traveling Helicopter Relief Show!
Mike Hoy
Nov 7, 2008

I do not have to tell anyone reading this article how tough it has been to get a good nights sleep over the last year. It truly saddens me when events which could have been avoided blow up in our faces changing our lives forever for the worse. Knowing that the mistakes of the past must be financially borne by our children and our grandchildren is a legacy that is as embarrassing as it is criminal. The disgusting shame associated with this crisis is the fact that the people most responsible for destroying a way of life, that was pretty good for the vast majority of those striving to better themselves, walk away with fortunes never to be punished for their greed and manipulation.

I don't know whether to laugh or beat my head up against the wall when I hear people like Greenspan, Paulson, Bernanke, Barney Frank and the heads of all these major financial institutions pass the blame or admit that no one could have forecast the fiscal disaster that is our fate as a result of gross negligence while on their watch. In my opinion, looking the other way and ignorance are absolutely no excuses for those who were and are in a position of safeguarding the assets and best interests of those they have been privileged to serve.

The irony to this whole mess is the fact that many of those who are directly responsible for the chaos of today are the same people dictating the direction of the future. I think it is insane to allow anyone who shares responsibility for this nightmare to be in a position to pass laws and direct the flow of capital that has been created in hopes of bailing the world out of the crater it has fallen into.

THE GREATEST SWINDLE IN HISTORY:

The American public has been led to believe the $700,000,000,000 care package is a bailout designed to protect American homeowners and in the end American jobs. They have been told that it is absolutely necessary that this money be created now with no voice, choice or accountability as to where the funds will be spent.

What will the American people think when they realize that things are not quite as they have been told? The dust hasn't even settled on the creation of the $700,000,000,000 and they are now being hit up for another $550,000,000,000 to shore up the once financially unquestioned money market funds.

I have no doubt the most disgusting part of this whole story has yet to play out. I think most of this money will be used to pay the "bookie." I think much of this money will be used as payment to settle the failed end of the CDO derivative contracts. I think the recipients of this money will do their very best to pocket the proceeds for their own personal gain. We are already seeing these people granting themselves huge bonus' and luxury vacations. I find it appalling that it is still "business as usual!" To reward individuals responsible for the destruction of millions of lives is a system that is in dire need of change. If my thinking is correct, in the end, the public will know as much about the true use of these funds as they do about 43 story buildings that collapse for no apparent reason.

"Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice or $700,000,000,000+ shame on me!" Giving the people responsible for this nightmare the keys to the treasury can only end in turning a nightmare into depression!"

BAND AIDS ARE NOT THE ANSWER FOR BROKEN BONES:

The public has been led to believe the subprime mortgage market is responsible for bringing our financial system to its knees. If the subprime mortgage market is responsible for the challenges faced by the financial system then the financial risk should be placed on those institutions which failed to do the proper underwriting on the paper they wrote and bought as investments for their clients. Institutions who failed to exercise this basic premise of due diligence in the lending and investing of money do not belong in business and should be allowed to fail. New financial companies will rise from the dust to take their place.

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1. The Sheep Shit About Taxation : Will Change Really Come ?

I can understand the reluctance to believe in change. Belief in any politician bringing positive change has faded due to persistence of experience and lagging memories as to anything else. Clearly we can question if even the most fundamental concepts are being considered as are necessary for any really positive economic change when it comes to the White House and Barack Obama. Can he succeed where all others failed before him ? Anyway, here is something written this morning related to that same subjcte, dealing with one such concept.

The Sheep Shit About Taxation : Will Change Really Come ?

With every change in the world economy, with all its ups and downs, usually turns for the worse when it comes to the average circumstance, and with every change of administration in any of the major world economies, the question always arises concerning income tax changes. This very emphasis on tax rate changes diverts us all from the real question that must be asked and answered. Every new administration and every new change has followed the same misleading path, and the sheep have followed the shepherds failing to question how all this leads them closer to the wolves.

It is not properly a question of rates of income taxation, but rather it is more properly the question of where taxation ought to be more justly and properly applied in a total tax picture. It is thus also properly a question of where relief, as to reduced taxation, is necessary for adequate standards of living in our society as it exists in terms of its demands and expectations upon the individual living in it. We must first of all recognize something that has been al most utterly ignored. That is the simple principle that all taxes that are factored into any economic transactions that individuals make are ultimately income taxes. There are no other taxes other than income taxes. The historic error of arguing about income tax rates has continued to overlook that simple fact, and thus it has continued to overlook better alternatives where the distribution of taxes is more justly apportioned to those more able to pay and less affected by the burden. Tax relief must benefit most those who most need to benefit from it. That change in distribution as to where the taxes come from becomes a real economic stimulus, but it also becomes an economic stimulus that meets real human needs. It is more attuned to needs rather than impulsive wants and thus better serves to answer questions of social and economic justice.

We might readily understand that a good and just tax system would seek to relieve the total tax burden on at least the lowest third of the economic population, if not the lower half. We might also readily understand that a good and just tax system would seek to raise its revenue more from luxury rather than from necessity, and we must redefine what necessity really is in a culture, in a society, that makes so many aggressive, stringent, demands as to factors of appearance, atttire, and social participation, in addition to the obvious necessities. Even the latter are often not adquately met, by many in our society, who live more marginal economic lives, in the growing necessity to appear, to compete, to be members of a society that judges and makes demands as to every materialistic expression that is in any way related to our day to day lives. While some changes might slowly come to some social attitudes, we cannot expect a total overturning of the cutlure, the society, and its trends. We can, however, realize that needs in a complex, aggressively materialistic, society such as our own (meaning North America, but alluding to most of the western world and an increasing number of regions beyond its borders) are far greater than the simpler and more basic needs ascribed to previous generations, and in 100 years, there have been vast changes in what is expected to anyone who strives to be an active and accepted social participant in the society. In light of that we must also realize that an increasing number have become increasingly disenfranchised, hopelessly excluded from that same participation. In that regard radical change to how taxation is apportioned can be part of an effective remedy. It must become part of that remedy. However that remedy must take into account the entire spectrum of taxes utlimately paid by the individual as being effectively "income taxes". It is that total burden that must be considered and its impact on human lives, inclusive of potential for social progress.

Yes, there is a need for economic stimulus, but to avoid the sheep shit about taxation, simple, modest, cuts in average income tax rates are decidedly not an effective tool. There are far too many other issues involved, and significant redistribution of the total tax burden is becoming increasingly necessary if questions of social and economic justice are to begin to be addressed in society where more and more people are being forced out of competition to either maintain or gain adequate social place in our society.

Robert Morpheal

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