The Rich Are Destroying the Economy

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.nationofchange.org/blogs/admin/rich-are-destroying-economy-1307890800

Ever since the Great Re­ces­sion shook the foun­da­tions of the U.S. econ­omy, Pres­i­dent Obama has been promis­ing re­cov­ery. Ev­i­dence of this re­cov­ery, we were told, was man­i­fested in the mas­sive post-bailout prof­its cor­po­ra­tions made. Soon enough, the Pres­i­dent as­sured us, these cor­po­ra­tions would tire of hoard­ing moun­tains of cash and start a hir­ing bo­nanza, fol­lowed by rais­ing wages and ben­e­fits. It was ei­ther wish­ful think­ing or con­scious de­cep­tion. The re­cent stock mar­ket melt­down has squashed any hope of a cor­po­rate-led re­cov­ery.

The De­moc­rats fought the re­ces­sion by the same meth­ods the Re­pub­li­cans used to cre­ate it: al­low­ing the super rich to reck­lessly dom­i­nate the econ­omy while giv­ing them mas­sive hand­outs. This strat­egy, com­monly re­ferred to as Reaganomics or Trickle Down Eco­nom­ics, is now re­li­gion to both De­moc­rats and Re­pub­li­cans; never mind the staged in-fight­ing for the gullible or com­plicit media.

When it be­comes ob­vi­ous to even the Pres­i­dent that the eco­nomic re­cov­ery never ex­isted be­yond the bank ac­counts of the rich, ques­tions will have to be an­swered. Why, for ex­am­ple, did no­body in ei­ther po­lit­i­cal party fore­see the dis­as­trous con­se­quences of the bailouts? Not only did the U.S. deficit dras­ti­cally in­crease but the same U.S. cor­po­ra­tions that caused the re­ces­sion were given re­in­force­ment for their de­struc­tive ac­tions, en­sur­ing that it would con­tinue un­abated.

In his book, Cri­sis Eco­nom­ics, Nouriel Roubini out­lines the in­sane re­sponse to the re­ces­sion by Re­pub­li­cans and De­moc­rats. Be­cause both par­ties sim­ply threw money at the banks and hedge funds in­stead of pun­ish­ing them, a con­di­tion of "moral haz­ard" was cre­ated, mean­ing, that banks would as­sume an­other bailout would come their way if they de­stroyed the econ­omy again -- too big too fail, re­mem­ber? Roubini ex­plains how the De­moc­rats al­lowed the "too big" banks to get even big­ger; how Wall Street salaries based on short-term prof­its went un­reg­u­lated; how the reg­u­la­tions that were put into place were in­ad­e­quate and filled with loop­holes; how noth­ing of any sig­nif­i­cance changed.

More at the link --

[Warpy]

1. A posting from Al Jazeera a couple of weeks ago

made the inescapable point "You can't study poverty by looking at poor people." If you want to know why people are poor and so many are falling into poverty as we all get poorer, you need to look at the people who aren't getting poorer.

Studying and blaming their victims only keeps the status quo.

[HughBeaumont]

2. It's not that they didn't SEE it . . .

. . . it's that a) Washington is run by millioniares funded by and for billionaires b) because of this, they either simply don't care or c) since 1963, they've been looking to save their own skins.

[Booster]

3. Unfortunately, the only conclusion one can come to is that

members of BOTH parties in Wash DC are being paid off. They're just perplexed about how to fix things and just keep repeating the same old shit over and over again.

[Raster]

16. There may be the appearance of two political parties in Washington,...

...but they feed at the same trough and by the same hand.

[Marrah_G]

4. And yet we keep electing the rich, expecting them to fix things.

I've reached a point where I am angry and frustrated and just have no idea how we as progressives can change things. We expect politicians to change the very systems that are making and keeping them and their families wealthy.

[WinkyDink]

5. Read my lips: THEY. DON'T. CARE. They are citizens of the WORLD, traveling, yachting, investing,....

[femrap]

8. The Rich care about CONTROL!!!

They're a bunch of sadists who enjoy watching the 'little people' being manipulated by silly religious wedge issues. They love watching The Former Middle Class stew in its own juices.

They're cruel, evil beings.

But they do CARE. ABOUT. CONTROLLING. THE. LITTLE PEOPLE...it's a game to them.

And someday I hope they learn the meaning of HUNGER.

[Initech]

6. The uber-elite are financial terrorists, plain and simple.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. The rich have reneged on their part of the social contract that makes America function.

They should be treated accordingly.

[KansDem]

9. 30 years ago, they were given the opportunity to "invest" in America

Reaganomics gave them "trickle down" taxcuts. And Bush furthered that idea.

But they didn't invest their newfound swag in America: they sent it overseas.

But still, their minions in Congress cry about giving them further taxcuts or else they'll invest overseas...:crazy:

They reneged on their part of the agreement...

[leftstreet]

10. What contract?

:shrug:

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. The unwritten bit about not fucking people over to survive. About making the country great through

unity and cooperation and responsibility to each other. About the principles of the founding fathers.

Not "capitalism" where the only thing that matters is yourself.

If "investors/speculators" put their money into Asian markets and growth, pulling it out of the US, watch what happens. That would also be against any common sense regarding keeping the country strong and fair, but of course that doesn't matter to them.

[leftstreet]

13. Maybe should have gotten that in writing n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. We very nearly did. Check this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bill_of_Rights

The Second Bill of Rights was a list of rights proposed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the then President of the United States, during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944. In his address Roosevelt suggested that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second "bill of rights". Roosevelt's argument was that the "political rights" guaranteed by the constitution and the Bill of Rights had "proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness." Roosevelt's remedy was to declare an "economic bill of rights" which would guarantee:

Employment, with a living wage,
Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies,
Housing,
Medical care,
Education, and,
Social security
Roosevelt stated that having these rights would guarantee American security, and that America's place in the world depended upon how far these and similar rights had been carried into practice. Later in the 1970s, Czech jurist Karel Vasak would categorize these as the ‘second generation’ rights in his theory of three generations of human rights.

[hifiguy]

12. Read James Galbraith's

'The Predator State', Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine' and Matt Taibbi's 'Griftopia' and you will know damned near everything you need to know about how the economy is being destroyed. Then go read Marx' 'Capital' and see how it was all predicted 150 years ago. Nostradamus was a charlatan. Marx was a prophet down to the smallest of details.

[ladjf]

14. As a result of the blind greed, they are killing the goose that laid

the golden egg. nt

[ladjf]

15. As a result of the blind greed, they are killing the goose that laid

the golden egg. nt

[amborin]

17. k and r

[JohnnyRingo]

18. I was watching an interview with Alan Greenspan soon after he stepped down.

It was after the mortgage meltdown while the bailout was pending, and he was asked if he learned anything about policy after he retired.

His answer was in effect that he didn't think Wall Street would kill the proverbial golden goose. He believed that if given free reign Wall Street would never let greed end the gravy train that was lining their pockets. As we saw, they not only killed it, they raped it, plucked it, set it on fire, and left the empty carcass at the side of the road for the taxpayers to salvage.

Hooray for deregulation.

[hifiguy]

19. The Friedmanites always forget the crucial truth

of economics: Greed is not self-regulating. Never has been, never will be.