Forum Post: Another Month, Another 85 Billion Stolen from the People by the Banks
Posted 11 years ago on Sept. 3, 2013, 3:06 p.m. EST by TropicalDepression
(-45)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Wall St is on a tear like they have never been before. All time highs in the exchanges, powered by daylight thieving of the general public.
This monster is going to end eventually, but when and how? Who would have thought that three years into literally taking trillions per year that
A) It wouldnt have led to massive monetary problems B) 95% of the people would have no clue it was going on
We are up to 935 Billion- yes, with a B- since November when they ramped it up to 85 from 45. September and October, the thieving was minor, at only 45 Billion a month.
After they figured out that calling it "quantitative easing" was too complicated of a term for the general public to decide to investigate- very good planning- they doubled it.
So technically, since this latest round of QE, called QE Infinity (not counting the previous TARP bailouts, Stimilus, QE1 and 2, and QE Twist) we are over 1 Trillion now for the year.
Amuricah. Wud a Grate Cuntry.
QE = 'queasing' and perhaps in its initial phase, it may have had acted like a sort of electric shock to someone who just had a cardiac arrest. Subsequent to that though, its only boosting effects have been largely through the creation of unsustainable asset bubbles in the stock market ; in property markets ; in the commodity markets and such like and these too will eventually burst and generate yet another round of financial crises with all the debt for this being passed to the public purse.
On top of that there have been huge capital inflows into the emerging economies mainly because of the QE by the central banks of the US, Britain and other rich countries, which has injected trillions of 'faux dollars' into the world economy, in a desperate attempt to revive their moribund economies and which now seeks quick returns elsewhere.
So why - as you allude to, has there been so much QE ? It is because it has been the only weapon that the rich country 'elites' and their wholly owned governments have been willing to deploy in order to try to generate an economic recovery.
QE has become the weapon of choice by these corporate co-opted governments because it is the only way in which the appearance of a recovery could be generated without actually changing the neo-liberal economic model that has served the rich and powerful so well in the past three or four decades.
This fukt up model is propelled by a continuous generation of asset bubbles, fuelled by complex and opaque financial instruments created by highly leveraged banks and other financial institutions. It is a system in which short-sighted, short-term financial profits take precedence over any long-term social investments in productive capabilities and over the quality of life of employees and citizens.
A real recovery driven by a fiscal policy for The 99% would have involved an increase in the shares of public investment and social welfare spending in the national income, reducing the share going to the rich. It would have generated new public sector and infrastructure renewal jobs, which would have weakened the bargaining power of The Crapitalists by reducing unemployment and raising wages ... wages which then would have circulated and revived the 'real economy'.
A recovery based on a "rebalancing" of the economy would have required policies that hurt the financial sector. The financial system would have to be re-engineered to channel more money into more long-term investments that would have benefited society as a whole.
Given this, it's not a big surprise that those who benefit most from the status quo have persisted with QE and furthermore, they have actually strengthened the status quo - despite the mess they have caused. They have successfully pushed for cuts in government spending, shrinking the welfare state to the extent that even Margaret Thatcher could not manage in The UK at the height of her predations on working people.
The Parasite Class have used the fear of unemployment in an environment of shrinking social safety nets to force workers to accept more unstable part-time jobs, less-secure contracts (zero-hour contracts in The UK being the most extreme example) and poorer working conditions.
In the US, which is considered the home of quiescent and cowed workers - the call for living wages is becoming ever louder, as seen in the current strikes by fast-food restaurant workers. The British are overly patient people but even they may change their mind when the full extent of budget cuts unfolds in the coming months and we all need to learn some important lessons from The Icelanders too.
There has been a failure of the old parties on the 'left of centre' to come up with a coherent alternative vision, as they have become ever more co-opted by Banksters and 'financialisation'.
But politics is unpredictable. Five years after the crisis, the real battle for the future of capitalism may be only just beginning. OWS is a big part of the raising of awareness as to how there can be alternatives because more and more of us can now see that TINA (there is no alternative) is dead ! Long Live The Alternatives !! Long Live The 99% !!! Viva OWS & Happy 2nd Birthday :-)
Thanx for your post 'TD' which sent me 'off on one' as they say around my yard, lol and facilitated my venting and I'll end here now by appending and recommending :
"How Elite Economic Hucksters Drive America’s Biggest Fraud Epidemics'', by Prof. Wm. K. Black : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35179.htm ;
''US Student Debt Almost Tripled Between 2004 And 2012" : http://www.floatingpath.com/2013/03/02/student-debt-tripled-2004-2012/ (+ embedded pdf)
''Pinching Pensions to Keep Wall Street Fat and Happy'', by Dean Baker : http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18395-pinching-pensions-to-keep-wall-street-fat-and-happy ;
''It’s the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World'', by Ellen Brown : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32975.htm ;
"Banks Weren’t Meant to Be Like This", by Dr. Michael Hudson : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30367.htm ;
"The Plague of Wall Street Banking", by Kevin Zeese, JD and Margaret Flowers, MD : http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34360.htm
'Expanded ''Heist'' Trailer for the 99%' : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltNaDDQZ07k ;
"Wealth Inequality In America" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM [6:24] ;
http://publicbankinginstitute.org/ &
http://rdwolff.com/ .
radix omnium malorum est cupiditas ...
"QE has become the weapon of choice by these corporate co-opted governments because it is the only way in which the appearance of a recovery could be generated without actually changing the neo-liberal economic model that has served the rich and powerful so well in the past three or four decades."
"A real recovery driven by a fiscal policy for The 99% would have involved an increase in the shares of public investment and social welfare spending in the national income, reducing the share going to the rich. It would have generated new public sector and infrastructure renewal jobs, which would have weakened the bargaining power of The Crapitalists by reducing unemployment and raising wages ... wages which then would have circulated and revived the 'real economy'."
Complex information, explained simply. Thanks for that and for the great links.
''The predators in Washington are only this far from monopoly control of our government. They have bought the political system, lock, stock and pork barrel, making change from within impossible. That's the real joke.'' says the ever insightful and heart centred Bill Moyers :
http://truth-out.org/video/item/18538-the-end-game-for-democracy &
http://billmoyers.com/segment/bill-moyers-essay-the-end-game-for-democracy/ .
What is at stake here is 'democracy' itself as the wider economy and how it's run is The Most Important aspect of how democracy functions. What we all ever more clearly have in USUK et al, are variants of a demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy as we live under the mere illusion of 'democracy'. This is why OWS & its many sister organisations are so important for all our futures. Viva The 99% ! Viva OWS !! Solidarity bw.
per ardua ad astra ...
" it may have had acted like a sort of electric shock to someone who just had a cardiac arrest."
True. But economies, unlike humans, always come back. The problem is that QE brought us back exactly how we were- consumerist pigs.
Better to let that animal die and see what reemerges. Because the current one has proven to be unsustainable.
I'd rather roll the dice for a better future than doom the next generation to this corporate shithole we are creating.
''The problem is that QE brought us back exactly how we were - consumerist pigs.'' Good point and well made but the dice need not be rolled and future prosperity left to mere chance - as the whole game can be changed in favour of The 99% if only we could get The Parasitic Banksters' hands off the levers of the economy. Here's insight into one of the architects of the current situation :
Finally, re. this predicament that we're all clearly in, four phrases and nine words for your consideration : Moral hazard ; Conflicts of Interest ; Perverse Incentives & Regulatory Capture !!!
fiat lux ...
[Removed]
"STOLEN by the banks"
your sloganeering sounds very much like faux noose
of course - if the fed could pump 85B into infrastructure or paying off student loans - I'd be all for it
My solution:
If the Rs in congress responded to the 99% by taxing the 1% to improve infrastructure & education, this monetary injection would not be needed.
What is YOUR solution to America's Rs roadblocks?
What SPECIFICALLY - is this 85B doing to damage our economy?
Is our deficit up?
Are fewer jobs being created?
Is inflation up ?
What SPECIFICALLY - is this 85B doing to damage our economy?
Empowering Wall St.
""STOLEN by the banks" your sloganeering sounds very much like faux noose"
Wow. Now slamming the banks is a right wing thing and not an occupy thing.
Yes, Mr ManyIDs, its stolen. Its our money. Have you received any of it? Or is your retirement booming because of Wall St's pillaging of the economy?
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So thats the answer. You defend the bailouts, someone tells you that yes, indeed it is the peoples money and its being stolen...
So you call them a troll.
Awesome as usual....