Forum Post: The biggest heist in American History!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 7, 2011, 3:12 p.m. EST by robertred85
(35)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
So lets guess how many assholes who worked for the top wall street companies came up with the 700 billion dollar bailout we paid for with the rider that stated no system of government could sue them or ask where the money went....While they held US Treasury positions... Hmmm lets see... Bob Rubin, Peter Orszag,Bill Daley, Neel Kashkari,Hank Paulson,Neal Wolin, Phil Grammm, Jack Lew,Roger Altman, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Steel, Gary Gensler, Steve Friedman, and Josh Bolten, all worked for Top Wall Street firms mostly Goldman Sachs..... So who is running Washington.... you decide!!!!! The biggest heist in American history without a gun! And we paid for it!
hey robertred85, how did YOU "pay for it"? You most likely don't even pay taxes.
Really..... thats the best you could do.... very sad.
Trust me, THERE ARE GUNS. Just stop paying taxes or try to use your own currency, and they'll bring out the guns.
The money was stolen by taxes, or counterfeited by the central bank to the detriment of the U.S. currency users who did not get bailed out.
Regardless, this teaches one important lesson: goto opensecrets.com and research which candidates get donations from GS, BOA, GE, GM, Monsanto, Heinz, etc. and don't vote for those corporately owned political tools.
Obamas' 2012 Finance Director is the son of BANK OF AMERICAS former CEO.... the guy who got us in this mess!!! Keeping it all in the Family
No, here is the biggest heist in American History: the massive "wealth redistribution" that has gone on for the last 30 years. The top 1% now controls over 42% of all of the nation's wealth and the top 10% now control over 70% of al of the nation's wealth. The bottom 50% control less than 2% of the nation's wealth.
The middle class spends their wealth on corporate goods/services and the corporations have redistributed their wealth by paying their profits all out to the executives and shareholders. Middle class wages have stagnated for 30 years while executive wages have gone up 256% in since 1980. Even last year executive compensation went up another 11%. The top 1% now controls over 42% of the entire nation's wealth. We have not seen numbers like this since the great depression. The top 10% controls 70% of the entire nation's wealth. All of our nation's wealth has been redistributed into the hands of the few.
The middle class was roped into replacing wages with easy credit. So instead of paying people living wages, corporations fooled us into thinking we were doing well and could afford things by giving us easy credit instead of wages. Instead of having wages to buy t.v.'s, furniture, etc. we were given easy loans. So the middle class became a debtor class. There used to be a tax disincentive to paying out all of corporate profits at the top because in the 1950's income was taxed at 90% over a certain amount money and now that tax disincentive has disappeared. In 1950's the highest marginal tax rate was 90%. In 1960-1970's it was 70%. In 1980's it dropped to 49%. In 1990's dropped to 39%. Under George Bush it dropped to a mere 36%. We have had over 30 years of massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
There is now no tax disincentive to paying out all of the corporate wealth at the top. And there is no employee bargaining power because now less than 12% of all of our jobs are unionized. Corporate profits are at an all time high, healthcare company profits are at an all time high, and oil profits are at an all time high. We don't have a healthcare crisis we have a healthcare company profit-taking crisis that no politician will doing anything about. Healthcare and oil companies have enjoyed a decade of record profits while we have had a decade of massive premiums for little coverage and a decade of outrageous gas prices.
The problems are: 1) deregulation of the banks by the Republican-controlled congress in 1999; 2) hedge funds are exempt from regulation; 3) tax system no longer has a disincentive against paying outrageous executive salaries (highest marginal tax rate has dropped from 90% to 36%); 4) commodities market is exempt from regulation (Republican-controlled Congress exempted it in the Commodities Future Modernization act of 2000); 5) the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations can spend unlimited funds in campaign elections (thus politicians on both sides favor the wealthy/corporations) and 6) the rise of corporate/billionaire propaganda media "news." Because of the need to raise massive sums in politics today, we no longer have a party that represents the people. The Democrats have to chase the corporate and big money donors too.
What can we do about this: 1) re-instate Glass-Steagall Act regulating the banks; 2) regulate hedge funds and the commodities market (because the commodities market is not regulated speculation has caused prices for commodities to go through the roof); 3) get rid of the money in politics (have federally funded elections with clear limits on spending and no outside groups allowed to have ads); 4) get rid of 1980's laws stating that corporations' only duty is to maximize shareholder profits; and 5) regulate "news" channels and newspapers (no more "slanted opinion news" masquerading as hard news) and reinstitute the fairness doctrine across all news outlets to ensure that both sides get equal time.
Corporations should have duties to society and to their workers too. They should have to balance their duties to maximize shareholder profits against their reinstated duties to their employees and to society. The laws saying that corporations' only duty is to maximize shareholder profits have led to the destruction of long-term business plans and care for their workers and have created short-term profit monsters at the expense of workers and society.
Very informative , thank you for your input.
Am I worse off for willingly trading $400 dollars to Apple for a new iPhone? Am I not better off, because I would rather have the phone than the money?
Have I not profited from free trade just as the corporation has?
Why are these things mutually exclusive? Do you think that the 1950's-1970's produced no innovations because the marginal tax rate was high?