It’s been almost a month now since the bailout was shoved down America’s throat and illegally passed by Congress but the stock market continues steadily falling, unemployment is rising and the global capitalistic system is on the brink of collapse, and more details of the deception and lies from the corrupt political establishment in Washington — as well as more of the usual secretive actions and delusional deceptions being utilized by the Bush administration and the Republican party — are emerging and it appears that we’ve been sold another rotten bill of goods as a result of speculators cashing in on the derivatives that have played a central role in precipitating the current market meltdown, basically an unregulated gambling racket Congress voted to create and legalize.
Despite efforts being made by the news media to spread the myth, our financial crisis is not the result of economic freedom and laissez-faire capitalism. The housing bubble and its crash were purposely created by corrupted Washington politicians, as was the financial crisis we’re facing today. Main Street is losing big and Wall Street is getting away with their fraudulent actions while receiving money from the fraudulent bailout. The constant pursuit of financially struggling American consumers by big finance, as noted by AlterNet, is one of the overlooked causes of the financial meltdown we’re facing today.
Recently, Alan Greenspan admitted he “made a mistake” in believing banks could adequately police themselves. Greenspan didn’t make a mistake. He knew all along what would happen. Deregulation does not work but Wall Street has lobbied for deregulation in Washington for years. Greenspan was a major part of the global recession we’re witnessing today. It’s hard if not impossible to believe that Greenspan is “in a state of shocked disbelief.”
Despite the Wall Street meltdown, the nation’s biggest banks are reportedly preparing to pay their workers as much as last year or more, including bonuses tied to personal and company performance. A review of records by the Associated Press showed that so far this year the total costs for salaries, benefits and bonuses for nine of the largest U.S. banks — which also includes some that cut thousands of jobs — have grown by an average of 3 percent from a year ago. AIG has just about used up the $123 billion its received courtesy of the bailout. Taxpayers are footing the bill for the exorbitant compensations that some CEOs on Wall Street will receive.
No Intention Of Using Bailout Money For Loans
The banking industry has no intention of using money it receives from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to make new loans. JP Morgan Chase received $25 billion in federal funding courtesy of the $700 billion bailout funded by U.S. taxpayers. Paulson reportedly decided to use the first installment of the $700 billion bailout money to recapitalize banks instead of buying up their toxic securities, contradicting the line of bull he fed to Congress and the American people.
JP Morgan Chase will use the money intended to be made available for loans to make itself “a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling,” assuming themselves able to grow in the acquisitions environment. JP Morgan Chase also thinks that loan volume will continue to go down as they continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side. Again, JP Morgan Chase has no intention of lending any of the money received from Paulson and some small banks are reportedly afraid of the larger banks armed with bail-out money.
Paulson and the Treasury wants banks to acquire each other and encourages bank mergers. As noted by the the New York Times, it’s beginning to feel as if we’ve been sold a bill of goods. It only took them a month to figure it out. Before the fraudulent bailout bill illegally passed in the House of Representatives, Paulson told his staff to start drawing up a plan for capital injections. Of course, Paulson never mentioned a word of this to Congress or the American public while lying under oath.
Meanwhile, Stock markets all over the world are being brutalized, dropping at record rates. At another of the many useless Congressional Committee hearings — where no one ever pays for the consequences of their lawbreaking and wrongdoing — a Treasury official claimed that the Treasury wants our banks to be lending and is insisting on it in all their actions. In reality, the Treasury is doing no such thing. A lot more information can be found in the article from The New York Times.
Executives from the Nation’s leading credit-rating agencies reportedly testified before Congress about their nonroles in the credit crisis, hypocritically claiming that the woeful inaccurate ratings that have cost investors billions were not a result of paying ratings agencies handsomely for their rosy opinions. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform produced e-mail messages contradicting the testimony of the executives. People responsible for helping create the global financial crisis being faced today continue lying under oath while testifying to Congress, yet, again, none are ever held responsible or accountable for their actions.
Intentional Deception And “Unintended Consequences”
For the past almost eight years, corporately owned media has tried to justify everything the Bush administration has done, while trying to rewrite history by ignoring the obvious, such as ‘Bush lied, people died’ or by delivering information that was the opposite of what was actually happening or being said. Owners of the corporate media that pulls Bush’s strings have profited handsomely from the wars and from lying to the American public. FOX News and CNN are two — of many — perfect examples. Both should be held criminally responsible for all the propaganda and lies they’ve spread and all the ‘military experts’ they’ve used to intentionally mislead the public.
Much of the press still peddles the myth that Osama bin Laden attacked us on 9/11. Propaganda recycled as truth is still propaganda. As noted by Melanie Phillips from The Spectator UK — in an article where she accuses the media of playing favorites to Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator Barack Obama over Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain — so much for speaking truth to power. So much for comforting the afflicted and all those other catchphrases journalists used to believe and live by. As far as the presidential races go, McCain and Palin have no one but themselves to blame for making themselves look like the lying, egotistical morons they are. Not only can Corporate Media not be trusted, it has become the most important weapon in the arsenal of the enemies of the free world. Corporate media has played dangerous games for years by spewing propaganda for President Bush and his illicit administration. Corporate media also has no one to blame but themselves for their downfall.
AlterNet reported how Big oil’s lobbyists contributed to big finance’s crash and how working Americans are reeling from the “unintended consequences” of their relentless war against regulation. Our corrupted representatives in Washington are responsible for all the deregulation that has led to the disaster we face today. Calls for accountability, reform and regulation from politicians in Washington are few and far between. According to Business Week, traditional recession tactics are doomed to fail this time.
The L.A. Times reported that Wall Street layoffs could surpass 200,000 people. Recently it was also reported that Bush, quite possibly illegally and without Congressional approval, launched an attack in Syria resulting in innocent civilians being killed. Bush also ordered his politicized Justice Department to investigate the status of 200,000 contested Ohio voters, indicating his intentions of assisting in the ongoing Election fraud being utilized by the Republican party. Despite the illegal treasonous crimes, including numerous war crimes, Congress has done nothing to stop Bush’s steady destruction of America and all it has stood for. Eight years of illegal wars and terroristic acts against Americans — that could have easily been avoided if Congressional leaders had impeached Bush and Cheney like they should have but didn’t due to their complicity in Bush’s crimes — will finally come to an end in a few months.
The fraudulent bailout plan is nothing more than a scheme to plunder society for the benefit of the financial aristocracy, as noted by The World Socialist Web Site. AIG is allegedly freezing the bonuses their executives are receiving, but, as noted by TIME, Washington’s bailout will boost Wall Street bonuses. The fraudulent bailout is just another of the many lies used by President Bush and his corporate cronies to destroy America and Democracy.
Try as they may — due to the fact that terrorism has been stuffed down the American public’s collective throats these past seven plus years — terrorist fearmongering is not working. Fearmongering and voter suppression will not help the Republican party keep power any more. Until those in Congress who have aided and abetted the many criminal actions of the Bush regime — and some who voted to pass the illegal bailout are currently running for re-election — are replaced and held accountable, America will continue spiraling down into the depths of fascism and there will be little change.
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