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My DH and I actually supported the bailouts for business purposes--most businesses can't purchase inventory, etc. without a line of credit, and we were afraid that if the banks failed the credit would disappear and it would be a disaster for small business owners. I assumed (gasp) that they'd actually hold the banks accountable and tie some type of meaningful regulation to the bailout. That was a joke. They basically just handed them fists full of cash and said have at it. That probably ticks me off more than anything. It was a total waste.
I think your original reasoning was sound. You do know that the TARP funds were invested in banks, earning above-market interest rates, with a lot of conditions and restrictions--and the government has at this point made money on it, right? (I am not including TARP funds used to bail out the UAW, that is another topic.)
In terms of meaningful regulation, now your local bank and the other ten thousand banks in the country are staggering under ridiculous levels of regulations contained in the Dodd Frank legislation. Don't believe me--ask your banker. Dodd Frank is a disaster for small businesses.
The banks were not "handed fists full of cash" and told to have at it.
My DH and I actually supported the bailouts for business purposes--most businesses can't purchase inventory, etc. without a line of credit, and we were afraid that if the banks failed the credit would disappear and it would be a disaster for small business owners. I assumed (gasp) that they'd actually hold the banks accountable and tie some type of meaningful regulation to the bailout. That was a joke. They basically just handed them fists full of cash and said have at it. That probably ticks me off more than anything. It was a total waste.
Do you wonder what they did with all of this money?
Well you would think that they would then lend it out since they have all of this money. The most surprising graph that I have ever seen. Check out the excess reserves just go through the roof. Instead of turning around and lending money out which stimulates the economy, they have started hoarding the money. The money went into bank coffers where it sits.
We are all talking about it. That is the first step. So obviously what they are doing is making a difference. I applaud them for that. What they are doing is not to get a day one solution. Before you can have a solution to the problem, you first must identify the problem.
You have identified the problem as being their problem and what they should do. I believe they are saying the problem is more systemic. There are so many people there with so many different types of complaints. Kind of like a T Party protest in that respect. But the core complaint seems to be the power of the banksters and the top 1% and the inequity of the system and that the Horatio Alger story in todays society is a BS myth. They are making the best use of the resources that they have, they are using their presence to bring attention.
The "banksters" have been in control of the nation for about two hundred years. The "banksters" have been in charge of most of the world economy for several hundred years. It harkens to a time when Christians were prevented from making money from loans.
What to do? It is surprising, but many of the issues that the "hated Tea Party" supports would be right up your alley, which include a dismantling and or re-evaluation of the federal reserve and the suspicious "back and forth" pathways that occur between Wall Street and Washington. Further, term limits would limit the ability of our representatives to loot money from special interests which are contrary to those of the public in general.
Money talks and those who have the money have the ears of the politicians. That is the way the world works. The only thing one can do is to "cover" those ears by term limits and limitations on lobbying. Further limitations on what occupations one can assume after "retiring" from an elected office would be helpful.
We have abrogated as a nation control of our financial destiny by the establishment of the federal reserve and have experimented (we will see ultimately how that unwinds) a removal from the gold standard in the Nixon administration. That, coupled with marked deficit spending, has been a departure from the economic system that made the country great. Granted, we had ups and downs, with depressions; many of the attempts of the feds have been an effort to eliminate the great swings in the economy. Perhaps the "cleansing" of boom and bust was better for our long term economic survival.
The protestors are representing the 99% that are not part of the 1%. The 1% control the politics and wealth in the U.S.
Like it or not if you are not part of 1% you are the 99%. We are in this together. My guess is that everyone who is posting on this board is part of the 99%.
I am certainly not in the top 1% but sure as hell don't consider myself to be part of that bunch that are claiming me as one of them. Too many things that they stand for, and there are so many of them, I don't go along with.
Thanks for letting me know what that number stands for. I have asked many times the past two days.
The right-wing always sides with the king and establishment.
Have you bothered to read all the various things that those protesters are protesting? Nobody could be against all of them. Well maybe some could but they have to be a lot farther left than I ever was in my left leaning days.
Other than the idle Rich, all of the groups that you mentioned above have two things in common they are not in control of the politics in the u.s., and they don't have the vast majority of the wealth. Like it or not. You are one of the 99%.
There strategy is to divide and conquer, and you are allowing it to happen.
I see that you consider Obama to be in that 1% group. He is doing more to divide us with his class warfare than anyone I know.
Because I dont have an "us vs them" mentality. Why do you?
Tell me HC, when you took a shower in school, did you run around checking out everyone elses private parts so you can compare what you have to theirs as well?
Dude, there is always going to be blips. However, at the end of the day they have more money. It may take a day or a week or three years but they come out just fine. The big difference is while they are waiting to recover they don't have to worry about paying the rent, and putting food on the table.
Here are some handy dandy graphs charts and such for you to digest.
I looked at two things on your link. The source of all that good stuff and the first table. In that table it is very obvious where those "rich" people of the small business class come in and all those who make more than $250,000, the magic number of the Obama group, are in that 19%. Damned hateful job providers who are being held back by Obama and his left leaners.
so does the left-wing, it is just that the left-wing also sides with the enviromentalism wackjobs as well.
There are many in that group of rioters who are doing what they do only because of environmentalism and they are the ones I really don't agree with. They are really the reason I can't be in the 99%.
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