The Financial Crisis Scandal

So Where's The Paddy Wagon?

“We conclude this financial crisis was avoidable. The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire. The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand, and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public. Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble. While the business cycle cannot be repealed, a crisis of this magnitude need not have occurred. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies not in the stars, but in us. ”

This is the conclusion from the Financial Crisis Investigative Commission, a U.S. Congress mandated investigation in efforts to decipher what went wrong with the financial markets in 2008 and still sending more and more people onto the streets of poverty, as foreclosures continue unabated, even when Uncle Sam says “slow down”.

Look, the rich don't give a rat's ass about your shelter! They don't give a rat's ass if you are hungry! They don't care about your poverty affiliation, except less for you means more for them. They just don't care! As they see the present day situation as an opportunity to make more! Instead of “One man's junk is another man's treasure”, it is today like this: “One man's poverty is another man's caviar”.

Shakespeare also penned “The Merchant of Venice”! Remember Shylock, the lawyer that was successful in getting a guilty verdict for an unpaid debt? But was in the end amused upon by the jury, as a well crafted rescue by the judge made it clear and convincing that Shylock, even though he won judgment, he could not spare a drop of blood in efforts to get justice – the pound of flesh verdict.

In the case of the failed financial markets of this country, there came lots of blood shed, many suicides from everyday investors loosing their shirts, and all around devastation from sweat and tears of labor savings gone south. The sad thing, there was no repudiation, no guilt, no penance, no nothing against the goons gone wild with our kids' inheritance.

In fact, there was an individual that has bank-rolled $9-billion in betting against the bailout, like he knew there was something rotting on Wall Street. He made another $5-billion last year alone, as the “Wall” keeps tumbling down, artificially boasted above the sewer water level by the American taxpayers.

We are getting looted, again. Is it not that we were blind and weak before and during the collapse, as some did indeed try to warn authorities about the scam. But they were called “whistle-blowers”, lost their jobs and were branded as a “snitch”. These are the heroes, as we all should have heeded the warning. What sounds too good to be true, is!

So the guy that ran off with billions, for betting on hedging failures with housing - the basic American right of shelter from the storm - and the CEOs that ran away with taxpayer bailout money, it appears that it is crooked-dom upon the very street that is supposed to have roadblocks against such tyranny. There is no honor left, especially when it comes to wealth.

So there will be no paddy wagons showing up to take the thieves away. Matter of fact, it will most likely be a Brink's armored carrier frequenting a rich bastard near you, to haul away our loot. I heard a rich bastard's car dealer talk the other day, that Lamborghini and Jaguar sales are down. Not because the markets are done, but rambling on that the rich don't want to appear doing still good as most of the country flounders in debt, so they refrain to spend to make it look good? Hey wait. Neighbors? Rich bastards don't have neighbors. They live in gated mansions, where they cannot see a neighbor.

And like already eluded upon, they don't give a rat's ass, about their neighbors, about their brothers & sisters, about nothing except they do act as one character of importance made famous, not by Shakespeare, but by Dickens - and we all know to whom I am talking about, “Scrooge”!

Bottom line, when we have a government that allows no punishment this kind of theft, it will happen again. The real pathetic thing, we all knew that it was not an act of God, nor that of Nature. It was man-made greed and then we wasted a whole lot of money, for an investigation, that had the answer already. It was a planned attack upon the well-being of this country! Placating malfeasance is what it boils down too, this report, and now that the smoke is clearing away, the rich and the rest of us it is! What's in your wallet?

Staged Ingnorance

Pathetic is the word I want so badly to refrain away from using, out of respect, but after reviewing President Obama's State of the Eunuch address, I find no other conditional verbiage appropriate for the cause.

Really, pathetic is my only opinionated option, and I did count to ten already, not once but several times before I felt compelled to publish my views on this “Pathetic” waste of Americans' time away from twitter rage. 

 

Basically what I perceive as “Staged Ignorance”, and I voted for the dude! First and foremost, Obama begins by congratulating the 112^th Congress, then sadly enough, throws in the fact that there is upon the House chamber's an empty seat, that of Representative Gifford who remains sight unseen following an attempt on her life by the Sarah Palin vigilante posse.

 

Then Wall Street was given the thumbs up with kudos, I guess the almighty green light to continue the arrogant abuse upon our 401K plans. And now we find out through the Financial Crisis Investigative Commission that Goldman-Sach's ran off with $3-billion of taxpayer bailout money, funds they were supposed to distribute to failing banks and to help ease foreclosures and keep Americans sheltered from the storm.

I am beginning to believe that there are very few Americans left roaming the streets from the mountains to the prairies. So to use the State of the Nation to congratulate crooks, something is very wrong here in the homeland, and it is not the TSA by any stench of the imagination. 

 

Then Obama's speech was soon followed by more Obama-kudos for Joe the Roofer and Joan the Furniture-maker. See, plumbers are banned, as that trade became the poster child mascot of the McCain mad scientist era, wherein Sarahstein came alive, still missing a brain and heart of ice.

Then we hear all this hoopla about tax breaks that will be taken away from Big Oil? Forget that, as these outfits know how to get around every taxable hurdle. Raise taxes on Big Oil, and the jobs creation index comes tumbling down. When Sarah Palin raised the corporate tax in Alaska a measly 2%, “Big Oil” shelved enough projects to keep hundreds employed for several years. Still today, those plans remain shelved, collecting dust. 

 

Then we hear this fluff rhetoric about fighting for a robust democracy, which supposedly “sets us aside as a nation”. Set aside? We are loosing it on all fronts! Then Obama goes off on a tangent about energy efficiency and remaining competitive with other nations, like China, those that are taking the turn towards the better by building efficient modes of transportation – in efforts to go green. 

 

Then some 48 minutes into this “Staged Ignorance” speech, we finally hear something about the Iraq and Afghanistan war. We finally hear something about “our” troops engaged away from their homeland. But by now, most Americans had fallen asleep with Obama's speech and it looked as though V.P. Biden himself was bored, or checking his twitter out. So this “staged ignorance” finds credibility in the fact that the troops and the war were left behind, finding a pathetic mention at the end, as a means to disenfranchise the really problem that this country must face - with the wars! 

 

Bottom line, this country may as well forget high speed rail systems when we must spend $70-million on a single jet fighter, one that carries a single passenger with payloads costing millions – those hi-tech bombs with eyes. Look, the present day wars find no use for such waste upon the taxpayers. We tried “bunker busting” bombs on the Mountain goats, but mountains are mightier then the crap we think can devastate age old caves. Hey, if Bin Laden is still kicking, we have lost. 

 

And when one looks at the increased level of crime and deaths in Iraq, with 37 killed today while attending a funeral for policemen that were gunned down, an indication that conflict is far from over with. With reasons to believe that many businessmen here in the states want the conflicts to continue on. Why? For the bottom line. War is making people filthy rich. And if you thought Wall Street CEOs were getting hefty bonuses, check out a CEO of a defense contractor and his or her take home pay, as it redefines arrogance! 

 

And about those million dollar payloads? Just how much fuel could we buy for a high speed rail car for that same amount, for a passenger rail-car that carries a thousand times more then a jet fighter? Look, this country is going nowhere forward in relation to other nations, when we have war and blood on our hands to contend with. We are still building to destroy, the age old mentality other countries have moved away from. War is outdated! 

 

Economic wellbeing is front and center over domain building. Work together is what it is all about. All aboard? And the fact that Obama did not make the conflicts a highlight of this Presidential update, well we can see that it is just more of the same on Capital “Corruption” Hill. War is bad, for a nation, for a president's ratings. And now that it is out that Obama will seek another chance at the helm, it is all politics as usual and nothing worthwhile will be produced, not from Obama, not through Congress. 

 

No wonder “No taxation without representation” is finding a following. So with the 112^th, it will become the ultimate “slug fest”. I sat near a trooper on my way down from Fairbanks. I asked him if he was going to watch the president. He didn't have time, as he had to catch a plane to the war zone. So he didn't miss anything, as we see now that our troops have become 6^th rate citizens, maybe instead of boot camp, they should have become furniture makers or how about a roofer? 

 

And what makes it all so more pathetic, is the 14 tetra-byte deficit that this country is facing front and center but ignored by the gatekeepers. See, that means for every dollar spent by Uncle Sam, 40-cents is borrowed from the Wall Street zillionaires, at interest rates that will make you puke and begin to hide away under the bed even those Lincoln head pennies. 

 

And it goes like this with most defense contracts. Any project that is deemed necessary by Uncle Sam, in the military arena, it has built in escalating cost factors that are a crying out loud sin of shame. A million dollar project for labor and materials will escalate to $5-million in the end - “mission creep” - and the labor rates don't change, its profit for the CEOs! Privatization is not making this country healthy, but draining us of any semblance of a strong nation with a future. It is theft upon our children's' future! 

 

Remember the gold plated toilet seat? It was a big joke, but things did not change in the arena of waste upon the taxpayers, so it is what goes on today by many in efforts to rip off my hard earned income, the Treasury is as safe as someone insured by the Gecko. So when I get that warning from my cell-phone, about “No Service”, I know exactly what it means, “staged ignorance” and the wars go on and on and on. “My country t'is of thee, beat up land of less liberty”. 

 

We vote for Representation. We want Representation. But we get not true Representation. As soon as the vote count is certified, in come the clowns, the lobbyist intent on sabotaging the good will of the people. Look at it like this. A lobbyist has a better chance of getting to wine and dine with the crooks then law abiding citizens, as birds of a feather flock together. And it all boils down to the “buck” and the biggest bang will leave but a pathetic laugh upon what this nation was supposed to stand for – liberty and justice for all. 

 

It is a simple equation. War brings a deficit, historically proven. Peace brings with it a balanced budget, and with that maybe a rebate for the taxpayers, or wherein the surplus can be used to update the infrastructure. We have bridges falling down and at the same time lame-brain representatives trying to build bridges to nowhere? In Alaska, we are receiving a high-speed amphibious assault vessel, turned into a ferry nobody will use, all at the expense of the taxpayers. Instead of the waste, give the troops a raise for crying out loud.

So let us see. Keith Olbermann is released from his duties soon after the Republicans take over the House, and hours within Obama's speech? Conspiracy theory, what else. I bet this anchor would have mentioned the president's pathetic speech, with respect to the troops meager coverage. When are they coming home? But let me end with this, as the focus was on no representation for the troops by the Commander-in-Hiding.

I frequent Fairbanks, for work, a military community it is. At 48 below zero, it is not unusual to see young guys walking around with Bermuda shorts, outside like it was summertime. Crazy? Gang banger?

No, as with metal limbs to contend with and knee knobs with no feelings of pain from sun-zero temperatures, this is no freak show. I am talking the thousands of kids coming home with the forever pain of war scars. During the Vietnam conflict Country Joe sang, “Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box”. Nowadays, it is coming home missing in action limbs, for a life in limbo. 

 

So maybe we have been successful in curtailing the casualties of war, through hi-tech gizmo's made so from defense contractors making it rich, but now we have living corpses, as going through life with such handicaps is something this country need not be proud upon. With that said, our troops deserved much more respect from Obama, but that would have been suicide when political aspirations take over decency. Such “Staged Ignorance” is pathetic, and dangerous in my book!

Time to Boycott NPR

I am appalled at what has happened to a once good network, the NPR, as once upon a time in history it offered an unbiased, slightly liberal approach and opinion on important issues. It was a “True” outlet for democracy. That does not seem to be the case today, like maybe a virus has inflicted good reasoning and fostered a “shoot the messenger” mentality – just like corporate America has been so successful at over the years. Bottom line, it appears that the output from NPR has been tamed, and that can only be attributable to the “Sponsors”. Money talks, money controls. When I wake in the a.m. and hear that Booz Allen Hamilton is s sponsor, it reeks in monopolizing upon the fairness clause of the 1^st Amendment. In fact it causes morning sickness, and I am not pregnant. BAH has high profile members in its executive branch that were signatory of the PNAC – Project for a New American Century! It was basically a war machine bent on taking over the world. This organization is responsible for the continued war in Iraq and BAH is heavily endowed in Defense contracts that rakes in millions in the theater, so has no reason for the wars to end. And this same organization has influence from the Carlyle Group – owned in part by the Bush dysentery dynasty. After all the years that I supported NPR, in hopes that it would never bend over, I feel now that I have been sold out. If you can't go it alone by members that are true upholders of democracy and have to turn to corporate corruption for funding, then you my as well hang it up. Thanks NPR for being what I consider a real “Turncoat”. I will be heading up a movement to call upon friends and acquaintances to with-hold support from NPR, a genuine boycott, as we cannot trust the honesty of NPR broadcasts when organizations like BAH are affiliated, wherein one would be better off to turn off the now-biased news and listen to Bob Dylan's “Masters of War”, as that is what you have fallen into by allowing corporations like BAH to advertise support when all they have to prove is a pathetic journey in efforts to ruin this country. Just as pathetic you are to allow such infiltration upon your domain by those that have blood on their hands, now you promote the same, by accepting such sponsors, and that blood runneth over and is polluting the “freedom” airwaves. And think of it this way, maybe Cheney and Bush and and all the other bums will be listening in your broadcasts, realizing that they have taken over yet another once treasured American icon.