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Don't worry, America - DickNBush have already worked out a plan to rescue MasterCard and Visa. Ain't no corporation going to suffer with low-profits on their watch!
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The only thing that would make this story interesting or relevant, is if they could tell us if the CEO of Goldman-Sachs then turned around and took the bulk of that 68 million out of the country - and converted it to investments in foreign stock, assets and currency(Euros/Chinese Yen)...?

About the biggest secret in this nation of ours, over the last 20 years, is how many wealthy elites and celebrities have moved their money and assets OUTSIDE this country of ours and moved them abroad.

The biggest secret is just how much contempt and cynicism exists among wealthy elites who have all but abandoned the nation, while preaching to most of us average 'Joe's ' the virtue of our blind loyalty to the nation and our corrupt government, while ignoring their own divided loyalties.

I noticed this trend first in the 90's when it was apparent how much investment the Big 3 automakers in Detroit, had made in the production of foreign automobiles. Investments in such major players as Dammler-Benz(Chrysler), Volkswagon(Ford) and so on.

If you want to know 'the' secret of our time -perhaps, this is it.

The phony war is a fraud, the Bush administration is a fraud and the economy is a disaster. The pitfalls include the national debt of nearly nine trillion dollars, personal credit card debt of a trillion dollars, current account deficits, Housing market tanking, energy costs thru the roof, oil over $90 dollars a barrel, outsourcing of jobs and the loss of three million manufacturing jobs under the dolt in the White House, galactic trade deficits, endless phony war pilfering our treasury, infrastructure crumbling, social security, medicare and healthcare costs beyond control, heavy borrowing from China, Japan, Mexico et al, auto industry in trouble and Bush and his enablers in and out of congress with a year left to make more mischief. America has no reason to complain. This was all predictable when the dolt was appointed president.

Middle class wages have been stagnant since 9/11, so what did anyone expect would happen when Bush asked the middle class to fight the terrorists by going shopping? Charge!

The "real" rate of inflation has been 6% to 10% a year since 9/11 such that food, gasoline, and other necessities are about 50% more expensive now. How is the middle class supposed to maintain their standard of living? Charge!

How is the middle class expected to pay higher electricity bills, car insurance premiums, phone bills, credit card minimum payments, food, clothes, and gasoline? Charge!

Those who remember the other slumps know; when it hits there wont be any question. The future will be only bleak. There will be only one direction it can go.

By pumping more credit into the equation BushCo has not only pushed the downturn further in the future; he has made it much worse.

When you think of it, why is interest even being charged on fiat (worth nothing) money. The money you get loaned does not exist until you borrow it. They create money they could not create before you asked for it. They should just sell you the money, say you want 500 K, they can sell it for 550 K, the 500 K loan plus the 50 K cash (which the can use to make another 500 K in loans).

Let me explain. Right now, under the current system, you deposit 100 K. Since we have fractional reserve banking, the bank can lend out another 900K based on your deposit which they hold onto and give you 5% interest. Sounds fair (even though CPI numbers are fudged and inflation is 7%)

Someone then asks for a 900 K mortgage. The bank does not have 900 K. But they approve the 900 K mortgage at 7% interest, and once they agree to it, they create the 900 K by writing it into a ledger. And so your 100 K deposit, for which they give you 5K in interest, allows them to earn at least 63K in interest the first year.

They then securatize that 900 K loan, and sell it to an investment company. Say they got 1 million for it since it earns interest. Now they can issue another 9 million in loans. Again, they do not actually have the 9 million, but if someone asks for 9 million they can create it. Sure enough, they make 20 loans for a total of 9 million, and charge 7% interest. Thats 630 K in 1 year. But they sell it off again, say for 10 million, earning 1 million profit, and so on and so on.

So the 5 K interest they paid you for your 100 K deposit allows them to earn well over 1 million dollars per year in a good market when plenty of people were asking for loans, and much more in a hot market.

I want to be a bank.

I don't think we stand a chance anymore, even the game Monopoly doesn't use cash now, it uses a swipe card.Gas is almost $3.00 a gallon, milk is almost $3.00 a gallon, houses are foreclosing all over but mansions are popping up in the desert like mushrooms? Big trouble is in the air. Also, isn't it a big deal that Morgan Stanley just sold 1 billion of debt to china? I really don't know anything about business, or stocks and such, but I do know something bad is going on.

amerca is losing its wealth and to keep our standard of living we hire cheap illegal labor and buy on credit cards and borrow huge amounts of money from china.

what next the economy folds and the only thing that will bring it back is fascism. complete control and run congress out of town.

must have a dictator to fix the problems congress cannot do it nor can the voters.

we elected a local guy to go to wash dc to stop the funding of the war he fell right in with nancy within a week. all must go must run them out of town with blackwater soldiers.

they will be needed to take control and put a dictator in charge of country.

and get over this crazy idea that our consitution can solve all of our problems. needs to be revised it is over 200 years old. outdated it could not predict corp power and unchecked capitalism going amuck with folks like reagan and bush jr and voters dumb and selfish enough to vote for them.

America is Usure Friendly.

In my life I've seen the total collapse of ethical behavior by lenders (and others). Usury used to be a crime, but in the 80's the laws governing usury were eliminated, thanks to the "let business be business" "philosophy" of Ronald Reagan. It was greed that drove them to overturn laws against usury that went back centuries...and as a result, the last 20 plus years has seen an explosion in credit debt the likes of which the world has never seen. America floats on an ocean of debt. It is in it's way, a modern form of slavery...financial slavery through the effective application of usury.

Young people, who've never known any differently, who've only known a world of credit, have become indentured servants to the lending institutions. Once they've set the hook with a credit card, human nature takes over and debt piles up. Advertising and "bonuses" help to cement the relationship. Human weakness in the face of slathering greed, adds up to usury. That's why there were laws against usury, because experience had shown time and time again that when poor people were in need, they could be taken advantage of, through predatory lending practices. They don't call them loan sharks for nothing.

An old word needs to be brought back into fashion...it's called LAYAWAY.

One final thought. What if, when you get one of those mailers for that "new" credit card, instead of tearing it up and throwing it in the trash (or recycle), mail it back to them denied. If everyone who received one of those mailers sent them back marking that you don't want it, you could lock up their system. You see, those mailers are designed to be either used, or thrown away. They have no budget for dealing with denials of their mail offerings. But if each mailer goes back denied, they'll have to handle ALL of them...and if a miracle happened, and one day ALL of those mailers went back denied, the entire Usury Industry could come crashing down!

At least in my fantasy.

The solution is simple: celebrate Christmas by going to church instead of buying gifts.

Ahh yes, usury does eventually have its consequences, does it not?

Well, bankers, your complaints fall on my deaf ears. You have looted your banks and stolen from your customers, in ways that would have lost you your hand five hundred years ago (and in some parts of the world, still would today).

You blame the consumer for "living beyond his means," but this is a lie. You apply the screws pitilessly in a way that would have made Ebenezer Scrooge cringe even at his worst.

And your customer is walking away from you, walking away from his property, from his usurious loans. He will never return.

What ever happened to personal responsibility living within your means?

If you are stupid enough to try and live like a rock star on Walmart pay, you deserve what you get.

Anybody with ANY debt right now better start thinking of it as a noose.
There are no jobs and a large number middle class 'investors' just took a beating in real estate....NOW where are they gonna turn?>
Credit cards?? nope..citibank knows when you sneeze, and those people aren't looking like good credit risks anymore....no more 8% for you johnny....lets take you to 15%.

AAAAND another thing for WARisEvil et. al.:
Last time I was in Germany, there was this
lady at a little booth selling credit cards.
The financial wizards have been having their
fun worldwide. 6.599 billion poor people,
.001 billion people driving really nice cars...
Welcome to globalizationer!

And, they've had a free reign under IG BushCo.
There's no such thing as an accident...

The economy and the credit card and housing loan systems are intertwined. This is a very prescient and valid post....I'm afraid.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney12172007.html