In a far ranging and timely column this week "Obama's Real Test," Tom Friedman cited an extraordinary example of personal engagement and sacrifice responding to the financial disaster facing the nation. While the worthies at AIG were gulping down million dollar plus bonuses, the teachers of Montgomery County Maryland willingly gave up their five percent contracted pay raises, saving $89 million, so that programs and teachers would not have to be terminated in their school district. The salaries they voluntarily cut averaged $67,000 a year, probably not much more than the monthly take of the AIG bonus boys and gals. Other examples of shared sacrifice are proliferating around the country. One further example, the Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado, a teaching community for the arts has taken a five percent staff pay cut, period.
But if there has ever been an example of "sow and ye shall reap" gone awry it is the madcap stripping of the national treasure by those who have brought us to the edge of the cliff. Little if any personal sacrifice here, let alone consternation at the extent of the damage wrought.
In his op-ed, Friedman makes an interesting point in explaining the workings of the derivative market. He cites the need to cleanse bank balance sheets of their toxic assets so they can return to their function of healthy lending institutions. And here he suggests, certainly with good reason, that the banks are carrying their toxic assets on their books for 85 cents on the dollar, but if forced to sell would have to sell them for less.
And there is the rub, stripping off the scab of probably the greatest outrage of the current financial heist. Those derivatives, the likes of CDS, or better termed "toxic assets" that were carried on the books for 85 cents on the dollar, probably without an AIG bailout, had a value of arguably less than 20 cents on the dollar (Lehman paper was being quoted at about a dime -- I know I am mixing apples and oranges but I'm sure you get the drift).
Certainly if you or I had popped into Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, France's Societe Generale, Germany's Deutsche Bank and offered to buy their AIG derivatives for 85 cents on the dollar before the AIG bailouts, champagne corks would be popping in corner offices from Wall Street to Frankfurt. But hey, why take 85 cents on the dollar on your 20 cent derivatives if you have dumb Joe Taxpayer being steered into your arms at 100 cents on the dollar by their Wall Street cronies in government.
Yes, 20 cents on the dollar might have brought about systemic disaster for the system, but could the same be said for Friedman's suggested 85 cents on the dollar.
And that would have been a haircut comparable to that which was volunteered by the teachers of Montgomery County who had nothing to do with this mess, and whose example should shame the Wall Street Mafia to begin laying off the pressure for more, more and more unrestricted bailout funding without bellying up to the plate and carrying their share.
Little if any personal sacrifice here, let alone consternation at the extent of the damage wrought."
Until we realize that this was ALL PLANNED OUT and KNOWN ABOUT AT ALL LEVELS, and that it is literally the legalized ROBBERY of this country's TREASURY by the friends and RELATIONS of the BUSH DYNASTY (41-43 et al)....we won't get to the bottom of it.
Follow the dots.
Connect the dots.
Marvel at the balls it took to pull this off in plain sight.
http://mapper.nndb.com/maps/664/000004652/
We need to call all the troops from around the world home and line our border.
Take our money/gold and wealthy back from the Federal Reserve and kick start the justice system
time to start this experiment anew, this time sticking to the constitution and the rule of law.
If we don't come clean we will be selling ourselves and our children into servitude and slavery.
Allowing this to take place was the greatest dream, fulfilled, for the Banksters of the world. They were on their way to the financial servitude of the worlds government that they sought.
Until, and unless we rid ourselves of this parasitic pariah, this country will go nowhere.
"Shed the Fed"
Spread it
Treasury insisted that those CDSs be paid at 100% on the dollar when they were worth so much less. WTF. Way too many massive unregulated bailouts and bonuses, and we're only seeing the tip of it. The feds have looked out for their pals in high finance, that's for sure.
So disgustingly out of touch with ordinary citizens. The lobbyists are happy, though. Reaganomics is going down in flames and taking the non-wealthy down with it -- which was always the point anyway.
In 1946 president Truman threaten to do just that, to railway workers who were threatening to strike. He evoked the national security interest imperiled by such a strike.
Today, we face economic meltdown, not to mention the world's economy.
I can't think of a more potent national security threat? Can you?
Paulson (+ Geithner, Bernanke, etc) designed this 'Ponzi' scheme (TARP). We understand everyone wanting us to buy more stock in order to keep the market up...fix the system...then we'll have 'confidence' to invest.
And that FIX is simple and oblivious, but everyone seems not to be addressing it directly...
- it's 'Corruption-Corruption-Corruption'.
ie. special interest groups, earmarks, lobbyist, elimination of rules and regulations, the financial sector having contributed over $5.2B to political campaigns, same people who got us in this mess are now tying to get us out (humanly impossible...they will, and have instead spent most of the time & money trying to cover-up the industry's underlining behavior).
Corruption is the 'root' problem here...as it is everywhere. Until that gets fixed first...everything else is redundant...we're just pouring $$$ into the abyss! Wall Street has always been Ponzi Street, and the Golden Rule always applies; 'never invest $$$ you can't afford to lose'.
Fix the 'corruption' - then we'll have 'confidence'.
The solution – 'Transparency-Transparency-Transparency'.
How? Start now Restructuring (nationalize, fix, resell) all these financial institutions - the FDIC does this every day.