Why did I vote for President Obama? I trusted him, and I still do. Why do so many Americans want Elizabeth Warren in a position of power and financial decision-making? Because they trust her to tell them the truth and do right by them. Why is the Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus (who earns around 400 euros per month) trusted by millions around the world, yet the CEOs, CFOs and Presidents of major financial institutions are not only not trusted, they are despised? It all comes down to trust. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. And I don't want to be fooled again. Neither do 300 million Americans. Neither does much of the rest of the world.
In other words, we are over these guys in suits with their private jets and trophy wives. We are over the tennis buddy behind the scenes deal making insider information trading buying our politicians and leaving us with the bill and our president with a mess to clean up...it stops now.
Ironically, the very word for "credit" credire...means to believe in or trust. Trust is behind the entire concept of banking. What do the poorest of the poor in Muhammad Yunus Microcredit world and the wealthiest financial institutions have in common? Access to credit with no collateral to back up the loans. Yet the poorest of the poor in the Grameen Bank world pay back at rates as high as 99%. Those big banks not only did not pay back, they took from us and paid themselves bonuses. Hmmm...guess they aren't very good bankers are they? Because they have destroyed the very trust they need to get us to give them our money, invest it and give us something back. It feels like they are, well, stealing our money doesn't it?
Perhaps the reason there is still trust in Dr Yunus' world is because 98% of the poorest of the poor Grameen borrowers who are trying to make better lives for themselves and their children are women? Yunus noticed that women paid back better than the men, and used the money and profits from their small businesses to help their families so he focused on loaning to them. It is looking like most of the mess in the Western financial world is being caused by a handful of men, men with inflated egos, Narcissists so removed from how most people live their lives that one begins to feel that they actually believe they are somehow not entirely human.
But the fact is, they are human, just like all of the rest of us. And we simply do not trust them anymore, and most likely never will again. So let's get the investors and board members and depositors to change things, shake it up, remove these guys and put some women in charge, and those in whom we actually have trust again.
Then and only then will America have a banking system worth believing in, and until then, well, it's pretty much Us against Them. And I have a pretty strong feeling They are going to Lose. Because there are more of us, and we actually are rediscovering our power both politically and economically. Move your money. Call your representatives. Educate your children about the political process. Rebuild your communities and help those in need. There are so many people not finding work after losing their jobs. There is so much good will and energy among young people who want to remain optimistic about their future. America will be whole again and it will be even better now that we have woken up from this fantasy.
Turn off the TV. Dust off your bicycle. Have a block party and get to know your neighbors. Grow a garden. Learn to cook really healthy meals. Spend time with your partner and children. Read! It is time to slow down and rethink things. Use this time wisely. Become informed about the world. You are more powerful than you know. You can make a decision and act on it. Once you shift your perspective and take action, everything begins to shift. If we all do it together, a wave of good will and rebuilding will take root. It already is.
P.S. -- After taking a real vacation this summer, turning off the cell phone and disconnecting from email, I realized how very important it is to make time for doing nothing in order to come back re-energized and with new ideas. Check out some of them here.
And at Vigilante-vnm.com and on Twitter
Follow Vivian Norris de Montaigu on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vivigive
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http://www
Gordon Gekko Reborn - Project Syndicate
"...Fourth
values. Greed has to be controlled by fear of loss, which derives from
knowledge that the reckless institutio
out. The systematic bailouts of the latest crisis - however necessary
to avoid a global meltdown - worsened this moral-haza
only were "too big to fail" financial institutio
distortion has become worse as these institutio
financial-
big to fail, it is too big and should be broken up.
Unless we make these radical reforms, new Gordon Gekkos - and Charles
Ponzis - will emerge. For each chastised and born-again Gekko - as the
Gekko in the new Wall Street is - hundreds of meaner and greedier ones will be born."
William K. Black should be appointed as a special prosecutor to investigat
Mr. Black's testimony starts at 14:20 and ends at 22:14 of this video:
http://www
2008 Lehman Brothers Failure, Panel 4 - C-SPAN Video Library
More at:
http://www
Bill Moyers Journal . William K. Black on Fraud | PBS
How about taking the energy behind all the anger in these comments and creating stronger networks of Trust between all of Us who are not screwing up our world???!! There are More of Us than there are of Them. If all they do is piss you off, make you fear the future then the Bastards have won!!!
But they have not won. They have to live with being themselves for the rest of their lives. Most of their children know something is wrong with them. Their wives don't really love them and if they lost their money tomorrow they would have no friends no wife and no life!!! Don't know about the rest of you but I think those of us who can be trusted are the truly wealthy ones. We have friends, families and communitie
I think Obama was found by market-res
It's all a matter of lesser and greater evils.
"C - R - I - M - E."
And let me insert an "H" word in front of it:
"H - I - G - H."
You will, of course, find that phrase in Article 2 Section 4 of our Constituti
We are not simply faced with "restoring trust." We are combating Organized Crime.
Swindling. Usury. Extortion. Securities Fraud. Money laundering
All of it made possible by the High Crime of Bribery, which brazenly walks around the streets of D.C. wearing coats like "lobbying,
This is not "a crisis" to be "healed from," Vivian. This is a massive, highly organized and well entrenched Crime that must neverthele
It has produced 310 million Plaintiffs
Short of this unpreceden
Elections have consequenc