Okay, think of it this way darlin’.
We have our choice in banks right? Yup, but can we do ANYTHING without having an account with a bank? Can we buy a car? A house? Can we shop on the internet? Can we get any sort of credit if we keep our money in a shoe box, or under our mattress? No, we are forced to keep our money in a bank, where it collects interest and makes the rich people who own said banks, even richer. It’s the illusion of choice. Oh yay, I get to choose which bank gets to rape me in the ass and steal my money!!! Whoopie!! What’s the only company that makes money during a war? That’s right, Banks. We don’t have a choice. We HAVE to keep our hard earned paper with the banks.
Being in debt, for most of your life, is no different then slavery.
It must be nice for the IMF, to produce “cash” out of thin air, back it with nothing, and “save” countries economies from collapse.
They, and the WB, did a great job introducing “Reaganomics” (give the rich even more money, and it will trickle down to the masses through job creation) to Africa. Look how well it worked in creating a plutocracy… And now Alan Greenspan is saying he made a mistake, and they needed more government regulation, and he was wrong… because nobody accounts for greed. Greaaaaaaaaat.
Capitalism has zero loyalty, all it cares about is profit. When a society become too fat, smart, and healthy to make that profit, it moves on, looking for other “opportunities” to exploit.
They moved on last decade…
We’re starting to feel the effects now…
peace
LOL. If you understand the history behind banks you’d realize that they’ve never hidden the fact that their main purpose is to provide credit and interest on deposits.
Banks used to just be a rich merchant sitting in Florence with a table and an expensive rug over-top the table. Less fortunate entrepreneurs could come to these bankers and be issued “notes” that were literally just written statements promising whoever the entrepreneur presented the note to that it would be backed up by the person or family in charge of that bank.
On the flip side, a richer merchant could go to the banks and let them hold their money–keeping it safe from thieves while also gaining interest on the deposits.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Bubbasteve. Yes–banking might SEEM easy to you–it might SEEM like the money just flows in, but it’s considerably more complicated than that.
The reason banks get bailouts on Wall Street isn’t JUST to reinforce the banks, but much more importantly to ensure that OUR deposits retain their value! During the Great Depression people didn’t suddenly have all their money vanish out of their wallets–the banks failed, so their money became worthless.
It’s much easier and simple minded to suggest that it’s the capitalist system’s fault that we have recessions, but we’d have them were we capitalist or communist. It’s a principle of economy. Whether by famine, overpopulation, disease, etc–all our economic ups are followed by downs.
Oh-about the cake. You’re welcome to keep your money in a shoebox, Bubba. No one is stopping you, and no one you encounter will turn down cash. However, if you want to earn interest, utilize personal credit, and have the peace of mind that your money is in a vault rather than in your closet–you have to use the bank, even if you’re not thrilled that your money might be used to protect the bank in the event of a recession.
The problem with modern banks, no money to back up the debt they have lent out. That is why a “run on the banks” can cause an economies to fail.
Capitalism is not a nice or fair system. It is greedy, cold, uncaring, and when it is working properly, the rich get richer, and poverty is created, so it continusouly has someone desperate enough to exploit for six cents a day. Don’t blame the crack-head on the corner for crime… go after the bankers, who charged interest, on what is essentially worthless paper backed by nothing, so that a very few humans could become “rich”. I understand why people self medicate with legal and illegal drugs. Some people can’t cope with the stress attributed to the rising cost of living, while making a slave wage, are looking for any kind of desperate relief. It is a maddening system, and it can be changed.
President Andrew Jackson is the only American President who ever “broke the banks”.
Look it up.
And wealth is NEVER destroyed, just transferred, usually up.
I do not belive for one second that Warren Buffet is the richest man in the world… That is what Forbes magazine would like us to believe.
I prefer history…
Oh, and what good is a wheelbarrow full of money, when the corporation who controls your food supply, wants two wheelbarrows?
peace
You may not have been able to grasp that there’s a recession on or about to start by the number of huge TVs pouring out of Costco and Future Shop in PG this Sunday.
Of course, some people have an attitude of resignation. Lost the job, gonna lose the house, just make minumum payments on the VIsa and just before the shit hits the fan, MAX THE SUCKER and file bankruptcy.
How do we fix this mess?
A good start would be taxing the crap out of the filthy rich, close loopholes, and go after tax-free offshore havens. And, I’m not talking about people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and think they have money, I mean the RICH. And when they wine and cry and threaten to leave the country, don’t give in, and tell them they will be welcome back, when they stop exploiting others, for a bunch of worthless paper. No other country in the world has as many resources as we do, and is as peaceful as ours, so, making money here should be seen as a privilege, not a right. If you think you have right to exploit without regulations and the rule of law, then you are not a capitalist, you are a criminal, and it’s looking like more and more of them are bankers and brokers.
Oh, I used to travel back to the “old country” when I was a kid. “Yugoslavia” was labeled a “communist country” according to western media. I remember items like Coke, and Levis were available to the masses. They were just more expensive due to trade tariffs, but still accessible. Free enterprise was everywhere, and the middle class ruled. You had private property, and freedom of religion. I don’t recall seeing people on the street, because the government funded programs and made sure institutions were available for those who needed them. And, you were free to come and go as you pleased.
If you believe everything your told by the media, you deserve what you get.
Look up President Andrew Jackson, the only Pres who paid off the debt, and broke the banks…
It all started, with the “greenback”.
Last one was pulled out of circulation 1994.
Any idea’s how we get out of this mess?
I’m trying…
peace.
My dad and I moved from a former part of Yugoslavia, that is now Croatia.
I was about 6 years old when communism was cut of out the system, therefore causing all that terrible warfare there.
My dad, to this day, says when the country was communist, it was the best time.
Of course, it has its disadvantages but people were happy.
At the present time, my family there is having trouble making ends meet.
The economy has become crap; everything is ruled by some rich old farts.
It’s all so corrupt…people are getting assassinated in bright daylight.
It’s so sad to see such a beautiful country fall apart. I’m happy I am here.
As far as Communist dictatorships go, the former Yugoslavia is notably the “best” (it’s a bad word) of all the satellite states, simply because they fought tooth and nail to remain as independent from the former USSR as possible.
Yugsoslavia took part in the Marshall Plan, as well as received money from the IMF and World Bank, unlike the other Eastern European communist nations.
One can argue that Yugoslavia was able to stay partway outside the iron curtain specifically because of western credit, and western bank assistance.
So, bottom line, Yugoslavia did as well as it did, in part, because there WERE capitalist policies and principles in place, not because there weren’t any.
So when we Fort people barricade Hwy16 for a day, you’re going to understand and not go all Bosnian-Serb on our asses are you?
I mean we’re all for the port expansion, but NO MORE RAW LOGS.
Just held our 2nd public Stand Up meeting and it wasn’t full of unemployed mill workers. You should have seen the Who’s Who showing up. If I was Gordon Campbell, I’d really start worrying… be a shame to do all the work and not be Premier in 2010 wouldn’t it?
When you hold a Forestry Round Table in town and the only word to come out was that NOTHING got accomplished and everyone left pissed off…
And I had a discussion with someone in Terrace today about the hidden costs of this continued downturn. You know, family breakups, divorce. Daddy off to Alberta so they can keep the house, but Mommy’s in the loonie bin dealing with the kids, etc.
I had to mention the Town Pantry closing here. Well a friend of mine worked there. They closed down Sunday. On Monday her daughter came home, made dinner and went to wake her up. She FUCKING DIED of a heart attack in her sleep.
Don’t tell me losing her job had nothing to do with it!
Oh, I guess I didn’t really say what I meant regarding Yugoslavia. What I was meant was that just because Yugoslavia did better than other satelite states of the former USSR, it doesn’t mean that communism will fix the problems on Wall Street…
