America was conned - who will pay?

[tbyg52]

Bear Stearns marks the moment when the global financial crisis went critical. Up until last Friday, it had been possible - just about - to believe that the worst was over and that things were about to get better. That pretence was stripped away when JP Morgan, at the behest of the Federal Reserve, stepped in when the hedge funds pulled the plug on the fifth-biggest US investment bank.

It is now clear that no end is in sight to the turmoil, and the reason for that is that the Fed and the US treasury are no closer to solving the underlying problem than they were eight months ago. The crisis will only end when house prices stop falling and banks stop racking up huge losses on their loans. Doing that, however, will require the US government to intervene directly in the real estate market to end the wave of foreclosures. Ideologically, it is ill-equipped to take that step and, as a result, property prices will fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on.

Ultimately, though, action will be taken because there will be political pressure for it. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising that there is not already rioting in the streets, given the gigantic fraud perpetrated by the financial elite at the expense of ordinary Americans.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/17/economics.useconomy

[acmavm]

1. Printed by the Guardian. Not an American news outlet. A British

news outlet.

[tbyg52]

3. Well, yeah - what's the "real news" ratio between US and overseas sources....? nt

[enid602]

2. "who will pay?"

The same people who paid when the USSR fell; us peasants.

[Speck Tater]

4. There is no "rioting in the streets" simply because

the average American is asleep at the wheel and doesn't have a clue that anything is wrong. They're all so wrapped up in American Idol and NASCAR and their favorite sports team that they are barely conscious of anything real in their world.

[superkia]

5. I thought of a song from 1997 called snooze button, when you...

said American's are asleep at the wheel. Seems that we never open our ears, we as a society are so dumbed down, controlled and full of false pride and we have no clue.


Well, it's just another song
Talkin' about how you let them take your rights
Another redundant verse about how you refused to fight & lost
What cost? your cause has got no champion
How could you hope to win? by just complaining
Now it's raining on you parade
Decisions made could cost you dearly
Not just your money but your freedom
Are you wealthy improper choices could be deadly
They took your so-called rights
You didn't even fight

Well, here's your motherfuckin' wake up call
& there just ain't no way around it
Caught you asleep once again & we ain't havin' it
Got freedumb for you to do just what they tell you
You missed that train of thought
You refuse to be taught a lesson
Now this is what i'm guessing
You'll be held accountable
The things you didn't want to know
You're stressin'
Now with your mind they keep messin'
They took your so-called rights, you didn't even fight

While you were busy fuckin' sleepin'
You know your government was creepin'
Somebody left the door unlocked while you were asleep
Your life was bought & sold, yes, to the highest bidder
Left you in sitcom hell
So convinced you're doing well
You sit back synapses are attacked
American gladiators are the only thing they're given' back
You're dying & in your mind, while they keep lying,
They took your so-called rights
You didn't even fight

Now that we've given you this message you've got a mess
But you can salvage, continue to grow
& soon you'll know that little things in life can make a difference
You don't got to be some politician
Take back those given rights
Stand up & join the fight

[yurbud]

6. and everyone has been convinced that it's their fault not the scammers

[Trillo]

8. Perhaps there's another way of looking at that phenomenon.

You, and others (not singling you out), claim that 'Americans are asleep', lulled into near REM by too much TV, therefore they don't know that anything is wrong.

Perhaps a more accurate way, or at least a different way, of characterizing the observation is that Americans have 'gone to sleep' because they know that nearly everything is wrong.

[fasttense]

7. The con was planned when the Dancing Supremes selected our

president for us.

The bush deregulated and ignored policy, out and out violated laws and broke the Constitution to ensure every con artist could play their games with 300 million American citizens. Oh wait, we're not American citizens, voters, consumers or markets, we are less than that, we are nothing but marks.

The reveal has come and gone and half the marks haven't even realized they have been conned, big time. When it finally dawns on the rest of us, there wont be republican left in office.

[elleng]

10. There won't be

anything BUT Republicans left in office.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3020596

[leftrightwingnut]

9. "Ideologically, it is ill-equipped to take that step...

... and, as a result, property prices will fall and the financial meltdown will go on and on."

If you thought Katrina was bad, hold on. It's a long way down.