"... On Aug 2, 1:11 pm, Chris Jenkins <[email protected]> wrote: ..."
> What abyss would that be, Gruff? An abyss of bonuses? No but the bonuses would go down the abyss too. I was postulating a situation where no one did anything. Every government just sat by and did nothing to bail the banks and major industries out. Can you imagine a cascading of western governments, banks and businesses into bankruptcy? I can easily see riots, looting, massive violent demonstrations, loss of civil rights, martial law and a severe enough blow to take us decades to climb out of. Societies might revert to a law of the street society of the twenties. Flappers and all. Religion would have a vast resurgence and there'd be plenty of repentant sinners eager to do the word of god. Yeah, we'd definitely slip back more than a step or two. > > <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/pers-a01.shtml>And it's not like > that actually solved the problems... The bonuses are nothing new. They were exposed earlier this year and explained away. I thought the explanation shameful but then what do I know. I expected some of the executives that were complicit in the bubble to step up and pay their due ... but I guess not. I also expected the oil companies to step up and bail out their partners in crime, the auto manufacturers and related industries. Disappointed again. I'm still a believer but I'm also still a realist. There will be and in fact are ripoffs at all levels throughout the recovery, just as there were those who benefited from the fall. The system isn't at fault. People are. People use the system to work their connivances and larcenies. They'd use any system. But here I'm going to revert to my old 51/49 defense. We are moving forward, just at an overall snails pace because it's a lot of steps forward to recover losses before we see gains. So I still have faith in global fiat free-market capitalist economics. We just have to learn to protect ourselves from ourselves. I think we're getting better at it. And don't forget, this is really our first time since the new economy started (1971) that we've had a big fall and in that span of time we've quadrupled the wealth of the developed world (and only lost back a fraction of it to The Big Bubble.) > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31aig.html?hp > > <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31aig.html?hp>But hey, at least > there's...oh, right, bonuses... The more we dig the more dirt is going to be uncovered. There's little doubt of that, but it highlights one of the brighter aspects of the recovery. A lot of the dead weight will have been pruned away making for a sleeker more functional economy. But over time I expect it will become once again laden with more dead weight as larceny works its way with us. > > http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/2009/07/30/cuomo-releases-ugly...LINK > FAILS > > The Fed will make it all better though... One hopes so anyway. I have faith in the Fed as well and as long as Congress doesn't get its hands on it. > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/dylan-ratigan-eliot-spitz_n_... LINK > FAILS AGAIN > > I mean, as long as we know where the money's going. No one would throw > around Trillions and not keep track of it, right? Oh, I'll bet a paper and electronic trail could be found. People don't do things without leaving a trail no matter how hard they might try to cover it up. At some point they have to reclaim their ill gotten loot and that's when they get snatched, especially since it appears that a lot of the heretofore safe havens for trillions in untraceables are disappearing and a lot of that hidden money comes back into the system. I've got this theory I'm working on which says that if all taxes illegally avoided were returned to the system and all the monies lost to fraud were recovered we could pay for Bush's war, all of Obama's plans and have spare change left over. > Sorry, this bailout has been one big scam, front to back, and we've all been > had. All I can say is wait and see. I'm not saying it'll be perfect. There'll be a lot of scams go on and a lot of just standard government bureaucratic bullshit which will cost money ... after all the government is really run by bureaucrats who can delay and obfuscate with the best of them. I'd rather deal with a politician than a mid- level bureaucrat any day. There is something about government work that calcifies the thinking centers of the brain. But overall, the bail out will be successful. I'm certain of it. And in the end the deficit will more than likely turn out not to be the big bugaboo everyone seems to think it will be. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
