Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 2:16am

One Percent/End the Fed (Nader-Paul, Paul-Nader American Presidency!)

I just watched the documentary “One Percent” with my wife and I have been reading Ron Paul’s book – End the Fed. Very interesting points of contact and dissonance between the two viewpoints.

I recommend both the documentary and the book. The problem in our half-Capitalist/half-Socialist system is that the push is on to go with one or the other extreme, but what happens in reality is that those with the most political clout seem to get the money at the end of the day. So the very wealthy investor class member has found a way to get government to print up money to cover the biggest of losses, and enough extra money is spread around giving people some unemployment bail out monies, dubious temporary stimulus paychecks, and other little social service type funds- so that no one wants to completely overturn the current establishment. So we get these crazy swings from establishment Democrats to establishment Republicans, with little Nader/Green movements on the Left and little Tea Parties on the Right, attracting the really pissed off segments of the politically-minded populace. What would happen if Ralph Nader or Ron Paul actually became President would be anybody’s guess- I actually think I would vote for them as a ticket- they seem to have the right intentions, they are both smart and have compassionate sides, and I think they need each other.

Ralph Nader is too enamored with the government’s ability to regulate the bad guys, and Ron Paul is too fearful of political authorities role in ensuring the common good- which is the only reason for having political authority in the first place. They are both very good at identifying the wastefulness of most of the wars that now seem to be perpetual, and they both see that the little guys in this country and around the world are basically getting shafted by the global economy as managed by the big Trade Organizations (WTO, NAFTA et al) and World Bank/IMF supra-national, non-democratic power entities. Both Nader-Paul are hostile to the Big Banks and Multinational Corporations that either corrupt or use the governmental representatives of our nation. The Statist Nader and the Libertarian Paul would be a compelling team for me because they seem at different times to fit into the advice I find in reading the Catholic social doctrine- the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, the proper roles for political authorities and the role of business and free enterprise. The Wall Street princes would be reduced in powers by either regulating and watch dogging them or by bypassing them with small business interests hooking up with other global small business interests and eliminating the myriad of middle-men, those politically-connected, and the manipulators of currency and stock/futures paper markets.

I want to see some combination of Mr.Smith Goes to Washington-types bringing traditional moral beliefs, and a loathing of corruption that turns the General Welfare clause of the Preamble of our Constitution into a cruel joke among politicians; along with the Jimmy Stewart character in “It’s a Wonderful Life” a solid man of the community, a businessman and banker, who puts capital into play for the working middle-class to improve their lot- own homes, educate kids, take pride in self and community, allowing for public works where you don’t have to be rich to have access to the leisure time that is productive and wholesome for traditional families to flourish. Ralph Nader reminds me of Mr.Smith and Ron Paul reminds me of “It’s a Wonderful Life” economics 101. A dream team for me but I don’t think America is desperate enough to move outside their mainstream Dem/Republican boxes- I’m about to leave my Dem box in the near future- more on that later.

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restrainedradical
Monday, May 17, AD 2010 1:39am

The little guy is getting shafted by the World Bank?

Today’s little guy will usually be the least prepared to weather economic changes. Tomorrow’s little guy has the most to gain but he doesn’t know it yet. Thus, the appeal of protectionism. It’s better to aid the adversely affected than to shield them.

Lots of little guys depend on big banks and multinationals.

Both Nader and Paul are experts at proposing the wrong solutions to the right problems. I was swept up in the Ron Paul Revolution in 2008 but I’ve recovered. My biggest issue with him is that, to my knowledge, he’s never articulated how he expects to pay for anything.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, May 17, AD 2010 6:53am

So the very wealthy investor class member has found a way to get government to print up money to cover the biggest of losses, and enough extra money is spread around giving people some unemployment bail out monies, dubious temporary stimulus paychecks, and other little social service type funds- so that no one wants to completely overturn the current establishment.

For the record, the folks receiving ‘bailouts’ thus far are as follows:

1. The Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

2. Citigroup and the Bank of America.

3. Chrysler and General Motors

4. The American International Group.

5. Miscellaneous finance and insurance companies who received access to the soft loan windows opened by the Treasury department and the Federal Reserve.

The last were ancillary beneficiaries. The shareholders of the American International Group saw their stake in the company diluted to the tune of 80%. It was the creditors of AIG who were bailed out. That would be institutions like Citigroup who bought credit default swaps from Mr. Cassano’s outfit, and miscellaneous others.

The shareholders of Citigroup saw the value of their holdings fall by more than 90%, and those of Bank of America more than 60%. Who got paid in full were the owners of bank bonds. Bank bonds are owned by insurance companies and pension funds, whose clientele may be affluent as a rule, but far from ‘very wealthy’.

The shareholders and owners of mortgage backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac likely are an affluent crew, maybe even ‘very wealthy’. Commercial banks held about a quarter of the outstanding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt, and commercial banks have depositors. Sovereign wealth funds held another large bloc, so defaulting would likely create a political problem with the Far East. Please recall that these are leftover New Deal programs and that efforts by the Bush Administration to reform their accounting practices and increase their capital cushions were sabotaged by Barney Frank, whose boy toy was a Fannie Mae official. Frank ‘cares’ about housing, dont’cha know.

The Chrysler and General Motors deals were a gift bestowed upon the United Auto Workers, whose clientele are certainly better off than the average American, but not ‘very wealthy’.

The folks who were bailed out were those whose defaults might generate systemic problems and those who had connections. The latter are not the generically wealthy, ‘very’ or not.

They are both very good at identifying the wastefulness of most of the wars that now seem to be perpetual,

Identify for me a bloc of years prior to 1940 when there was not armed conflict in progress somewhere on the globe.

If you are speaking about the United States in particular, we have not been subject to a general mobilization since 1945. In the intervening 64 years, we were at war for 3 years in Korea, 8 years in Indo-China, < 1 year over Kuwait, and 8 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would be about a third of the time, which falls short of 'perpetual'. The wars in Korea, Kuwait, and Afghanistan were initiatives of the other party without qualification and none of our opponents in any of these wars were of the character of the Hapsburg or Hohenzollern empires.

and they both see that the little guys in this country and around the world are basically getting shafted by the global econom

Yeah, they are being shafted by reductions in excise taxes on imports.

Phil
Phil
Monday, May 17, AD 2010 9:17am

I certainly agree with both men in the video. Both parties are owned by the same people behind the scenes. It is easy for us to fall in lockstep with that idea because we hear that American Electorate process is so civil and gives the people real choices.

The more I learn what it means to be Catholic, the more I reject our broken political process. I really can’t believe my choices last year were John McCain and Obama just like people were forced to choose between Bush and Gore. Believe what you will, but they are all the same people. They are basically owned.

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