Scary stuff…

Speaking of robbery from Social Security (and Medicare / Medicaid; the thieves speak of “entitlements” and “mandatory programs” when they’re eying these particular huge, lightly guarded pots of cash), author and Goldman Sachs biggie Bob Hormats along with a bevy of war planners from the American Enterprise Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, and other deep thinkers want to divert these resources to defraying the costs of America’s overseas military deployments. One of several smoking guns (high on the list is Hormat’s book!) is a June AEI seminar. I’ve got links under this August 6th post which include unannotated Doom transcripts of the whole two hours. I really need to finish an annotated version to put up as a Doom page, this stuff’s important.

That does not let these crooks off the hook in any way. First order of business is to protect ourselves so we need to identify the crooked ones and move our money out of their control. It may be easier to identify the honest fiduciary’s. Then we expose the crooks to the masses and watch the pitch forks and torches come out of the shed. Naw, never happen, J6P is too content for now and any attempt to expose this game will be covered up or assassinated. That’s how they have played this game since I was born. I guess it is up to each of us to protect what we have from them if we can. I just get all excited when I think of the possibility of a just and honest world. Sorry to have lost my head for a moment.

Those “greater fools” are likely to be 401k planholders, mutual fund clients, pensioners, insurance policy holders, and institutional investors like medical and educational endowments — in short, anyone who has money being held by some fiduciary that these fraudsters can corrupt. The State Street situation is especially alarming.

While we sleep, the pools of money set aside for our future security will likely be looted to save billionaires. There is only a tiny handful of people (Ambrose at the UK Telegraph is one) who is engaged throwing light on the process.

“Prudential Sues State Street Over Client Fund Losses”, by Josh P. Hamilton and Hugh Son, Bloomberg, October 1, 2007.

Prudential Financial Inc., the second- largest U.S. life insurer, sued State Street Corp. over mortgage related losses affecting 28,000 retirement plan clients. Reimbursing them will cost Prudential $80 million before taxes.

I saw something that gave me hope the other day. I was on a thread on Broker Outpost, and several of them were boasting about who had the oldest, paid for vehicle. There’s getting to be an attitude of I was frugal, when frugal wasn’t cool

I’m hoping it catches on.

Reminds me of the “new economy” BS that was bandied about during the dot bomb peak and crash. IMHO this debacle is collapsing under it’s own weight. It is a financial train wreck and statements like Glassman’s and even actions by the Fed will prove to be insufficient to bring it to a halt. They may, however, be able to slow it down marginally and allow fraudsters and banksters to find a few greater fools on the way down.

Here is an example of how not to stop the madness. This banking analyst (not to be confused with neo-con cheerleader James K. Glassman) is telling an OK audience that everything is just ducky, and there’s no real reason to save.

“Banker cites consumer change”, by Laurie Winslow, Tulsa World, October 4, 2007.

Before 1985, consumer spending grew in line with income, and people saved more. Now, consumer spending has been growing about a half percent faster than income, while household savings, which used to be about 10 percent, are close to zero.
…

“My guess is that in five years we’ll look back and realize we’re in a transition — that the consumer we knew for 20 years is coming to an end,” said Jim Glassman, a managing director with JPMorgan Chase.
…

The equity market understands that the Fed has a lot of flexibility to respond to threats, Glassman said. When the credit market upheaval began, many people thought the stock market was doomed, and yet it wasn’t.

The stock market is telling people that the fundamentals look good, Glassman said.

How can we stop the madness?

April

http://confessionsofamadprofessor.blogspot.com

I finally convinced her to file for early SS benefits when she had maxed-out her credit and I had to start sending her money to live.

She’d tell me, “Well, I’m gonna start looking for a job”. After 4 years of sitting on her butt with no other income (3 nightmare husbands in a row, all divorced & dead), and having already spent all the money she had been flush with over the years, she finally resigned to the fact her easy-money days were over.

I’m the oldest and have 3 other siblings, all of whom are hopelessly lost in the ‘Merikan Nightmare as well…*SIGH*

After re-parenting myself in my 20s I became self-sufficient and debt-free finally in my 30s and will remain that way, but it seems I did so just as the looters and moochers are kicking in high-gear.

Not a fun time to be in the USA for a honest, self-sufficient business owner…

Most upsetting were the college kids who committed suicide. Of course they should have to pay the money back, but it was just too much. What a sad world.

That’s OK- I should have mentioned the title anyway.

Get it on Netflix if you don’t want to watch the whole thing on your PC.

What this video brought home to me was the relationships between addicts, pushers and their enablers.

Ultimately the responsibility for staying straight lies with the addict- but we still try and keep the pushers off the streets to protect the young and vulnerable. Then as anyone who’s dealt with an addict knows- it’s hard to get them straight with enablers in their lives.

Debt has become an addiction in the US, and borrowers need to take responsibility for their actions. That said, I remember when it was decided to take the cigarette ads off of TV. Now I listen to the radio ads advocating, Unlock the equity in your house for that vacation you’ve always dreamed of! and I think that it’s going to be hard to get borrowers on the path to solvency without reigning in the pushers and enablers as well.

When will America wake up?

I was blown away, could not stop watching… it is extremely powerful. If the American people finally wake up to what is happening to them, then we better be prepared for a horrific revolution. The video brings into stark detail the suffering that is finally coming to the surface for all of us to see. It will not be long before everyone will be directly impacted by the coming economic storms.

I had mixed feelings throughout the video. Tears of sadness and deep grief for those in the film who had lost everything including their loved ones, was mixed with intense anger and disgust at those who perpetuate the suffering for their own benefit. I also had to remind myself that much of the blame also lies with the fraility of the human condition. This generation was raised on being accustomed to living with debt beyond our means. We became hooked on debt, and we have been too naive to recognize that it has been taking our lives slowly but surely.

This video is a sad commentary about what we have done to ourselves with getting into this predicament. Unfortunately, the video can do very little to provide much of a glimpse of the terrifying state that we will now be heading.