The Colossal Bailout of 2009

The Financial Crisis and the federal Reserve

Back in the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson said, “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation then by deflation, the banks and the corporations will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

Jefferson’s words are as valid today as they were in the 18th century. For many years, the American economy has been based on an unsound system of issuing “fiat paper money” printed at will by the Federal Reserve, an organization of large private international banks that Jefferson warned us about. The Fed has kept the economy going by artificially keeping the interest rates low and by selling Treasury Bills to foreign governments like China ($500 billion) which in turn use those securities as leverage to make our government agree to trade and others deals that favor them over American citizens, workers and businesses.

Very rarely is it mentioned that the Federal Reserve is actually a private entity of international bankers who have been given the power to control our monetary system. The Federal Reserve is not accountable to the U.S. Government; and yet the Federal Reserve continues to hold the reins to our monetary system often acting at the behest of large national and international private banks.

Americans have been told for years that our economy was strong and booming. Yet, we find ourselves in the middle of a financial crisis with dire predictions of a possible recession and/or depression coming from leaders in our government, Congress, Wall Street and the big commercial banks. What is the solution these Leaders are proposing behind closed doors? They want to come up with a plan to do the very thing that caused this financial crisis in the first place: they are proposing more government intervention into the free market.

Ever since the Depression, the federal government has involved itself deeply in the national housing market by developing numerous special housing programs to encourage home ownership. Government-sponsored private organizations like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were able to obtain a monopoly position in the mortgage market, especially the mortgage-backed securities market, because of the advantages bestowed upon them by the federal government mostly through government loan guarantees. By coincidence, executives from these two organizations routinely made significant bribes, I mean campaign contributions, to many members of congress to keep these advantages.

Some legislation passed by Congress, such as the Community Reinvestment Act that required banks to make loans to previously underserved segments of their communities, changed the way lending institutions approved loans. Under the threat of legal action from the U.S. Attorney General, federal legislatio

John Wallace of NY @ Sep 28, 2008 15:29:02 PM

Bailout Mania

Bailouts should not be part of our economic philosophy. It leads to the moral hazard that produces systemic risk. When financial institutions are given what is interpreted as automatic guarantees by the federal government against investments gone sour, the natural result is recklessness. Government bailouts breed irresponsibility. "Rescued once, why wouldn't a lending institution expect to be rescued again - especially if it saw itself as too big to fail?" (Sheldon Richman, editor, "The Freeman"). It serves no purpose to cry over spilled milk. The damage is done and is too big to ignore the economic ramaifications. The bailout was necessary to avert an even greater crisis, with a lot of innocent people hurt in the process. But if we've learned anything, our response should be to keep those guys on a short leash and have the federal government get rid of their bailout syndrome.

Jerry Bouthillet of FL @ Sep 21, 2008 20:00:49 PM

The Easy Way Out!!!

Politics is a vocation for lazy people ergo politicians will always seek the easiest, least strenuous method to accomplish any task. For the Republican party the easiest method are bailouts made at taxpayers expense. This is not new as it began years ago with the Lockheed Aircraft bailout during the Nixon administration to the current mortgage failure bailout. The Republican party has a long and distinguished history of causing financial pain via their policies and having taxpayers bail them out. I fear this trend will continue if another Republican is elected this time. Now McCain is no novice to bailouts as he helped cause the S&L bailout but managed to squeeze out with a slap on the hand for poor judgement. Now we must decide whether to elect a junior Senator as President or aseasoned Senator with poor judgement.... Our choice may be the difference between recovery or perpetual bailouts forever!!! Republicans always tae care of their buddies!!!

Ray Fisher of NM @ Sep 21, 2008 12:45:16 PM

The great thing about this bailout ...

is that somebody else pays for it (if you are old enough!). The Swedish example seems right on:

" ... analysis of the Stockholm solution: "In the early 1970s, Sweden had one of the highest income levels in Europe; today, its lead has all but disappeared.... So, even well-managed financial crises don't really have happy endings."

Oh, maybe sometime in 2012 to 2025 those poor tax-payin' suckers will have to foot this bill.

Stop the sniping about Democrat and Republican ... that just shows profound intellectual immaturity. Nearly everybody was involved in buying a 'bigger lifestyle' than they could really afford on credit; every aspect of our private and governmental structure seemed to encourage it as well. We've all created that large suckin' sound.

Tom of WA @ Sep 20, 2008 21:36:54 PM

Obama agrees with the one of the major underlying reasons why this catastrophe occurred

No doubt there was greed at the top that caused this mess, but the greed worked all the way down to people who wanted to buy a home, but couldn't really afford one. Not everyone can afford to own their own home in this country, plain and simple. Obama and many other Democrats (remember Kerry's presidential vow?) believe otherwise even while this bailout total reaches a trillion dollars. Therefore, this radical Shiite will continue to take place especially if Obama becomes president of the U.S.A.

There is NO WAY I want my Congressmen to pass this $700B+ bailout legislation that Bush is proposing. NO, NO, NO!!! Sorry, Biden, but I'm not THAT patriotic.

We seriously need to take our pitchforks and torches to Washington on this one. The value of our dollar is going to plummet if we proceed with this bailout. Why are most of us sitting around just letting this happen? Let your Congressmen know that their jobs are in jeopardy if they support this bailout. That's just the first course of action we should take...

Thanks,

Mo

Mo of NH @ Sep 20, 2008 13:14:13 PM

This one will have a happier ending if we elect our Democrats.

If we elected Strom Thurmond president we wouldn't have all these problems. Democrats Good.

The Dirty Mac of NY @ Sep 19, 2008 23:27:48 PM

You have no clue of

Obama was one of the architects who wanted NINJA (No Income No Job Application) loans. McCain was one of the few who voted for re-regulating the mortgage industry. Get you story straight.

Drew of MO @ Sep 19, 2008 22:26:33 PM

This one will have a happier ending if we elect our Democrats.

Reaganism is and was a crock. It is now being proven.

As for taxpayers buying the bad debt, THE STORY going forward is whether we are getting set up to pay too much for it. Every transaction should be done at a break even or profit to the government. If they buy at 80 cents on the dollar and sell at 50 cents----you are being had. We the taxpayers should not take a cent of loss to hand the profit back to another corporation. If we buy it cheap---WE own it.

of @ Sep 19, 2008 17:00:06 PM