“Im just a no-name reporter, I wish I had nothing to say”… from the song Chaos and Disorder, Prince,1996
In retrospect, it seems that the Enron and WorldCom financial scandals earlier in this decade were only the tip of the financial-system-mess iceberg. Looking back at the deception and fraud at the core of the aforementioned scandals, few among us could have imagined that it would ever get to the current levels of a downward spiraling of the entire financial system. Just think, some of America’s biggest banks, Bank of America and Citgroup, are for all practical purposes, are dead banks walking. Technically, from a financial perspective, they are insolvent. Yes, that means they should be shut-down and their assets (mostly toxic) should be liquidated. However, the worth or non-worth of said assets is so horrible, to sell them off, revealing their true real-time worth would probably be a shock to the fragile American collective psyche. I am not so sure if all of Americans have a good sober perspective in understanding and knowing that the American financial system has been officially crashed. Collusion from checkpoints throughout the financial sector, with greed as its fuel, has led to the demise of Wall Street. The system became too top-heavy(99 percent of money in the hands of 1-percent of the populace) and fell over face first, and no one yelled “timber” until it was lying on the ground. Imagine a building being imploded or exploded. Imagine that the engineers charged with replacing the building with a new one, instead decided to glue back together the building from the now broken bricks and mortar of the old building. Let’s stop right there, for there is no need to take this line of reason further.
I guess we will not know the wisdom of the government’s strategy of capital infusion until down the road, where either the bailout and stimulus plans will have worked or not. This is new territory for the American capitalist system; I just hope that collectively we recognize that sooner than later. The time for denial is past us now. President Obama and team are attempting to solve the financial crisis, but what if the tipping-point has already passed? Is that a thought that you or I can truthfully bear? Maybe not in a full-frontal fashion, but the time is now to begin to fathom it. We Americans are known for our audacity to dream, which may be the reason we are sleepwalking.
-G. Malone a.k.a SubZeroPoet
We as Americans have been asleep at the wheel. A saying come to mind. Actually, its Newton's Third Law: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." And that manifests as sayings and ideas such as "What goes around comes around," "the chickens have come home to roost," and the idea of karma.
ReplyDeleteWe Americans MUST accept responsibility the way we proclaim (falsely at that) how we believe in an American concept born out of capitalist rhetoric of "personal responsibility." Our actions (shop til you drop, consuming stupefying TV shows, movies, and music, buying the next thing (looking at you ipod)) and our inaction have brought what is and what will be.
What will be is a major retraction of our economy. We must learn to live humbly. Very possibly live like our brothers and sisters in teh "3rd world." Lets hope that they do not show us the same level of apathy and hatred that we did them as we used them and exploited them to suck them dry of their natural resources like leeches just so we could maintain out unsustainable lifestyle.
A depression far worse than the Great one is coming. One that we will not come out of for 15 years. And that is what I'm FINALLY hearing out of the mainstream. But, hey, w got our ipods, plasmas, designer clothes, and fine dining out of our free ride on the backs of those we exploited. Nows our turn to be ridden. You reap what you sow. Own up and accept responsibility for what you bring upon yourself. Now, through the crisis that is upon us, our lack of proactivity is obvious. So, go out learn about WHY this crisis is happening, OUR history, and what we have done to other people (and why they hate us. Its not really in their genes. They are more rational than us.) Read my friends, turn off the damn boobtube. Learn a hobby other than facebook and being a voyeur of life. Sorry to those who may be offended but there were people who tried to warn the masses but of course they wanted it sugar coated and spoonfed to them nicely. Now, is the time for the cold harsh truth and you don't have the sweet old time to do it at your own pace. Unless you want to let this nation be robbed further by the elites who have pulled your strings and laugh as you allow them to be funneled more money as they offshore it to their new homeland. They have no allegiance to you or me. Just to the almighty dollar. Gotta love this religion called capitalism! PEACE. - Imran imranali777@yahoo.com
ps And thanks for opening up a discussion Gerry.
Imran, thank you for your comments. You touched upon something I did not in my post -- the history of how we became to be the largest governmental economy in the world. This is indeed sort of the sobering look at who we are that is much needed among our fellow citizens. This introspective look at who we are will not be easy, I just hope that anger is not an impediment to having an enlightened discussion. It is important that we remember that rather we like it or not, we are in this together.
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