This gives me hope, Karma is a B!tch

[livin'thesim]

Fractional reserve lending is a big part of the problem, and one that is little understood by most.

The deregulation of the financial sector has been a major reason why so many people are poor.

From the previous post, a home could never even reach $42 million without the financial system we have in place.

The equitable distribution of wealth is another important issue, but without examining the issue of how and where money comes from, it is impossible to correct inequities in the distribution of wealth.

Most people don't know where money even comes from; open up your wallet and take out a $1 bill.

When did that dollar get called into being? Not printed, we can look at the date to find that out.

But when a dollar bill gets printed, it is often replacing an old worn-out one. how about the dollar you have? Is it a replacement, or a new dollar that never existed before?

The way in which the Treasury creates money is the reason why we have so many citizens struggling to get by.

I recommend a paper called "The Mystery of Banking", by Murray Rothbard. It is in .pdf form, and easily found with google.

 

[Max Powers]

As used as an excuse on the other thread, well "that's their job." I do not go along with the idea that "greed" got us in this mess, although it was a contributing factor and the Press is sure hesitant to blame the real causes:

• Folks buying houses they could not afford then deciding simply not to pay back the loans (although many have the ability to pay) once the investment went upside down.How is this not "greed". THen ask yourself how they got approved for those mortgages? The answer: Greedy banks/mortgage brokers gave them the loans anyway they could(lie about income etc) then sold the loans in the form of CDO or collateralized debt obligations to unsuspecting countries/investors; but not before morning star lied about the credit rating of these CDO. If that Ain't greed i don't know what is.
  
• The government failing to enforce the rules that were on the books, despite repeated warnings. The number of notices the regulators received on Madoff with no action taken is just astounding. That IS the government's job. They simply were too lazy and too incompetent to perform the task. Madoff and Standford weren't greedy either than? What is your point?

Frankly, we need ambition to get us out of this mess. We need people to produce, sell and buy with the intent of making money. A socialist government with a communist economic system will work about as well as it has in Russia. For a better reference, look at the change in the Southern Philippines since the Americans left.

By reading your last paragraph I can now see you are a Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh butt buddy. Please carry on, sorry I wasted my time on you........You can go back to fox news.

 

[Scope out RJ's]

By reading your last paragraph I can now see you are a Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh butt buddy. Please carry on, sorry I wasted my time on you........You can go back to fox news.

And you back to the fractionals forum.
But please, do stop back when you have less time! I'm sure the guys/gals at flops are waiting for you!

 

[livin'thesim]

Max powers-

It was a failure on the part of congress for years to stop the imbalances, both parties were at fault.

And I'm not sure that saying that we need to become a manufacturing powerhouse again is all that partisan of a comment. Manufacturing gives a nation's currency its value.

And some level of free markets is needed to encourage business. Should businesses operate without intent to make a profit?

 

[samballs]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=7111098&page=1

Heres another one, deserved what he got. Screw USA, save no money, overspend, you deliver pizza

 

[Max Powers]

And you back to the fractionals forum.
But please, do stop back when you have less time! I'm sure the guys/gals at flops are waiting for you!

I don't work for flight ops. Not that it really matters.

 

[Max Powers]

Max powers-

It was a failure on the part of congress for years to stop the imbalances, both parties were at fault. True everyone should take their blame. But don't forget who was in charge the past 8 years. I know where the buck stops in this country. W - pushed hard for deregulation of the financial banking world. W, much to the chagrin of democrats, allowed CDOs in the mortgage backed securities world.

And I'm not sure that saying that we need to become a manufacturing powerhouse again is all that partisan of a comment. Manufacturing gives a nation's currency its value. I never said " we need to become a manufacturing powerhouse again". Lets be honest those unskilled labor jobs are forever lost to China and Viet Nam. Do we really want our citizens making nikes behind a sewing machine? No we want our children and citizens making high tech hard to build components.

And some level of free markets is needed to encourage business. Should businesses operate without intent to make a profit? What is your point here?????? Whenever have I said I'm not for the free market? Even Adam Smith was for regulations and taxes.

.........

 

[Scope out RJ's]

I don't work for flight ops. Not that it really matters.

Sure you don't!
Now get on over to that fracs board junior. Those net jets guys need some more of your hot air!

 

[livin'thesim]

Max powers-

First, you didn't say he needed more manufacturing, the other fellow did.

No one is suggesting that we earn a living sewing together blue jeans, but if manufacturing is not increased in the US, what productive output are we going to have to balance trade? We can't all be stockbrokers and airline pilots. And it is hard to export service output.

Without exportable goods or commodities, we are in trouble. The US has been artificially carried for years by exporting financial products, whether that it Treasury debt or securitzed debt. The rest of the world's insatiable demand for these products is ending now, and the US will need to find a trade-balancing export. Now, much of what the US exports is intellectual property, such as software and entertainment. Those sectors, however, are not large enough to sustain the kind of trade imbalances that we have been running to date.

You mention that you want to see increased tech sector output, which I agree with. Is that sector large enough to carry the day on trade? Maybe.

I do believe that some lower-level manufacturing work will need to return to the US, because of wage-deflation the issue of low technical competency in the US.

I know a Russian software engineer and a Mexican electrical engineer, and both say that their companies are having a hard time finding US citizens with the necessary qualifications.

The only other solution to the trade deficit is for the US to drastically reduce imported goods and consume mainly domestically produced goods. (Personally, I can live with whichever way we go.)

But even if we do it that way, we will need to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, since we don't have the facilities to manufacture a lot of the day-to-day consumer goods like microwave ovens or computer parts.

If we DON'T increase either our manufacturing or have some other exportable good or service, why should other nations continue to give us their productive output?

Productive output is what gives a nation's currency its value. If the nation produces very little, there is little to buy with that currency and the currency loses value. Look at Iceland. The demand for their financial products (which used to be VERY high) went to zero almost overnight, leaving only aluminum smelting, fish, and wool as output. And that was reflected in the exchange rate of their currency, which has taken a terrible beating.

Americans may not LIKE the message that many of us will have to return to the factories and leave the service economy, but that is likely the case.

How do you think that China wound up with almost $2 trillion in US financial assets? They did so to keep their exports cheap and build their manufacturing base. That cash has been building up in their accounts now for a long time. Why do they need any more dollars? The only reason they do is so that they can land their economy gently instead of having the US's sharp consumer pullback crash their production completely.

Here's what IS going to happen:

Prepare for very lean times for quite a while. This will be independent of who you elect, and independent of what policies they enact. That factor will only determine relative wealth among Americans. But we blew most of our wealth in the dotcom debacle and the housing bubble. Total US debt is unsustainable at this level and now must be paid off or defaulted on. So either we live lean and pay it off, or we default and live lean because no one will lend to us.

It's checkmate for consumerism.



With regard to the politics:

Bush did an awful job regulating the financial sector. Clinton did just as bad a job. The repeal of glass-steagall occurred on his watch, which was a major element in deregulating the financial sector. Additionally, Clinton and Bush also both failed to do anything about the growing derivatives monster. Bush has less excuse though, because it was obviously becoming a bigger problem.

Any attempt to make one party or other the perpetrator here is laughable - most of congress is bought and paid for by large companies. Until these large banking interests financially implode, they can continue to push for the legislation they want.

 

[livin'thesim]

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=7111098&page=1

Heres another one, deserved what he got. Screw USA, save no money, overspend, you deliver pizza

Amazing. What a story of hubris and greed.

He will never, of course, return to that lifestyle. He's just whistling past the graveyard on this. But he'll find out soon enough.

Interesting that he thinks someday he'll be able to make a large charitable contribution to someone else who is in need. Somehow, I doubt he will ever be in that spot again.

 

[machaf]

Whatever happened to living below your means? Majority of people are either in debt up to their eye balls or spend every cent they make.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Whatever happened to living below your means? Majority of people are either in debt up to their eye balls or spend every cent they make.

One only needs to look at the attitudes and lifestyles of the Wall Street cronies.... why Americans continue to look the other way while these guys rape the Treasury is amazing...

 

[KCPilot]

Why do you believe this is karma? It looks like he worked pretty hard to get where he was and found a job instead of immediately declaring bankruptcy. I don't see any evil-doing by this fellow to get where he was. Granted, he may have lived a little more frugally and saved a little more money, but who is to say that the news report was accurate that he ate there every night? As fugal as I am, I have taken my wife to a lavish dinner with an expensive bottle of wine. Do I qualify for a karma pay-back for my accomplishments and because I have worked hard to afford to take my wife out?

I think you need to reflect on and concentrate on your own accomplishments rather than being jealous of others' and their hard times. This jealousy or class envy, my friend, has been the root of the fall of several societies over the centuries.

Well said!

 

[El-Rushbo]

The hedge fund guy delivering pizzas I have more sympathy for. He made some dumb decisions but wasn't directly hurting anyone else.

The oil trader guy however...I'm sure he was equally sympathetic to us when he was pulling down $200K per year while driving up our oil and gas prices.