Detroit's former Lee Plaza Hotel closed in the '90s. (photo: Marchand, Meffre /TIME)
The Party’s over for America, the greed bubble fueled by excessive debt has finally burst. Its time to clean up the mess started by the Bush/Cheney administration, perpetuated by the Obama/Biden administration and which is now a deserted ballroom ~ strewn with broken dreams, broken promises and economic devastation: Allen L Roland
As 2011 crawls to a close, the true reckoning of the financial devastation wrought by the policies of the Clinton and Bush administrations and perpetuated by the Obama administration have yet to be fully revealed ~ but the economic devastation by these political actions and inaction is now fully felt and experienced by millions of Americans.
Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair, brilliantly summarized this devastation on December 25, 2011 ~ “It has now been almost five years since the bursting of the housing bubble, and four years since the onset of the recession. There are 6.6 million fewer jobs in the United States than there were four years ago. Some 23 million Americans who would like to work full-time cannot get a job. Almost half of those who are unemployed have been unemployed long-term. Wages are falling-the real income of a typical American household is now below the level it was in 1997... The Bush and Obama administrations justified a bailout on the grounds that only if the banks were handed money without limit-and without conditions-could the economy recover….The banks got their bailout. Some of the money went to bonuses. Little of it went to lending. And the economy didn't really recover ~ output is barely greater than it was before the crisis, and the job situation is bleak. The diagnosis of our condition and the prescription that followed from it were incorrect … In the end, bank managers looked out for themselves and did what they are accustomed to doing..“ Read full article ~ http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/9092-the-book-of-jobs
Stiglitz correctly makes this important point ~ “The fact is the economy in the years before the current crisis was fundamentally weak, with the bubble, and the unsustainable consumption to which it gave rise, acting as life support. Without these, unemployment would have been high. It was absurd to think that fixing the banking system could by itself restore the economy to health. Bringing the economy back to "where it was" does nothing to address the underlying problems.”
And therein lies my point ~ for re-inflating the same debt bubble that eventually burst in 2008 is not going to succeed when personal debt and unemployment are at such historic heights and real income is below the level it was in 1997. In other words, the financial elite are telling people to keep spending, keep borrowing by using your credit cards, keep the mirage of financial stability in tact, keep wishful thinking and, by all means, keep the debt party going ~ even though the economic dance hall is in shambles.
Here are the facts ~ 42% of all financial wealth is controlled by the top 1% in that 400 Americans have more money than the other 155 million Americans. Add to that, the fact that the billionaire Banksters, who wrecked the economic well-being of millions for pure profit, have apparently got off scot-free. Is it any wonder that a growing nonviolent Occupy movement has risen to decry those acts of greed as unjust, immoral and undemocratic.
Then we have the obvious hypocrisy of Pope Benedict, cloaked in gold and jewels, holding his solid silver staff, showing Jesus hanging on the cross, sardonically telling 1.3billion Roman Catholics “ Look through the glitter of Christmas “ http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1549/5/NL/Bejeweled_Pope_Says_Look_Through_The_Glitter_Of_Xmas.html
It’s all a blatant illusion, folks ~ and as far as the Obama administration is concerned, the ballroom is still operating, it’s only intermission and the music will resume at any moment. Just keep drinking my oratory Kool Aid, and re-elect me next year and then I’ll deliver on the many promises I never fulfilled because of the evil obstructionist Republicans (chuckle).
In other words, I’m your known political betrayer of your moral values and the constitution (which I swore to defend), so why replace me with an unknown betrayer of those same values and the constitution?
It’s all a big lie ~ Everything is rigged to give the illusion that things are fine; Illegal occupations are glorified as wars; Body counts are falsified ~ only those killed on the battlefield are listed as KIA ~ if you died from your wounds while in transit to care or in care, you are not listed as KIA ( Courtesy of Bush/Cheney ); Unemployment figures are falsified where large numbers of workers have supposedly left the labor force and they are not counted as unemployed; The core cost of living index does not include food and energy costs (thanks to Bill Clinton) ~ thus distorting the true inflation figures and robbing seniors of needed social security income; the stock market is rigged ( think plunge protection team ) whereas unregulated high speed trading as well as derivatives give the false impression of stability in a highly leveraged crap game fierce with insider trading. Regarding the still unresolved mountain of Derivatives ~ “Contrary to popular belief, which blames the global financial crisis on subprime borrowers, it was the derivatives, based upon the likelihood that those borrowers would pay their debts, that were the primary catalyst triggering the global economic crisis of 2008. Back then, the derivative obligations of AIG (AIG) imploded the insurer. Under the pressure of fear-mongering from the Federal Reserve and the financial industry, the U.S. government committed hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out AIG's counter-parties, including the biggest banks of Europe and America. Had the government not stepped in, virtually all the banks on Wall Street would have gone bankrupt. A host of European and Asian banks would have followed……Even if we net out the notional value of the derivatives involved, down to the net potential obligation, the amount is so large that the United States could not hope to pay it off without a major dollar devaluation…..” See story ~ http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval
The name of the game is to maintain the status quo and Obama was chosen by the global financial elite to do that very thing ~ and it is one of the few promises that he has kept. Meanwhile, almost 50% of Americans are in poverty or at a "low income" level ~ a claim based on a report by the Census Bureau that includes health care, transportation, and other essential living expenses in the poverty calculation.
The party’s over, the Bubble has burst , there’s no music and no one reveals this truth more knowingly than Gerald Celente ~ In his latest interview Celente discusses a variety of different topics ~ from Iran and Europe to domestic militarization and the economy ~ and warns that our worst fears will soon be realized.
“ Bottom line? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet ~ This (National Defense Authorization Act) passed the Senate by 93-7. I’m mentioning this because all the pieces are in place now; The economy is going to crash. There is going to be chaos. Economic martial law will be called. Banks will close. And, chaos will ensure. The law is now in place for the military to come in and take over. Fascism has come to America.”
Celente Warns Of 2012: Economy Will Crash, Banks Will Close, Chaos Will Ensue, Military Will Take Over | Before It's News http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1519/121/NL/
Meanwhile, the slow beat of corporate fascism continues on ~ While on Christmas vacation in Hawaii, Obama tapped Jerome Powell to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
Powel served as the undersecretary for finance under president George H. W. Bush and was a partner of The Carlyle Group. The Carlyle Group is a massive private equity firm and one of the largest defense contractors in the world. See story ~ http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1556/379/NL/
There is a solution and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has offered it as a Constitutional Amendment to the Constitution to exclude corporations from First Amendment rights to spend money on political campaigns. The Sanders amendment is co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), and a similar amendment has been proposed in the House by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.).
Watch and listen to one of our true constitutional patriots make his impassioned case that Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights; that corporations are subject to regulations by the people; that corporations cannot make campaign contributions and that Congress and the states have the right to regulate campaign finance. 12 minute video http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29930.htm#.TuRfMsr974w.email
“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.” Robert F. Kennedy
Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/partys-over-bubble-has-burst-lets-clean.html
Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
