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http://adask.wordpress.com/2009/04/1...t/#comment-256
Suppose someone started the “SS Titanic Investment Corporation”. Suppose you could get in now at the ground floor (or perhaps I should say at the “ocean floor”) by investing $10,000 for a 1% interest in the S.S. Titanic. True, that ship is currently “wet docked” at the bottom of the North Atlantic. But—technologically speaking—it may soon be possible for us to “raise the Titanic” and if that happens, all we’d have to do is knock off a few barnacles, patch the hole in the side, give it a fresh coat of paint, and—Presto Changeo!—we’d have a huge ocean liner that a virtually brand-new! (After all, it hadn’t even completed a single trip across the Atlantic.) The idea, of course, is that if you invest today in the S.S. Titanic, YOU COULD SOMEDAY GET RICH!
In the alternative, if you don’t feel comfortable investing in a sunken ship, you might want to invest in bankrupt banks because—as our fearless leader Obama sez—YOU COULD SOMEDAY GET RICH!
The following are excerpts from The New York Times’ April 8th, A.D. 2009 description of Obama’s GET RICH SOMEDAY MAYBE proposal that encourages Whee duh Pee-pul to bail out dem de banksters. It is a hoot:
“During World War I, Americans were exhorted to buy Liberty Bonds to help their soldiers on the front. Now, it seems, they will be asked to come to the aid of their banks — with the added inducement of possibly making some money for themselves.”
(Did they mean to write “exhorted” or “extorted”?)
In any case, why th’ heck would we “come to the aid of our banks” by allegedly investing our money in those banks if we didn’t expect to “make some money for ourselves”? Has it become our “patriotic duty” to give our money to the banks, just as it was once our “patriotic duty” in WWI to buy Liberty Bonds?
That’s not an idle question. In a world whose mantra is “it’s the economy, stupid,” we live under a government that’s more interested in making money than in securing the God-given, unalienable Rights declared in our Declaration of Independence. That change is the cornerstone for the financial, economic and soil problems we currently face. In the unbridled pursuit for mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money—we have become the world’s biggest debtor nation. In the mad pursuit of “mo’ money,” we are about to encounter extraordinary poverty.
The New York Times continues:
“As part of its sweeping plan to purge banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds.”
What, you might ask, are “troublesome assets”?
A: “Troublesome assets” are debt instruments (pieces of paper; promises to pay; derivatives of virtually no intrinsic value) that our honorable, ethical and beloved financial institutions purchased for, say, $1 million and hoped to sell on the free market to some “greater fool” for, say, $1.5 million. Unfortunately, the free market ran out of fools and, worse, has more recently valued these “$1 million” debt instruments as worth only about $100,000. This reduced valuation by the free market is “troublesome” since it will cause our beloved financial institutions to take a 90% “haircut”.
Fortunately for the banksters, we not only have a “free market” in this country, we also have an “un-free” or “pay-for-play” market called Congress. If you have enough money to “pay” (and who has more money than our banksters?), the whores in the cathouse on the Potomac will “play” by passing “special interest legislation” that will allow your businesses to extort money from the American pee-pul. This extortion is typically achieved by 1) lowering taxes for your business or industry (and thereby shifting your tax burden to others); 2) restricting free market competition by increasing licensing and regulation costs for new competitors (and thereby guaranteeing your business makes exorbitant profits); or 3) compelling the American people do business with your company (and thereby increasing your business’ profits).
The last kind of extortion (forcing people to do business with your company) is what we see when state legislatures passes mandatory helmet laws for everyone riding a motorcycle. The pretext is that in the name of public safety, all must wear helmets. The effect is to dramatically boost the business of helmet manufacturers.
Similarly, at the federal level, the cathouse on the Potomac passes laws in the name of the “public interest” that mandate the people purchase “troublesome assets” from the banks The effect is ensure that financial institutions that were overwhelmed by greed and stupidity are shielded from the consequences of their own folly and allowed to survive at someone else’s (i.e., the taxpayers’) expense. The laws passed in the “un-free” or “slave market” we call Congress apply to the great unwashed, the dum-dums, the folks P.T. Barnum described as “one born every minute”, the gov-co’s slaves—commonly known as “taxpayers”.
So, when the banksters discovered that the “greater fools” in the free market were getting uppity and would agree to pay only $100,000 for the banksters’ $1 million debt instruments, the banksters took their problem to the “slave market” where Congress could compel its slaves (taxpayers) to pay $700,000, $800,000 maybe even $900,000 for “troublesome assets” that the free market valued as worth, maybe, $100,000.
For the banksters, a “troublesome asset” is like a lottery ticket that you bought last month but was not a winner. Not wishing to take a loss on that lottery ticket, you might lurk in some alley with your gun and force some unsuspecting victim to pay you $10 for the worthless ticket. Banksters, of course, don’t need guns—they have Congress to do their dirty work for them—but the “troublesome” problem in both cases is the same: How can you get your money back for a losing lottery ticket or a worthless “asset”? Answer: Extortion. You force people to buy something they don’t want for a sum that is unrelated to real value.
The New York Times continues:
“The idea is that these investments, akin to mutual funds that buy stocks and bonds, would give ordinary Americans a chance to profit from the bailouts that are being financed by their tax dollars. But there is another, deeply political motivation as well: to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats.”
Ohmigosh, where should I begin? “These investments,” “akin to,” “ordinary Americans” . . . ? My satirical cup runneth over. The New York Times article brings out the Mogambo Guru in me. I feel like a fertilizer salesman who’s just found a previously undiscovered pile of horse crap that’s about 25 miles square. I don’t know whether to laugh with greedy glee or see if I can puke while holding my nose. I am astonished that Obama is so shameless as to try to sell this crap. But I’m just as amazed to suppose that most Americans may be willing to buy it.
Let’s start with the characterization of “troublesome assets” as “investments”.
Technically, I suppose the “troublesome assets” that Obama hopes to pawn off on whee duh pee-pul are “investments”—just like putting your money into the Titanic is, technically, an “investment”. But when you put your money into something that is almost certain to never get off the ground (or the ocean floor), you’re not making an investment, you’re making a bet on a prohibitive long shot that would make any Las Vegas bookie laugh with glee ‘cuz you be a born loser, baby. It’s not an investment. It’s a sucker bet. It’s a con.
More, these purported “investments” are not “akin to mutual funds” so much as they are “akin to” lottery tickets—including those for lotteries that were held last month.
“Ordinary Americans”? Read, “taxpayers and similar fools”.
“A chance” to profit? Damn straight. You’ll have “a chance,” alright—just like the proverbial “snowball”.
“Bailouts . . . being financed by their [the taxpayers’] tax dollars”? Absolutely false. The bailouts will not be financed by “ordinary Americans”—at least not today’s “ordinary Americans”. In fact, I believe the bail-out debts are so great that, when added to our existing debt (which is already unpayable), I doubt that the bail-out money will ever be repaid by anyone.
However, if the bailout money is ever repaid, it will be repaid by the children and grandchildren of today’s “ordinary Americans” (taxpayers and similar fools). Obama and Congress know very well that if they try to impose the taxes required to support today’s bailouts on today’s taxpayers, the result would be riot. So the taxes used to finance the today’s bailout will be imposed on tomorrow’s taxpayers: the children of today’s taxpayers. And why not? After all, our kids are public school graduates and therefore technically even dumber than most adults. More, even if some of the kids were smart enough to know they’re being robbed by their government and their parents, what could the little s.o.b.s do? They don’t have enough money to bribe Congress, and most of ‘em don’t even vote. So deficit financing is just like “taking taxes from a baby”—it’s simple.
So, what Obama’s really offering with his new investment program is a chance for today’s taxpayers/fools (who won’t be taxed to pay for the bail-outs—at least not anytime soon), to voluntarily invest their own money now in the same “troublesome assets” (worthless pieces of paper) that their kids will be forced to pay for in the future.
Next, don’t forget that the gov-co’s generous proposal to allow the great unwashed to “invest” in these “troublesome assets” is intended “to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats.”
OMG, these s.o.b.s are as shameless as the guys who tried to sell stock in the Titanic just before the public found out it had already sunk.
The gov-co (which is “here to help us,” of course) is going to let us (the little people) “invest” our money in the “troublesome assets” that the “plutocrats” are trying desperately to unload. Why? So we, the current taxpayers, have the same opportunity to take a financial screwing as those that the next generation who will be forced to pay for today’s “troublesome assets” 10 to 20 years from now. Why this extraordinary generosity from our fearless leaders? Supposedly, to blunt public criticism that the whole bailout program is intended only to enrich those “plutocrats” who are already filthy rich.
Well, I’m not a jealous or greedy man. I don’t want what I haven’t earned. So I say that if there’s a profit to made off the “troublesome assets” that are currently owned by the “plutocrats,” let the “plutocrats” keep their “troublesome assets” and keep allllll those profits for themselves. Why should the bond-servant taxpayers and their idiot children reap the profits of these “troublesome assets”? Nope, it’s only fair that the banksters keep their “troublesome assets” (and all the potential profits) while We the People keep our cash.
If gov-co truly wanted to ensure that bailout programs did not enrich only the wealthy “plutocrats,” why not pass a law that forces all home buyers to pay the same price for home as the home commanded in, say, A.D. 2006? If you bought a house for $300,000 in 2006 and the free market currently values you house at only $200,000 why not pass a law to force home buyers to nevertheless pay you your $300,000?
That idea is obviously stupid. And yet, that’s exactly what gov-co is doing for the banksters: passing a law that forces the taxpayers to pay maybe $700,000 for an alleged asset that the free market values at only $100,000.
The truth, of course, is that this whole “investment opportunity” is simply a shameless scam to con the American people in the “slave market” into paying the “plutocrats” 70 to 90% of face value for “troublesome assets” that are only worth about 10 to 15% of face value on the free market. In short, the American people are being robbed by the rich, with the full complicity of our government and, especially, the Democrat Party.
This congressional-assisted robbery is especially ironic since the Democrat Party that has been historically associated with the best interests of the “ordinary Americans” and theoretically antagonistic to the interests of the rich. Today’s scam illustrates, however, that our Democrats are just as big a pack of treasonous whores as the Republicans and just as willing to sell this nation and its people down the river if Congress can make a fast buck. Just like the Republicans, the Democrats are for sale to the highest bidders—and the “highest bidders” never include the “ordinary Americans” .
Y’know, I like to ridicule and poke fun at the gov-co, but there are some observations that can’t ever be funny. This nation is being destroyed by its own government—not by accident but by intent and by treason. Gov-co is betting they can get away with their treason because no matter how angry the American people become, they’ll shoot each other before they shoot the government. And the shame of it is that gov-co is probably correct. Today’s “ordinary Americans” are “ordinarily” too ignorant to recognize their real enemies, and even if they do recognize them, “ordinarily” too gutless to fight them.
Don’t be fooled by the rising stock market. We are still headed for trouble. Prepare accordingly.
And buckle up.
I remain at arm’s length and within The United States of America,
Alfred Adask
Email: alfredadask@yahoo.com
blog at: http://adask.wordpress.com
In the alternative, if you don’t feel comfortable investing in a sunken ship, you might want to invest in bankrupt banks because—as our fearless leader Obama sez—YOU COULD SOMEDAY GET RICH!
The following are excerpts from The New York Times’ April 8th, A.D. 2009 description of Obama’s GET RICH SOMEDAY MAYBE proposal that encourages Whee duh Pee-pul to bail out dem de banksters. It is a hoot:
“During World War I, Americans were exhorted to buy Liberty Bonds to help their soldiers on the front. Now, it seems, they will be asked to come to the aid of their banks — with the added inducement of possibly making some money for themselves.”
(Did they mean to write “exhorted” or “extorted”?)
In any case, why th’ heck would we “come to the aid of our banks” by allegedly investing our money in those banks if we didn’t expect to “make some money for ourselves”? Has it become our “patriotic duty” to give our money to the banks, just as it was once our “patriotic duty” in WWI to buy Liberty Bonds?
That’s not an idle question. In a world whose mantra is “it’s the economy, stupid,” we live under a government that’s more interested in making money than in securing the God-given, unalienable Rights declared in our Declaration of Independence. That change is the cornerstone for the financial, economic and soil problems we currently face. In the unbridled pursuit for mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money—we have become the world’s biggest debtor nation. In the mad pursuit of “mo’ money,” we are about to encounter extraordinary poverty.
The New York Times continues:
“As part of its sweeping plan to purge banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds.”
What, you might ask, are “troublesome assets”?
A: “Troublesome assets” are debt instruments (pieces of paper; promises to pay; derivatives of virtually no intrinsic value) that our honorable, ethical and beloved financial institutions purchased for, say, $1 million and hoped to sell on the free market to some “greater fool” for, say, $1.5 million. Unfortunately, the free market ran out of fools and, worse, has more recently valued these “$1 million” debt instruments as worth only about $100,000. This reduced valuation by the free market is “troublesome” since it will cause our beloved financial institutions to take a 90% “haircut”.
Fortunately for the banksters, we not only have a “free market” in this country, we also have an “un-free” or “pay-for-play” market called Congress. If you have enough money to “pay” (and who has more money than our banksters?), the whores in the cathouse on the Potomac will “play” by passing “special interest legislation” that will allow your businesses to extort money from the American pee-pul. This extortion is typically achieved by 1) lowering taxes for your business or industry (and thereby shifting your tax burden to others); 2) restricting free market competition by increasing licensing and regulation costs for new competitors (and thereby guaranteeing your business makes exorbitant profits); or 3) compelling the American people do business with your company (and thereby increasing your business’ profits).
The last kind of extortion (forcing people to do business with your company) is what we see when state legislatures passes mandatory helmet laws for everyone riding a motorcycle. The pretext is that in the name of public safety, all must wear helmets. The effect is to dramatically boost the business of helmet manufacturers.
Similarly, at the federal level, the cathouse on the Potomac passes laws in the name of the “public interest” that mandate the people purchase “troublesome assets” from the banks The effect is ensure that financial institutions that were overwhelmed by greed and stupidity are shielded from the consequences of their own folly and allowed to survive at someone else’s (i.e., the taxpayers’) expense. The laws passed in the “un-free” or “slave market” we call Congress apply to the great unwashed, the dum-dums, the folks P.T. Barnum described as “one born every minute”, the gov-co’s slaves—commonly known as “taxpayers”.
So, when the banksters discovered that the “greater fools” in the free market were getting uppity and would agree to pay only $100,000 for the banksters’ $1 million debt instruments, the banksters took their problem to the “slave market” where Congress could compel its slaves (taxpayers) to pay $700,000, $800,000 maybe even $900,000 for “troublesome assets” that the free market valued as worth, maybe, $100,000.
For the banksters, a “troublesome asset” is like a lottery ticket that you bought last month but was not a winner. Not wishing to take a loss on that lottery ticket, you might lurk in some alley with your gun and force some unsuspecting victim to pay you $10 for the worthless ticket. Banksters, of course, don’t need guns—they have Congress to do their dirty work for them—but the “troublesome” problem in both cases is the same: How can you get your money back for a losing lottery ticket or a worthless “asset”? Answer: Extortion. You force people to buy something they don’t want for a sum that is unrelated to real value.
The New York Times continues:
“The idea is that these investments, akin to mutual funds that buy stocks and bonds, would give ordinary Americans a chance to profit from the bailouts that are being financed by their tax dollars. But there is another, deeply political motivation as well: to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats.”
Ohmigosh, where should I begin? “These investments,” “akin to,” “ordinary Americans” . . . ? My satirical cup runneth over. The New York Times article brings out the Mogambo Guru in me. I feel like a fertilizer salesman who’s just found a previously undiscovered pile of horse crap that’s about 25 miles square. I don’t know whether to laugh with greedy glee or see if I can puke while holding my nose. I am astonished that Obama is so shameless as to try to sell this crap. But I’m just as amazed to suppose that most Americans may be willing to buy it.
Let’s start with the characterization of “troublesome assets” as “investments”.
Technically, I suppose the “troublesome assets” that Obama hopes to pawn off on whee duh pee-pul are “investments”—just like putting your money into the Titanic is, technically, an “investment”. But when you put your money into something that is almost certain to never get off the ground (or the ocean floor), you’re not making an investment, you’re making a bet on a prohibitive long shot that would make any Las Vegas bookie laugh with glee ‘cuz you be a born loser, baby. It’s not an investment. It’s a sucker bet. It’s a con.
More, these purported “investments” are not “akin to mutual funds” so much as they are “akin to” lottery tickets—including those for lotteries that were held last month.
“Ordinary Americans”? Read, “taxpayers and similar fools”.
“A chance” to profit? Damn straight. You’ll have “a chance,” alright—just like the proverbial “snowball”.
“Bailouts . . . being financed by their [the taxpayers’] tax dollars”? Absolutely false. The bailouts will not be financed by “ordinary Americans”—at least not today’s “ordinary Americans”. In fact, I believe the bail-out debts are so great that, when added to our existing debt (which is already unpayable), I doubt that the bail-out money will ever be repaid by anyone.
However, if the bailout money is ever repaid, it will be repaid by the children and grandchildren of today’s “ordinary Americans” (taxpayers and similar fools). Obama and Congress know very well that if they try to impose the taxes required to support today’s bailouts on today’s taxpayers, the result would be riot. So the taxes used to finance the today’s bailout will be imposed on tomorrow’s taxpayers: the children of today’s taxpayers. And why not? After all, our kids are public school graduates and therefore technically even dumber than most adults. More, even if some of the kids were smart enough to know they’re being robbed by their government and their parents, what could the little s.o.b.s do? They don’t have enough money to bribe Congress, and most of ‘em don’t even vote. So deficit financing is just like “taking taxes from a baby”—it’s simple.
So, what Obama’s really offering with his new investment program is a chance for today’s taxpayers/fools (who won’t be taxed to pay for the bail-outs—at least not anytime soon), to voluntarily invest their own money now in the same “troublesome assets” (worthless pieces of paper) that their kids will be forced to pay for in the future.
Next, don’t forget that the gov-co’s generous proposal to allow the great unwashed to “invest” in these “troublesome assets” is intended “to quiet accusations that all of these giant bailouts will benefit only Wall Street plutocrats.”
OMG, these s.o.b.s are as shameless as the guys who tried to sell stock in the Titanic just before the public found out it had already sunk.
The gov-co (which is “here to help us,” of course) is going to let us (the little people) “invest” our money in the “troublesome assets” that the “plutocrats” are trying desperately to unload. Why? So we, the current taxpayers, have the same opportunity to take a financial screwing as those that the next generation who will be forced to pay for today’s “troublesome assets” 10 to 20 years from now. Why this extraordinary generosity from our fearless leaders? Supposedly, to blunt public criticism that the whole bailout program is intended only to enrich those “plutocrats” who are already filthy rich.
Well, I’m not a jealous or greedy man. I don’t want what I haven’t earned. So I say that if there’s a profit to made off the “troublesome assets” that are currently owned by the “plutocrats,” let the “plutocrats” keep their “troublesome assets” and keep allllll those profits for themselves. Why should the bond-servant taxpayers and their idiot children reap the profits of these “troublesome assets”? Nope, it’s only fair that the banksters keep their “troublesome assets” (and all the potential profits) while We the People keep our cash.
If gov-co truly wanted to ensure that bailout programs did not enrich only the wealthy “plutocrats,” why not pass a law that forces all home buyers to pay the same price for home as the home commanded in, say, A.D. 2006? If you bought a house for $300,000 in 2006 and the free market currently values you house at only $200,000 why not pass a law to force home buyers to nevertheless pay you your $300,000?
That idea is obviously stupid. And yet, that’s exactly what gov-co is doing for the banksters: passing a law that forces the taxpayers to pay maybe $700,000 for an alleged asset that the free market values at only $100,000.
The truth, of course, is that this whole “investment opportunity” is simply a shameless scam to con the American people in the “slave market” into paying the “plutocrats” 70 to 90% of face value for “troublesome assets” that are only worth about 10 to 15% of face value on the free market. In short, the American people are being robbed by the rich, with the full complicity of our government and, especially, the Democrat Party.
This congressional-assisted robbery is especially ironic since the Democrat Party that has been historically associated with the best interests of the “ordinary Americans” and theoretically antagonistic to the interests of the rich. Today’s scam illustrates, however, that our Democrats are just as big a pack of treasonous whores as the Republicans and just as willing to sell this nation and its people down the river if Congress can make a fast buck. Just like the Republicans, the Democrats are for sale to the highest bidders—and the “highest bidders” never include the “ordinary Americans” .
Y’know, I like to ridicule and poke fun at the gov-co, but there are some observations that can’t ever be funny. This nation is being destroyed by its own government—not by accident but by intent and by treason. Gov-co is betting they can get away with their treason because no matter how angry the American people become, they’ll shoot each other before they shoot the government. And the shame of it is that gov-co is probably correct. Today’s “ordinary Americans” are “ordinarily” too ignorant to recognize their real enemies, and even if they do recognize them, “ordinarily” too gutless to fight them.
Don’t be fooled by the rising stock market. We are still headed for trouble. Prepare accordingly.
And buckle up.
I remain at arm’s length and within The United States of America,
Alfred Adask
Email: alfredadask@yahoo.com
blog at: http://adask.wordpress.com
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