As i watch these "Occupy Wall Street" protests I cant help but see the irony in the fact that both the right and left are angry about over the exact same single incident yet we are both angry at completely opposite sides of the exact same coin. On the one hand the Tea Partiers are choked at the government for their contribution in the collapse of '08 that was a direct result of poor government "social engineering," and them being asleep at the switch, the number 1 thing they are mad about is the government over spending and bailing out corporations. Tea partiers want to see the government back off and quit bailing out banks/corporations and quit spending so much. Occupy wallstreet is mad that corporations and banks have wrecklessly overspent, and they are mad that Banks, and CEO's who have lived high on the hog, without ever suffering the consequences of their actions. Occupy Wallstreet crowd also wants to see an end to bank bailouts, but they want to see alot more government spending and involvement, and they want to see the government tax the shit out of the bankers and give it to the poor. So with the shit that is going on in Europe there is a very realistic possibility, albeit a small one, that if European banks start going under we will have to bail out the banks in the U.S. again as well, or else watch a complete systemic collapse. I think if there was another bank bailout in the U.S. that there is a very realistic possibility there could be a civil war, the Tea Party would be out in full force fighting against government and the OWS people would be out fighting against banks, and supporting government. The ironic thing is that the only people who would come out of that situation unscathed would probably be the politicians and the bankers. What do you guys figure? Could a bank bailout end up being the proverbial "shot heard round the world," Which leads to either Civil war or World War 3?
Anyone have regrets that Lehman is gone? Would the economy have been that much better if Lehman had been bailed out?
No, and this is an important point. We keep hearing our jackass politicians and lil Timmah saying that if we don't do the bailouts, the end of the world comes. Yet for 95% of the population, life goes on as normal.
Hmmmm.... Not sure i agree with this. The biggest problem was never the risk of individual banks failing 1 by 1 over a long period of time, it was the threat that the collapse of a couple major banks in a short time frame could cascade into into something serious. All it takes is an unexpected run on a major bank to collapse the entire system. If GS or JPM was to fail during good times we could get away with it, if one of them fails while everyone is already scared shitless about the liquidity of the banks, it turns into a nightmare. The entire banking system is based on confidence. If confidence is lost the whole thing collapses, as there is not enough cash in the system to give everyone their money.
tea partiers to old to revolt, cant miss an episode of dancin with the stars, young people wont revolt if we give them good video games and new i-phones. Bread and circus has worked for thousands of years, keep their bellies full and entertained and life goes on.
The monetary system can not operate without some level of leverage. Obviously the banks were over leveraged, and it caused this mess, but some level of leverage is necessary to make the monetary system work.
The 1st American republic is effectively dead. Today it is only kept alive by entrenched corrupt interests which have seeped into the political and social fabric of American society. Therefore, the wisest thing to do is for left and right to unite and overthrow the entire system. Following that, the United states should quickly be split into two, North and South, socialist and conservative, so that we each might go our own way. The current political discourse in America has become too polarized and radicalized, right and left have moved too far to their respective positions. Of course, everyone thinks they are the moderate ones and the other side are the extremists but alas... A nation with two minds cannot stay united, in fact it should not be a nation at all, it is far far better that each of us follow our own destinies. Each of us will be able to run our lives on our own terms. Certain arrangements can be much such that open borders and a customs union, free movement of labor can exist between North and south, but each nation should have full SOVEREIGN control of its own domestic and international affairs. Current citizens can choose to be a citizen of either SOVEREIGN state. A TWO state solution is the way forward.
I have had the same thought that this was going to happen for a long time. There is a reason you dont see many countries the size of Canada or the U.S. and its because people naturally gravitate towards other people who believe in the same kind of religious or political Ideals. The only way to govern a country the size of Canada or the U.S. and keep it together is if you govern with an iron fist. In my opinion It is only a matter of time before North America gets seperated into a bunch of smaller countries and starts to look like Europe, or South America. The collapse of the USD will probably be the catalyst.