1929 Redo?

From The RampartsJunious Ricardo Stanton1929 Redo?“‘History doesn't repeat itself,’ Mark Twain said, ‘but it does rhyme.’ The similarities between economic conditions in 1929 and 2008 rhyme like hickory, dickory, dock. As early as 1935, "brain truster" Rexford Tugwell identified the root cause of the Great Depression as the failure 'to pass on a fair share of the spectacular productivity gains of the 1920s' to both labor and consumers. An enduring agricultural depression, the grossly inequitable distribution of wealth, massive consumer debt, tax cuts for the rich and what historian Robert S. McElvaine called "the wild speculation of the decade's orgy of greed," all made matters worse. This multifaceted bankruptcy led to the Great Depression, but massive corporate corruption and the incompetence of the ruling class are unappreciated, if familiar, factors in creating the catastrophe. ” Similarities between 1929 and 2008 terrifying The Prairie Dog PressWill Bagley http://www.sltrib.com/Opinion/ci_9794754Someone once said “history is the lie agreed upon.” The Eurocentric education we learned in school is an egregious example of lies agreed upon. One reason the masses don’t understand current events aside from media distractions and silliness is because we believe the lies we have been feed about history and this system. We suffer from both culturally induced amnesia and disinformation. For example the economic meltdown we are experiencing which is robbing us all of any wealth we have and priming us for serfdom and peonage is virtually a redo of the causes of the Great Depression in the 1930's and the recent Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980's! That is to say they were deliberately manufactured and motivated by greed, fraud and larceny on the part of Wall Street Banks with the tacit approval of key members of the government.The Depression didn’t just happen and the stock market crash that jump started it was a no fluke. They were caused by grass speculation, insider deals and fraud. The Federal Reserve Bank and the major Wall Street banks engaged in a con game with the people to encourage risky indebtedness, imprudent stock market and real estate speculation very similar to what the Fed, Wall Street, the mortgage industry, the media and the Bu$h administration did to create the housing/mortgage/credit crisis we are experiencing now. In 1929 there was a huge gap in income between the rich and the poor just like today. In the 20's the super rich paid little or no income taxes or taxes on their vast wealth, just like today. In the 20's, the greed inherent in capitalism, the excesses of unregulated banking and real estate and the notion one could get rich quickly fueled an irrationality and gullibility very similar to the cause of our current implosion. The only conditions different from the 20's and today are the existence of the exotic new forms of speculation like Hedge Funds, Derivatives, Credit Swaps etc that have trillions, that’s trillions with a T, of dollars tied up in risky get rich quick schemes that are unraveling as we speak. The only difference between the Savings and Loan scandal of the 80's and today's banking crisis is that in the 80's there were only a relatively few con men and swindlers involved in the gutting of the thrift industry, while today there is massive fraud and criminality from the top to the bottom.Real economists know that the economy, just like the society in which it operates, is interconnected. Policies created by the Federal Reserve Bank a consortium of privately owned banks that set US monetary, interest and lending policies, will eventually impact the society. The Fed deliberately set low interest rates to spur consumer spending to make up for the collapse of the technology bubble which had been fueled by a Wall Street “pump and dump” campaign. Wall Street touted and promoted the Internet and technology as the next wave of super profitable investment, driving up stock prices and investment and then pulling the plug. Naturally the whole thing collapsed leading to a recession in 2000. The recession was also driven by corporate fraud and greed as we saw in schemes like Enron and Worldcom which were made possible by the collusion between the giant accounting firms like Arthur Anderson and the Wall street bankers who gave Enron and Worldcom favorable ratings and pumped them up for investors. This is the same thing that happened when the rating companies like Moody’s and S&P gave bundled and repackaged high risk subprime mortgages, auto and student loans, triple A ratings. Just as Enron and Arthur Anderson engaged in fraudulent accounting practices, the banks also took these risky loans off their books and hid them from unsuspecting shareholders and investors. This is fraud and should be prosecuted, but don't hold your breath.The similarities between prior economic collapses and the current crisis are eerie and alarming. What’s more there is an underlying record and history of rampant fraud and collusion by the ruling elites and their institutions. If we are to get out of this it will take a champion or a massive change in government. When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office and the Congress investigated the causes of the 1929 stock market crash and the depression they found the major Wall Street investment banks to be the culprits. Of course white collar criminals and con artists don’t go to jail especially if they are blue bloods. That is why the Securities and Exchange Commission was formed and why the Glass Steagall Acts separated investment banks from commercial banks to break up the monopoly and influence of the Wall Street giants.But the banking elites laid low, biding their time, plotting, scheming and planning to return to the glory days of monopoly capitalism via their new tool called "deregulation". During the Reagan administration under the guise of providing new opportunities to expand the economy (the same thing they said about the “free trade” agreements that are destroying AmeriKKKan jobs/workers) the elites set the stage for a return to the excesses of the 1920's. This time the oligarchy has almost total control of the educational systems, media and government so they can do whatever they want. There are almost no challenge to their lies and schemes. Their greed and hubris seem boundless. Their immorality permeates the culture. Their policies are heading us all into an abyss of bankruptcy, destruction and decay. Sadly the people see what is happening but are clueless as to why and what the ultimate consequences will be. No one makes the connection between the past and present. We are living proof of the adage, “Those we fail to learn lessons from their experiences, are doomed to repeat them.”-30-
Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of TheBlackList Pub to add comments!

Join TheBlackList Pub


https://theblacklist.net/