Am I the only one to feel the hands of the powerful at work, deliberately manipulating this latest financial ‘crisis’ to their benefit – and the detriment of everyone else? Since 9/11, the Bush administration has created one crisis after another and they’ve all paid huge dividends to the wealthy few, while impoverishing the rest of us.
If this present catastrophe in the banking industry is simply the result of poor management, then throwing another $700 billion at those responsible, is merely to mimic their crass irresponsibility.
Today, in what is being called the biggest banking failure in American history, Washington Mutual was seized by the Fed and tossed to J.P. Morgan Chase, as casually as a beef bone thrown to a pet Rottweiler.[1] It was only six months ago the US administration did exactly the same thing with Bear Stearns. JPM, it seems, is acquiring financial companies willy-nilly, with the help of the American government.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg today, JPM has a $23 billion secured claim against Lehman Bros, who filed for bankruptcy last week with a total estimated debt of $630 billion.[2] With such huge losses from just one bank, the $700 billion being asked of taxpayers is beginning to look like a small drop in a very vast ocean.
The question still not being asked is who exactly is running Henry Paulson and Ben Benanke? When the Secretary to the Treasury arrives at the most important Congressional Hearing of his life with only a three page document and no idea what he’s to do with $700 billion, it strongly suggests that someone else sent him in to get it. Couple that to the ‘convenience’ of a Congress about to adjourn for political campaigning, and the idea of a ‘set-up’ no longer appears such an unlikely scenario.
It’s possible that Paulson and Benanke are no more than utterly incompetent. Let’s be frank, they wouldn’t be the only members of George W Bush’s administration to demonstrate that failing. It provokes the thought that maybe the powers-that-be are deliberately choosing incompetents as front men because they make better stooges and are less likely to argue; a fact easily ratified by studying the record of the incumbent US president.
Of course, from the viewpoint of the wealthy bankers, getting their hands on $700 billion of government money is only reclaiming a part of what they’ve already loaned out to reneging tax payers, through unpaid sub-prime mortgages and credit card debt.
To their twisted logic, the suffering and strife caused by myriad broken marriages, foreclosed homes, and consequent suicides, is hardly a relevant factor.
[1] “Government Seizes WaMu and Sells Some Assets” New York Times, September 25th 2008
[2] “JPMorgan Has $23 Billion Secured Claim in Lehman Case” Bloomberg, September 26th 2008
Filed under: Financial shenanigans