[GJM] V.G. Elizabeth Warren presentation on debt
W. Curtiss Priest
bmslib at mit.edu
Fri Jun 20 06:56:38 MDT 2008
Good discussions!
History shows that every major economic decline is preceded
by a growing division between the wealthy and everyone else.
What is insidious about this is how short-sighted "the wealthy"
are.
By robbing everyone else, pushing others into ever greater debt
so that their:
1. wages do not keep up with the greater number of
goods and services provided via increased
(labor) productivity -- so they resort to
"negative savings" to compensate
2. killing the goose -- the wealthy, while they can
retain some of their wealth via methods I
have described to protect against a plunging
dollar, require that "the rest" continue to
purchase goods and services that line their
pockets with excess profits! Then comes
a time when the "consumer" -- the 66% buying
force that "supports the US economy" -- can't
buy any more. They get foreclosed upon, encur
huge credit card fees as they fail to make
timely payments, can no longer get loans (frightened
banks -- finally), and so cannot borrow for
neither house, vehicle, or other large ticket
items
... they kill off their revenue streams.
This is the beginning of the end for **both** wealthy and
the rest. For every Joe Kennedy who got out of the market
in 1928 -- and then gleefully bought up depressed-price
goodies after the crash -- there are many wealthy with huge
stock market exposure. And, as their percentage of holdings
is far greater than that of "the rest" -- they will get their
comeuppance.
And only a momentary sense of schadenfreuden (the malicious
enjoyment of another’s misfortune) will be the only enjoyment
in the near future. (a colleague tells the story of "the rich"
during the (US) '30s, taking their precious antiques from
New York City and exchanging them for potatoes grown by
impoverished farmers on Eastern Long Island)
The winners? Those wealthy who milked the hell out of the rest,
and are fortunate enough to have died, prior to the fall.
What is missing in making all of this accountable is a way
to do "wealth transfers" and "impoverishment transfers" between
pre-gilded and gilded ages, to ages of depression. Called
"intergenerational equity" -- we lack any way to "tax" the
wealthy in such a way to prevent these massive divisions of
wealth in one age, so that the accumulated tax can then be
handed out in an age of distress.
Solve this problem, we solve the problem of "Manias, Panics and
Crashes (see Kindleberger, book by that name)."
(We do not solve the problem as Kindleberger struggled with
in his last chapter by keeping "a lender of last resort" as
elusive. The theory of that is:
1. if borrowers know that the lender of last resort
will always bail them out, they will simply
resort to further and further risks (a.k.a.
the problem of moral hazard)
2. so, keep the borrowers guessing. Will they be
bailed out, or not
3. #2 supposedly then balances out #1
No.)
Regards,
Curtiss
Raleigh Myers wrote:
>
> At 10:01 AM 6/19/2008, Jack Hirschfeld wrote:
>
> At 2:06 AM -0400 6/19/08, Terry Wright wrote:
>
> Surely there is a culprit responsible for
> perpetrating this crime on the middle class.
>
> Yes. of course, and the "culprit" has been identified on
> this site at least 1000 times by Raleigh Myers. Curt, John,
> Terry and others have clearly identified the consequences.
> But--- you cannot defeat "the culprit" if you think there is
> "a" culprit. Always look for the answer to the question
> "who benefits?" Then define your parameters. In the case
> of the disappearing middle class, "who benefits" are the
> wealthier few who are gobbling up more wealth. If you think
> of this as, say, the wealthiest 1% of Americans, you are
> speaking of 4 million people! (If your mental horizon is
> global, you're speaking of 50 million people.)
>
> Bringing this global begins this as an intelligent design social
> engineering exercise.
>
> snip: from a work in progress
> There is an invisible serial killer loose in the world. we can't see
> it because it has many disguises and personalities. We can't find it
> because it has excluded itself from the picture of reality it paints
> for us. And we can’t catch it in the act because it orchestrates
> nearly every scene in life’s play. It is always in the act, either
> center stage or behind the scenes.
>
> And even if we could catch it red-handed, it would be very difficult
> for most of us to figure out exactly what crime to charge it with, and
> specifically who we should charge.
>
> This is because the crime being committed is in extremely slow motion,
> taking place in plain sight over many generations; and the criminal
> behind these crimes is not a single person, it is the cumulative
> manifestation of some of the worst human traits, unknowingly abetted
> by the cumulative manifestation of some of the best human traits...
> faith and trust in the integrity and decency of our fellow man.
>
> The one thing that effects all, is progeny. Everything that is
> happening today, is degrading the future of humanity. We are in
> essence aborting our progeny by tanking the planet.
>
> The one thing that can correct this is to re-evaluate our reason for
> being and the redistribution of TIME. All of us own TIME _ the bankers
> control the artificial wealth they have confiscated by manipulating
> the fiat debt created currencies.
>
> That having been said it is a simple step to begin reevaluating the
> personal property of humanity and convert TIME to the currency of the
> sovereign citizen to systematically side step the control mechanisms
> of currency manipulation.
>
> Humanity's TIME is in essence the product of the calories produced by
> the planet to sustain a human being _ 2000 calories one human one day,
> like the deja vous weight of a cc to a gram of water all over again.
> By proving that mother GAIA has enough teat for tat for twice the
> population, is how the empowerment of our progeny can encourage
> humanity to vote for a covenant that in essence begins the
> redistribution of TIME _ as the whole world has already sung This Land
> Is Made For You And Me with progeny in mind for some sixty years and
> as an anthem since 1967.... Some talking points
> http://raenergy.igc.org/universalcurrency.html
>
> On the currency itself
> http://raenergy.igc.org/nutritionalcalorie.html
>
> How all this pencils out to sustain ten billion citizens, who have a
> right to be here, without the bankers or that one percent of the
> global population calling the shots behind the bulldozer blade of
> limited liability Corporatism, follows. Feeding 100 lbs of feed to 3
> billion cattle while 6 billion humans only require 3 lbs. should
> trigger some bitterness in the right to life crowd and some to hide
> their guns while praying for the intestinal fortitude to do the right
> thing for their progeny :)
> http://raenergy.igc.org/ncrational.html
>
> The flow chart is a simple overview of a four thousand year in the
> making MEME harvest...where Digging Slavery's Grave morphs to
> Transcending from what is to what ought
> http://raenergy.igc.org/ought.html
>
> Ra Energy Fdn.
> Raleigh Myers
> Worksheet bio
> http://raenergy.igc.org/bio.html
> Blog
> http://raenergy.blogspot.com/
> Op Ed
> http://groups.google.com/groups?q=raenergy&start=0&scoring=d&ie=UTF-8
> &
>
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--
W. Curtiss Priest, Director, CKL&S
Center for Knowledge, Learning & Progress
(formerly the Center for Information, Technology & Society)
466 Pleasant St., Melrose, MA 02176
781-662-4044 BMSLIB at MIT.EDU http://Cybertrails.org
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