GreedandSocialism

During these dark economic days following the almost total collapse of our financial system we all dared hope that there might be some chink of light, some moral compass injected by common sense and self preservation.

But the decision by the hierarchy of the greedy bastards, formerly known as Goldman Sachs, to pay huge bonuses at this precise moment proves these pigs at our common trough have learned precisely nothing.

Remember this bank was, like others, very recently bailed out by the public purse to the tune of about $10 billion.

What is wrong with these people, don’t they possess any sensitivity or decency?

This story prompted me to select two general responses on these themes from a bulging electronic postbag to share with you.

The first is about socialism and the second is about greed and the“lucky sperm club!"

Our first contributor is Steve.

“An economics professor at a well-known university said he had never failed a single student before but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said ok,
We will have an experiment in this class on socialism.

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too; so they studied little... The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame, name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. All failed, to there great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism
would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward away; no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that…


“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher

From Richard I received the following heartfelt “rant” which I have edited for space.





…”For those of us who have, by the grace of g-d, had the good fortune to have received a blessed life and all the trappings and trimmings; we are the envy of all mankind.

Yet we have been hoodwinked to accept the crime and corruption of a few well heeled elite to define the world in their terms: The lifestyles of the rich and famous visuals, the supreme materialism that throughout the decades that has been broadcast as the "DREAM" (here in the USA as the "American Dream”) to aspire to.... the challenge to throw all your chips into the cauldron and accept the pits and falls in hope that you land on your feet and later head to the bank with sacks of gold and silver. and Credit...yes let's not forget the credit.

So with all the rules intact which limited the rewards to what Donald Trump called the "lucky sperm club"!! The remainder of humanity was lead to believe that they, the unfortunate, must turn to their g-d and accept their plight and the kingdom they seek is in the hereafter.... In the past the various immigrant populations accepted their low wages and poor surroundings as long as the rewards might eventually be bestowed on their offspring through either educational advancement or other street smarts.... This was acceptable and will most likely prevail for a long time...student loans are still being offered for such advancement...So why do I write that something is amiss....

Well, we now have to come to the realization that the gulf between the super wealthy and the masses once thought to be surmountable has taken a turn where we must now agree that instead of an economy where the playing field is even or at least appears to be...it is now insurmountable...we now live in a Ponzi scheme! (And may have lived in one for a very long time). We have been hoodwinked that the brass ring, which in the past was always in reach, is now a bygone thought...

The select hedge fund financed dynasty has relegated our productive economy to a service economy where we merely serve them and continue to hold them in high regard, they have replaced the divine rule of monarchies and control every facit of our economic lives...the politicians are in their pockets and the rules are skewed to keep them in power.

After learning here that the recession has been in place since late 2007 and the situation has monstrously been getting worse in the months that have followed has not in the slightest been dealt with...Here a $300.00- $400.00 payroll reduction per worker prorated over the year has been put in place while the future tax debt indemnity to the government loans and bailouts has reached $130.000.000 per American man, woman, or child...The Financial Oligarchs along with the Media Oligarchs and the Governmental Oligarchs have control of all our methods of expression: through words ( verbal pleasure or displeasure ), through the use of our monetary power and through our right to vote...each method by which we express our support or opposition has been co-opted by the power elite....We have become an impotent democratic constitutional republic here and in Britain an impotent constitutional monarchy...and by whom? Well by the unregulated and untaxed offshore financial oligarchs.... who no longer need the permission of neither the voters nor the elected officials...a coup d'etat has truly taken place.

We might remain in the left / right paradigm...cast blame hither and yon...but we miss the mark...the financial problem causers have become the financial problem solvers.... they are circling the wagons and calling those of us who voice opposition as that hideous term "terrorist”,

We the unwashed masses are to be feared whether there is a reason or not the use of tasers--a substitute method of deadly force has become widely used here. Death and severe injury has been the result...Here the 1st Amendment right to free speech is the ideal held high by almost every other nation on earth as the epitome of the true meaning of what it means to be an American is under fire here. The alternative media is fighting the good fight. But we witness that the MSM has co-opted their message. This time coming out for the Tea Parties when in the recent past they opposed the leaders (i.e.: Congressman. Dr. Ron Paul, etc.) during the election campaign...

The call to end the Federal Reserve Bank is getting louder here while the call to end the Bank of England is mute. Both organizations have promoted the use of fractional reserve banking (taken to the extremes by the former investment banks @ 30:1 and the surviving hedge funds which occasionally reached 100:1). So why bring this up? Well none of the financial structure that is/was the underlying problem has in the slightest been replaced!!! And nor have most of the handlers and CEO's!!!! Transparency has not occurred!!! We now face further bailouts (here the GM and Chrysler funding enabled Cerberus to continue---the productive arm of GM and Chrysler may eventually go bankrupt...) The AIG insurance company is a shell for the arm that is a hedge fund and issued the trillions in CDS instruments now the recipient of billions later to be handed out to various international "counterparties" and Goldman Sachs as well....


We await the new Private Public Partnership to further de-leverage the massive derivative MBSs and CDOs that flood the books and off books of so many financial institutions and here the foreclosure numbers have once more advanced by 24% last month...clearly we are reaching a point of critical mass...with hyper/stagflation further down the road.... Max Keiser calls these folks Financial Terrorists (it reminds me when in days gone by we actually had a term State Terrorism) does that ring a bell?”

Thanks to both Richard and Steve and all the rest of you who have taken the trouble to write to me. I shall, in future, be including as many of these messages as possible and shall continue to respond to your terrific input.