Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Bailing out the financial aristocracy

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 26, 2011

Bailing out the financial aristocracy

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

We’ve known all along about the TARP funds. Now, thanks to Bloomberg, we know about the $1.2 trillion of public money, which is about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke showered on the Wall Street aristocracy.

I've seen very little coverage of this revelation in mainstream media. The theme of the ruling class political operatives continues to be the cutting of the "entitlements"--which is new-speak that means defaulting on the debts owed to the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds (these have been built up over many years from equal payroll contributions by workers and employers). Of course, all other debts are sacred: such as debts to bondholders, private Treasury bill holders, and even debts to China.