Truly terrifying data about the real state of the U.S. economy.
By Eliot Spitzer
I have an unfortunate sense that the "green shoots" in the economy that everyone is talking about are nothing but dandelions. Sure, forcing $1 trillion of taxpayer money—in direct capital, guarantees, and diminished cost of borrowing—into the banking sector has permitted the major banks to claim solvency for the moment. Yet we should not forget that this solvency has come not through a much needed deleveraging of the banking sector but rather from a massive transfer of the obligations of private banks to the public, with the debt accruing to future generations. And overall loan quality at U.S. banks is still the worst in 25 years and deteriorating at the fastest pace ever.
It's a terrible mistake to confuse the momentary solvency of the financial sector and the long-term health of our economy.
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Why do I also get two uninvited virus alerts with each page of this article? Isn't one enough?
ReplyDeleteI agree it sounds pretty bad. But it can be reversed if we, as consumers, learned to control our own spending. We owe $14 trillion as consumers, much more than the national deficit. When we as consumers start learning to control our spending, I am sure we will start electing people that would know how to control the government's spending.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, we gotta stop thinking of ourselves as "consumers." Blaagh. I HATE that word.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, we were "citizens." Then we became "customers," which was just ducky-doo because then we thought we were "always right"
Now we are "consumers," mindless eating and pooping machines-- and the poop is upsetting some- especially Greens. But the answer has to go beyond pondering what kind of giant legislative concrete stopper they're gonna shove up everybody's kiester (except the Oligarchs, of course, whose shit is golden).
Hey, how about if we try being "citizens" again?
THEN we would be capable of "electing" one of us. As it is now, "we" don't "elect" anybody or anything. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7926958774822130737
Thy YOUNGER George Carlin tried to tell us about being "consumers..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
The OLD George Carlin just decided to tell us the fucking truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI&NR=1
Don't know about the viruses, but Spitzer obviously is hitting a nerve because they hauled out aging GOP hitman Roger Stone to blame Spitzer personally for the meltdown of AIG!
ReplyDeleteAccording to Stone, Spitzer went after some bad guys (AIG's Greenberg, NYSE's Grasso etc), who were then replaced with some really bad-bad guys who brought down the company.... How they managed to cause thirty years of damage in a year or so is left to the imagination. -g-
Our primary recourse in this manipulative economy is to eat locally produced foods and, if you have to buy other imported products, be sure to buy them used and recycle what's already here.
Such nonsence to pin anything on Spitzer. I'd give him a thumbs up on his efforts to get to Wallstreet crimes as well as his investigation into Glaxo-SmithKline and the killer drug Paxil.
ReplyDeleteHe obviously was getting into something deep enough to have the secret government want to set him up. Another Patriot Act/FISA casualty and another large blow to US Justice.
Great point, Waldopaper. Thanks for the correction.
ReplyDelete