Wisdom might tells us the unless we review history, we are bound to repeat it!
Dwight D. Eisenhower was our President in 1959. We had just elected a young liberal on social issues, conservative on fiscal matters President. His name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. All of us that had supported Nixon were not hopeful. We all thought that the years of Eisenhower had been bumpy but stable. “Ike” in his final words to the nation, warned everyone of the extent and power and leverage of the Military-Industrial-Complex!
We have to remember, that in those days….”Lobbyists” were either just retired or current company Presidents that spent much of their time wine-ing and dine-ing Pork hungry Senators in Washington, D.C. They provided beautiful call girls, fine dining and had no compunction about filming the antics of the electeds – for use in the future, if they needed it. The Mafia in meantime, was busy doing contract work for the FBI and many so-called black budget Intelligence Agencies. Farm subsidy programs were very profligate…..for rich and big farmers in the midwest that got paid by the Federal Government for NOT growing certain crops.
JFK, came on like a train bypassing a customary stop. He made every effort to upset J. Edgar Hoover. He made every effort to stunt the work of the cowboys at the CIA. He made every effort to support minority rights in every nook and cranny in America. There was a book that came out about that time: called; “Too much…too soon!”, the story of Diana Barrymore and her “hooked on drugs and alcohol life”! Bobby Kennedy also used a big hammer when he should have been applying a velvet glove. The horrid Robert Strange McNamara was on a leash under JFK…..but much of JFK’s “Best and Brightest” Administration was running intellectually rampant over anyone in their way. The final brick on this path…was having an affair with Marilyn Monroe! JFK, could do anything he wanted…..but don’t touch our Marilyn! “Marilyn was America!” and when you do things to Marilyn…..you were doing things to America!
For those of us that graduated from high school in 1959….we were the new Space & Elvis Generation. Sputnik, The British style of education, the occupation of Korea, the Berlin airlift and the Cold War! The Cuban Missile Crisis….which exposed how stupid…even smart people can be. Billy Graham, Popius XII, Bishop Sheen…..as well as Harry Owens and the Royal Hawaiians all looked out for our relationship with God. The dream was to retire and move to Hawaii and live in Hawaii-Kai in a lovely retirement community solely for old people who liked gardening. Someplace with a plumeria smell in the air.
As we watch in disbelief the nine Titans of the US Banking facing the Congress of the United States yesterday……and quickly thinking back to the testimony of the the Big Three American Automakers……we stand in total shock. We are no longer Americans. We are citizens of World Banking! Hey, the French, Germans, Dutch and Danes don’t want us. They want our money, they want our outsourced skimming cash. They want us to pay them back for selling them bogus “tainted toxic investment vehicles”. But surely, they do not want us anywhere near them unless we are tourists visiting their fair countries for the traditional three day pass through.
Treasury Secretary Tim G., seems like a nice guy – just with little or no answers to the World Banking Crisis. Ben Bernanke, the same guy that is standing shoulder to shoulder….claiming that having no answers is actually an answer….needs the hook! The entire group of nine US Bankers, need the hook. The entire group of US Automakers, need the hook. Hey, we have Homeless people that could be a better job of judging the state of the American Economy and how to fix it. They won’t need any bonuses or sales, transfer or agency fees either to do the job.
Two quick fixes: Write Off all “Toxic Assets” and burn the paper they are written on. Secondly, write down the price of all Real Estate in the United States to 1993 values! Other than that….we probably need to be aware of the threat of the Military-Industrial-Complex. “Complex” seems to mean the World Bankers!
We must…MUST…rid our government of the influence of greedy corporatists. And the politicians that are under their sway.
*Editorial comment is nice. The problem is in the interpretation, isn’t it? Reality says this:
24.9 percent APR…for credit card purchases is kind of excessive. Leveraging a Liar Loan 100 Times over…is a little overkill. Having Bernie
Maddoff as your corporate hero…..requires a real desire to steal directly from people. Other than that….they are very lovely people with lots of children to send to college and three wives that require outrageous annual alimony!
Put those guys that used to run Peanut Plants in charge. Or those wonderful dupes at the food processors who don’t test what they buy or sell – yes, its the good olde free enterprise system.