Can you say collapse? I like how you say that. I can say it too. Um, hey, something seems askew.
Last week, Bernanke and Geithner hesitantly confided the worst of the recession is behind us and sunny days are ahead, despite the fact recovery will be glacially slow.
That is, unless you're one of their fellow bankers, I suppose. It sounds like the same wishful thinking we heard from guys like Jim Cramer and the CNBC flock just before Bear Stearns bit the dirt. Neil Barofsky, who oversees the disposition of TARP for banks, made some troubling comments also last week, saying banks aren't lending more and that we seem to be in an even more perilous situation than a year ago: [video deleted]
Also last week, Ron Paul made this interesting speech in a meeting with perpetual hawk Michele Bachman, R-MN in which he hints he's not too confident about the way things are going, either: [video deleted]
The video is long but interesting. It's hard to believe that's a republican talking to republicans after the last eight years, getting applause for saying we should stay out of wars, even the drug war. I said something about that a few weeks ago.
Paul gets called isolationist and radical by left-leaning commentators, but he makes a valid point. How does subsidizing rich bankers and insurance companies produce a robust economic climate in our money-driven, produce/consume society when we produce huge budgetary deficit with defense spending and when we allow our richest institutions to write their own rules? Who believes fewer, richer banks and insurance companies are the secret of a thriving nation?
They aren't, and there are academics aplenty warning that what we're seeing is the wind up to the last spin out of the global economy. The most determined argue it is by the deliberate scheming of government and finance, and the precursor to a single world monetary system whereby they acquire more money and power (the same plan that's been at work for thousands of years).
Is catastrophic economic collapse imminent? By imminent, I mean set to begin within days of today. Is it that fragile? Hard to believe, I say—and the hard to believe is common these days. I see more and deeper poverty in this area than ever, and I went to school with the children of tenant farmers, nice but genuinely poor.
Incidentally, if you suppose collapse, 70% to 90% of the population will die or be killed, as the story goes. I'm not too worried, because I know NewsChannel 4 will warn me.
