There is no freedom without the freedom to say "no". Free people can say "no". Slaves cannot.
If we are free, or at least free enough that the terrorists hate us for it, then we have the right and ability and often the moral duty to say "no". We have the right to say "no" to being lied to. We have the right to say "no" to being lied into war. Certainly we have a right to say "no" when the government demands that we make do with less, so that the government and its favored cronies may have more.
Right now, the government is preparing to "fix" the economic mess by setting up a new Resolution Trust Corporation. For those too young to remember, this is a repeat of the same scam used to "fix" the S&L Debacle (remember the Keating Five?) back in the 1980s. And in short it was simply going around with a checkbook filled with taxpayer dollars and cleaning up the mess made by reckless deal making (and a little CIA drug money laundering) in a climate of relaxed regulation.
So, here we are, 20 years later, yet another Bush in the White House and a repeat of the same fiscal debacle stares us in the face. More than coincidence? Many think so.
The mere rumor of a new RTC sent the stock market soaring. Why not? The US Government is telling the investors that they can keep the profits from any trades, but any further losses will get transferred to the taxpayers. It's like being in Las Vegas at the Blackjack table, and every time you get 21 or beat the dealer, you get to keep the winnings, but if you bust, or the dealer wins, they take the money from the bus boy cleaning the table behind you. Such a deal! What's not to like?
Unless you are that bus boy, of course.
Wall Street executives are running around and saying that the taxpayer has to pick up the tab. "Has to"? Why? Why should we be on the hook for other peoples' bad judgments, especially when those people walked away form their bad judgments with $20 and $40 million dollar severance packages? Why is it our mess to clean up?
We cleaned up the last mess, back in the 80s. And the lesson we all learned is that no lessons were learned at all by the people whose assets we saved at great personal sacrifice. By protecting them from their mistakes, they just went on to make bigger mistakes. And now they are saying that We the people "have" to pick up the tab again.
We already give government at all levels 50% of our money. Do you think giving them the other 50% is going to motivate them to make better decisions? Or will they smile, relax, thanks whatever gods they pray to that they dodged another disaster (at taxpayer expense), and go right back to living life as they always have?
Back in the 80s, additional taxes were a cause for grumbling, but affordable. Today the situation is vastly different. We The People have been taxed to the edge of poverty. Nearly one out of every ten homes is delinquent in the mortgage or in foreclosure. One out of every five homes is in trouble with the IRS. It is no longer a question of whether we wish to pay additional tax or not; we can't! We don't have it. There is nothing left TO tax.
Which isn't going to stop the greedy bastards from trying to force the taxpayers to buy up all those worthless assets that Wall Street itself refuses to touch.
Probably the only reason they have not already set up this new RTC is they are trying to figure out how to sell it to you; choose which spin, which LIE will trick you into going along with this latest financial rape of the working class American. Last time, in the 80s, it was all about saving the poor widows and pensioners and orphans on fixed income. Then we found out (after it was too late) that most of those accounts refilled with our tax dollars were numbered and brokered corporate accounts.
So, it's really up to you.
Remember the movie "Network?" "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any longer!"
You need to be there. You need to get angry. REALLY angry. Mad-dog pissed off angry. Ready to start shooting angry. You need to say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any longer", and you need to say it like you mean it.
Because if you stay silent and let the greedy bastards pull this off, it will be the end of the middle class. There will be the ultra-rich with their severance packages, and everyone else will be taxed into poverty to support them.
So, here is where I ask you for two favors.
Favor one: Go to www.congress.org and get the contact info for all your government representatives. Forget email; that's filtered. Call them, FAX them, pound on the door. Delivery two messages. Tell them, "I will NOT be made to pay for other peoples' mistakes." And tell them "I will not vote for anyone who insists I pay for other peoples' mistakes." Growl when you say it.
Favor two: Post this message on every BBS, web site, message board and mailing list you can find. Get everyone else to call their congresscritters. Tell them they need to learn how to say "NO" and make it stick. Make that "NO" heard not only in the halls of Washington DC and New York but in every major investment center in the world. Tell them that you will NOT be the guarantor of their investments in the United States any longer.
You are a free human being.
You have a right to say "no."
--MORE--"
