Who Really Crashed the Economy?
By Dean Baker - Counterpunch
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In case it’s necessary to remind people, our economy plunged due to the collapse of a Wall Street-fueled housing bubble. The loss of demand from the collapse of the housing bubble both led to a jump in the unemployment rate from which we have still not fully recovered and also the large deficits of the last five years.
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Last week, many people might have seen Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, talking about the need to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age. The last time that Mr. Blankfein was very visible in policy debates he was desperately seeking a bailout for Goldman Sachs which was facing a bank run that pushed the company to the edge of bankruptcy.
It was granted special protection from the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This protection, coupled with tens of billions of dollars in loans at below market interest rates allowed Goldman Sachs to regain its health. Now its CEO wants to cut our Social Security.
An even more amazing apparition in this story is former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. More than anyone in the whole country, Greenspan deserves blame for the economic downturn. As the bubble was growing to ever more dangerous levels, Greenspan was cheering it on, insisting that there was no bubble, and that even if there was a housing bubble its collapse would pose no special problem for the economy.
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3 COMMENTS:
Just doing Gods Work I still can't believe he said that
Goldman Says Due Diligence ‘Not Our Job’ in Dragon Sale
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/goldman-says-due-diligence-not-our-job-in-dragon-sale.html
p.s. on Social Security
Interesting to note our government owes S.S. almost $2.7 TrillionThe TRUTH About Who Really Owns All Of America's DebtsnipSocial Security Trust Fund
Total Holdings of US Treasuries: $2.67 trillionPercent of US Debt that they own: 19%http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-us-debt-2011-7?op=1LBJ btw is the one who allowed SS to be borrowed from in the first place!http://www.ssa.gov/history/BudgetTreatment.htmlUS Consumer Debt At Record $2.7 Trillionhttp://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/08/276951/us-consumer-debt-at-record-high/Now why is this interesting read this and you will seeSocial Security is not going brokehttp://blogs.reuters.com/david-cay-johnston/2012/05/04/social-security-is-not-going-broke/The Great American Retirement Scam: Why The Wealthiest CEO's In America Want To Take Away Your Social Securityhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/11/28/the-great-american-retirement-scam-why-the-wealthiest-ceos-in-america-want-to-take-away-your-social-security/And the top 1% of the 1% like the bailed out warren buffoon use loopholes so if they do raise the taxes instead of closing the loopholes it will be what's left of the middle class that suffers again.John Boehner: Raise Taxes on the Richhttp://cnsnews.com/news/article/john-boehner-raise-taxes-richObama On Tax Cuts: President Rejects Republican Plan To Close Loopholeshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/obama-tax-cuts_n_2131256.htmlTax Payers With Income of Only $30,000 Face Annual Tax Hikes of $1,500http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/12/tax-payers-with-income-of-only-30000.htmlMiddle Class--Not the Rich or the Poor--Pay Majority of Federal Taxes, Says CBO Datahttp://cnsnews.com/node/68094How Buffett Saves Billions On His Tax Returnhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/08/17/how-buffett-saves-billions-on-his-tax-return/Implementing Warren Buffett's GiftThe foundation must continue to satisfy the legal requirements qualifying Warren’s gift as charitable, exempt from gift or other taxes.http://www.gatesfoundation.org...Warren Buffett Is A PunksnipMeanwhile, Buffett has given each of his kids a charitable foundation with billions each to manage. If a foundation has $3bb in it, then something like $90mm can go to salaries.http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/...Buffett’s Betrayal (Buffett firms got $95 billion of bailout cash)http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe...
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