barter and trade: agricultural based

trade and commerce: industrial based

The ‘third party’ in any one transaction or agreement is the problem.

We have come so far that we must move ahead to go back.

History shows us the way, and the way is always through war.

Deadbeat, how are ya?

Doing well thank you.

I would rather be paid to produce something and survive than have to pay for that production. America has become the service industry for the very produce it purchases! Where do THOSE profits go?

Jeff, I appreciate what you are saying but let’s remember history when America had slavery and child labor and other labor which we consider today abuses of labor. Clearly those profits didn’t benefit her workers. It took a labor movement to build a middle class and the cold war to buy off that class then it took neo-liberalism to hold down wages and for labor to take on debt to maintain consumption.

Also America productivity grew tremendously during the past 30 years but labor hasn’t reaped the benefits.

The issue is that the profit hasn’t gone to the American workers whether it has been a service or a manufacturing economy. So where “things” are produced really won’t matter until the workers share in the rewards of production.

Also I appreciate you being a farmer but a farmer didn’t build the computer and a farmer didn’t write the software that runs the computer you typed your comments on. Therefore society needs a variety of workers living in a range of different environments so that we can function in a modern economy. What is needed is that economy functioning for everyone rather than the few who reaps the profits.

“Whether or not “American workers” produce anything is a red herring argument. What good is it to “produce something” and be underpaid or worst yet live a life as a wage slave or live with a huge debt burden. Crisis exist because of labor exploitation. This is real crux of the problem that needs to be address rather than production.”

I would rather be paid to produce something and survive than have to pay for that production. America has become the service industry for the very produce it purchases! Where do THOSE profits go?

I AM a FARMER. That is my BiZ. You all live in that thing you all call a ‘CITY’, be careful. Take care.

FARMERS GROW FOOD.

CORPORATE FARMS FEED YOU SHIT.

One thing though that is rolling around in my own world. Just whom controls this monetary system which we all use? No one here seems to be asking or addressing this fundamental question! Whom created and whom owns the foundation?

The answer is simple… Capitalists owns the entire system. The problem is not the monetary system. The problem is one of POWER. The capitalist are able to institute this monetary system because they have the power to do so and the power to maintain it. That is why we the taxpayers have spent 11 trillion dollars (according to Bloomberg) to help to rectify this crisis.

Do American workers produce anything in America anymore? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, that is the problem. We have outsourced our very ability to take care of our own ‘American Business’.

Whether or not “American workers” produce anything is a red herring argument. What good is it to “produce something” and be underpaid or worst yet live a life as a wage slave or live with a huge debt burden. Crisis exist because of labor exploitation. This is real crux of the problem that needs to be address rather than production.

In fact over the past 30 years the “American worker” has been extremely productive and the statistics on productivity support this. The problem is that profit grew tremendously over that same period because wages were essentially stagnant in real terms. The result of this is that enormous amount of wealth produced by workers were expropriated by the Capitalist which gave the banks and the financial industry tremendous amount of resources to engage in speculation and control of the political economy.

“Globalization” was a way for all that capital to flee national controls and to further increase the exploitation of labor giving Capital even more access to wealth and power. Therefore the real issue comes down to exploitation and the maldistribution of wealth and power.

Unfortunately at this point in time there is no real countervailing force or forces to bring capital under control until people can achieve solidarity.

“Bernanke simply doesn’t care if the public sees him as the unelected oligarch that he really is.”

Is this where you read between the lines? Thought oligarchs only resided in that wretched place called ‘Russia’!

“This is a normal recession. Capitalism has periodic crashes, caused by workers being unable to buy back what they produce.”

Do American workers produce anything in America anymore? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, that is the problem. We have outsourced our very ability to take care of our own ‘American Business’.

Many questions, most would not venture to investigate the true answers,

As Barak Obama stated last week, “Credit is the economy’s life-blood.” It should be distributed through government-owned and regulated financial institutions that operate as public utilities. Credit is everyone’s business. It shouldn’t be controlled by speculators.

The question really should be do we want a nation of “deadbeats”. The fact is that when people need “credit” there is a DEBT associated with it. Then we must analyze the need for credit. Why can’t people afford what they need and why do people have to put themselves into debt to obtain what they need. That seems to be a question missing from the discussion. It seems that credit (and debt) are givings.

The problem with “credit” is that then you have to deal with the issue of misfortune when the “credit” is not repaid. Do we want a society that has to rely on “credit” rather than one where people can obtain much of what they need — shelter, food, transportation, education, leisure, and meaningful work that build healthy relationship and interactions.

Before the banks becomes a “public utility” there is much more work needed to alter the contextual structures of the political economy.

While I think relief is needed for people, their homes, etc. this is not simply a dysfunctional finance system, as well as a dysfunctional economic system, the government is not capable of providing ’30s assistance (perhaps even that is a myth).

I think we need to peel back this entire system can see what’s really needed. It has become incomprehensible as it drifted into globalized economics.

In other words, the US and this administration, the Feds, etc. DO NOT run the economy, because there is NO national economy. That reality must be faced.

The bloated bubble built on gambling illusions has come home to roost. Think what led to the levies in New Orleans collapsing. Then think about the Katrina aftermath. THAT is the system which is now faced with a tsunami.

While it may sound a bit folksy, there’s an old Yankee saying: “an ounce of prevention is greater than a pound of cure.”

What I’m saying Mike is I rather doubt that this system (politically and economically) is capable of offering RELIEF in any meaningful way at this stage. It has lost control of whatever it might have once had of its own fate. There simply is NO American economy.

With that premise clearly in mind we should look elsewhere for solutions (at least we should consider alternatives rather than simply trying to get the system to DO something.) A way of viewing it might be, pushing a side the doctor and saying “I’ll take it from here”.

The shadow banking system is also a huge part of the problems we find ourselves in. The offering of private credit money in the form of securities to and from banks is a classic example of double-dealing. Perhaps we should fear the lack of transparency; Bernanke on Tuesday refused Bernie Sanders (S-Vt.) question of where TARP funds had gone. (This led Sanders to support a bill to force the Federal Reserve to post on their website how the money had been distributed. See the truthdig article.)
Whitney has been at the vital vanguard of the progressive media drive to bring accountability to those in power. He stands apart from the flaccid, corporate-owned mass media, by explaining how interests within the financial industry game the system, with the full knowledge and cooperation of government. As any long-time readers of his know, Whitney not only predicted this crash, by forecast with uncanny accuracy the reasons why our system was going to crash.