Food For Thought

[JRSWRITER]

From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton


“Based on indicators like (1) global real estate overvaluation, (2) indebtedness, (3) leverage, (4) outstanding derivatives, (5) global bubbles, and (6) the precariousness of the global monetary system, I would argue that the accumulated imbalances in the current period surpass significantly those preceding the Great Depression. I therefore conclude that the coming U.S. (and possibly) global depression will be of greater magnitude than the Great Depression of the 1930s. It likely suggests that we are entering a historic period that will likely be known as The Greater Depression.” WORSE THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Krassimir Petrov, PhD
"Worse than the Great Depression" by Krassimir Petrov, PhD. FSO Editorial 11/02/2008

When both Obama and McCain assert we are facing the greatest crisis since the 1930's they are not engaging in hyperbole. Things are bad and they are going to get worse. The 850 billion dollar Wall Street “bailout” or “rescue” is not going to stop, reverse or alter the inevitable consequences of massive fraud, corruption and systemic criminality that have been going on for decades. So when you step into the voting booth on November 4, ask yourself which candidate on the major or minor parties is committed to rectifying the situation, is the most capable of dismantling the AmeriKKKan empire and bringing the country back from the precipice of moral, fiscal and imperialistic ruin? Either way, and no matter who wins, AmeriKKKa is in for some very difficult days ahead.

While Obama is far more charismatic and eloquent than McCain do not believe the hype that he is the second coming. McCain has demonstrated he lacks a grasp of the depth of the problem and his judgement has been seriously called into question given his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Both John McCain and Barack Obama drank the Kool-Aid the Wall Street bankers handed out and both went along with the scam. The bail out is not working, the bankers are hoarding the money and they are not using the taxpayers’ money to make loans to bolster the economy. The bailout has not stopped the defaults or foreclosures and it was not intended to. Like WMD’s that was another Bu$h administration lie to dupe people into going along with the program.

Go to "Worse than the Great Depression" by Krassimir Petrov, PhD. FSO Editorial 11/02/2008 and read the article entitled WORSE THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION by Krassimir Petrov, PhD to get an historic perspective on the causes of the current global meltdown and the similarities with the causes of the 1929 Stock Market crash and Great Depression. Neither of the two major party candidates have addressed the causes of the current meltdown other than to generically point the finger of blame on “greed” and “deregulation”. Since Obama and McCain both get major funding from the very people who created these problems: Wall Street bankers, brokers, attorneys, insurance companies, Hedge Funds etc don’t expect either one nor the incoming Congress to do anything to put the culprits in jail. White collar criminals especially well connected, upper crust types rarely get caught or go to jail.

Keep in mind the election will be over Tuesday night (unless there are major problems like in 2000) but the economic problems will still continue. The recession is in full force. A snapshot of current economic conditions is very unsettling. According to an Economic Policy Institute summary: “total employment has fallen by 760,000 since December 2007, with a loss of 969,000 jobs in the private sector, business bankruptcy filings rose 67% in September from a year ago. Combined business and individual filings in the past year reached a total of 799,531, an estimated $2 trillion in pension wealth has been lost in the past year and a half because of the financial crisis, there were 265,968 home foreclosures in September 2008 alone, 21% higher than last September. There were 765,558 foreclosures in the third quarter of this year, 71% higher than the third quarter last year, there were 9.5 million unemployed workers in September 2008, up 25% from 7.5 million in January, and up 40% from 6.7 million in March 2007, in September, 17.1 million workers were underemployed (too discouraged to look for work, unemployed, or working part time but wanting full-time work), a 31.7% increase from the 13 million underemployed workers a year ago, and up 21% from 14 million in January 2008 and median weekly wages for a full-time worker have fallen by 1.6% over the last year.” The Economy in Numbers by Ross Eisenbrey with research assistance from Kathryn Edwards The Economy in Numbers

This is a very important election, but no matter what happens the sun will rise on Wednesday and the beat will go on. Life will go on. The question is, will we be duped and tricked again, will the election be fair and honest? More importantly will we be just as optimistic (or not), just as energized (or apathetic) about the future, just as willing to work for real change (or maintain the status quo) as we are today? Food for thought.