Did the US Taxpayers Just Pay for a Theater Performance They Could Not Afford?

By: Leo Goranov

The year is 2008, the venue - Wall Street, the actors - US government and corporate banks, the public - US taxpayers. The curtain is down in the first act and so are several financial institutions - Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch, Washington Mutual, and Wachovia, who either file for bankruptcy or are forced to be acquired by other major corporate banks. The acquiring banks are soon in trouble themselves. The financial tragedy persists and there is no end in sight. Then, miraculously, the US government intervenes in the second act of the play and bails out the \"unfortunate\" banks with $700 billion of taxpayers\' dollars. The public applauds.

It seems like a happy end where everyone is a winner. However, the public does not realize that there is a third act where the real tragic play begins. The people of the United States bought a \"free lunch\" for the four biggest private financial institutions - Citibank, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. By acquiring the assets of the failed financial entities, these four banks became bigger, richer, and more powerful. The US banking sector moved closer to monopoly. The millions of dollars contributed to political campaigns and presidential candidates, regardless of their political color, were money well spent. The history repeated itself. The following citations are taken from \"Zeitgeist, the Movie\" and throw a light over similar events from the past:

\"For example, from 1914 to 1919 the Fed increased the money supply by nearly 100% resulting in extensive loans to small banks and the public. Then, in 1920 the Fed called in mass percentages of the outstanding money supply. Thus resulting in the supporting banks having to call in huge numbers of loans and ...\" \"... bank runs, bankruptcy and collapse occurred. Over 5.400 competitive banks outside of the Federal Reserve System collapsed further consolidating the monopoly of the small group of international bankers\".

\"From 1921 to 1929 the Fed again increased the money supply resulting once again in extensive loans to the public and banks ...\" \"... And on October 24th, 1929 the New York financiers who furnished the margin loans started calling them in, in mass. This sparked an instantaneous massive sell off in the market for everyone who had to cover the margin loans. It then triggered a mass bank runs for the same reason, in turn collapsing over 16.000 banks enabling the conspiring international bankers to not only buy up rival banks at the discount but to also buy up whole corporations at pennies on the dollar\". (www.zeitgeistmovie.com)

When reading the above excerpts, some will say that these shameful events are episodes from the past and can not ever repeat in today\'s \"civilized and progressive\" society. Yet, what did the US taxpayers receive in return for the generous $700 billion bail-out money? Relief on their defaulted loans? Ownership in the acquired and, thus, \"privatized\" financial institutions? Promises? One thing is for sure, the people of the United States enjoyed a very expensive performance where they happened to be the main tragic actor. And it is tragic because many do not realize they bought the corporate banks more power, while still owing to the same banks for all of the loans they can not repay now.

The curtain finally falls. This performance is over. The stage actors are long gone to a glamorous after-party where everyone gets a performance bonus. The US public is still in the theatre though. Sadly, some of the taxpayers had to spend all they had on this lavish performance and they could not afford to return to their repossessed homes. But there is a pressing question that you can read in their eyes: Will there be a sequel of tonight\'s performance? Will our children and grandchildren experience the tragedy called \"financial debt slavery\"? Time will show but we need to understand that our children and grandchildren may not have a better choice then than what we have now. May be, we can change their destiny if we take the \"stage\" and act ourselves ...

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