Do not forget who was on watch during the Great Depression and this so called Recession

Obama: GOP made political 'calculation' to 'stand on the sidelines and blame all their produced woes on him' The president lamented what he described as a lack of "honest conversation about the greatest income inequality since the 1920s" or who and what was responsible for "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."

He dismissed Republican criticisms he has been engaging in class warfare or promoting socialism. Focusing on making life easier, fairer and more prosperous for middle class citizens should be a shared goal, the president said. Middle class America is no concern of Republicans. Getting back to their goal of an elitist society is all that matters period.

Knowing that life today is a false creation of Bush's in every respect I ask you to take a step back and remember that amidst all the bragging we were hearing about this great economy and that we had the longest Bull run in 80 years on his watch remember who was in control 80 years ago and what happened.

Remember, Republican Calvin Coolidge was President from 1923 to 1929 and Republican Herbert Hoover took over in March of 1929. The system was way over valued and ultimately crashed on their watch.This time the house of cards President Bush and Allen Greenspan created started crashing down in 2007 on his watch. from 2006, Taking a hard new look at Greenspan's legacy

However, the real pain of the length and depth of the problem and what it would take to remedy it was put off until Bush was out and Obama was elected so they could put the entire blame on him. I also realize we now have a system in place so there will never be a repeat of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 but?

We knew who caused the problem and who fixed it 80 years ago. During the Great Depression FDR had the cooperation of Republicans. They wanted to see him succeed and save the country. That is not true today as you know. Republicans want to see President Obama fail and could care less that, that means America too.

Republicans want to get Bush's elitist society back on line and eliminate Obama's America of equality. Republicans goal is to wipe out FDR's legacy and destroy every single Democrat accomplishment ever not just Obama's. They are well on their way as you know.


It was a long ago foregone conclusion! This was written two years ago and The Second Great Depression set up by Greenspan was a given regardless of all these bailouts. They will do nothing but stave off the inevitable and speed up the bankrupting of America also set in motion by Bush. I have written it numerous times but I just want you to remember the great Depression and a couple parallel facts with this one!

** Remember it was the Republicans at the helm the last time this happened and while FDR's New Deal did a lot to bring us back and Obama wants to replicate it and it is necessary but remember that it took WW2 to get us out of it!

**** It is important to remember as I have written about this too, too many times but Bush has laid the foundation not only for the bankrupting of America but WW3 to get us out of it or so they think!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

George W. Bush calls for backing off government involvement in padding economy: GUILTY!

Bush calls for backing off government involvement in padding economy

Bush defends bank bailout at opening of economic forum in Dallas

Whitman speaks at Bush Institute conference

Bush, Rove, Greenspan, they and their cohorts purposely did all this saying everyone can have everything in this American dream they turned into a night mare. They better be held accountable and should not be allowed to get away with blaming this too on President Obama. They built this house of cards purposely in the bankrupting of America. No apologies my rear!

I will say, I accused Bush from day one of micro mismanaging 100% of every fiasco he purposely created for us while he was widening the gap between the haves and the have not's. Us responsible citizens were having routine heart attacks watching him tell people to buy a house, everyone can have a piece of the American dream. That was BS and we were getting an ulcer.

When I was first starting out I had to get my parents to co sign a loan for a ring so I could get married. You needed 20% down in order to buy a house and Bush through Greenspan fixed it so most Americans were living this lie too and gave everyone a loan regardless of what they earned. They purposely created our housing bubble. We are finally back to responsibility and we are hearing how tough it is on peope now that they must put 20% down. There is a reason why damn it as many found out the hard way thanks to Bush and his cronies.

While Greenspan warned this collapse could be worse than the depression and Bush warned of the severe damage it could cause the country if the bail out is not passed I just want to remind you of what an expert Michael Whitney wrote explaining this set up 4 years ago.

Greenspan successfully piloted the nation into virtual insolvency. In fact, the parallels between our present situation and the period preceding the Great Depression are striking. Just as massive debt was accumulating in the market from the purchase of stocks "on margin", so too, mortgage debt between 2000 and 2006 soared from $4.8 trillion to $9.5 trillion. In both cases the "wealth effect" spawned a spending spree which looked like growth but was really the steady, insidious expansion of debt which generated economic activity. In both periods wages were either flat or declining and the gap between rich and working class was growing more extreme by the year. As Paul Alexander Gusmorino said in his article, "Main Causes of the Great Depression": "Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920's, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade".

The same factors are at work today except that the speculation is in real estate rather than stocks. Just as in the 1920's the equity bubble was not created by wages keeping pace with productivity (the healthy formula for growth) but by the expansion of personal debt. Also, one could buy stocks without the money to purchase them, just as one can buy a $600,000 or $700,000 house today with zero-down and no monthly payment on the principle for years to come. The current account deficit ($800 billion) could also weigh heavily in any economic shake-up that may be forthcoming. Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster made this shocking calculation about America's out-of-control trade deficit: "US debt was up 10.1% to $4.085 trillion and accounts for 58.8% of all the credit issued globally last year. That means the US expanded credit at a much faster rate than the economy grew. This was borrowing to maintain a higher standard of living and attempt to pay for it tomorrow." Think about that; the US sucked up nearly 60% of ALL GLOBAL CREDIT in one year alone. That is truly astonishing.

There are many similarities between the pre-Depression era and our own. Paul Alexander Gusmorino says: "The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade....The excessive speculation in the late 1920's kept the stock market artificially high, but eventually lead to large market crashes. These market crashes, combined with the misdistribution of wealth, caused the American economy to capsize. "(The income disparity) between the rich and the middle class grew throughout the 1920's. While the disposable income per capita rose 9% from 1920 to 1929, those with income within the top 1% enjoyed a stupendous 75% increase in per capita disposable income A major reason for this large and growing gap between the rich and the working-class people was the increased manufacturing output throughout this period. From 1923-1929 the average output per worker increased 32% in manufacturing. During that same period of time average wages for manufacturing jobs increased only 8% (This ultimately causes a decrease in demand and leads to growth in credit spending)

The federal government also contributed to the growing gap between the rich and middle-class. Calvin Coolidge's (pro business) administration passed the Revenue Act of 1926, which reduced federal income and inheritance taxes dramatically(At the same time) the Supreme Court ruled minimum-wage legislation unconstitutional. On Monday October 21, 1929, the over-valued stock market began its downward plunge. It managed a brief mid-week comeback, but 7 days later on Black Tuesday it plummeted again; 16 million shares were dumped and there were no buyers. The game was over. Confidence evaporated overnight. People stopped buying on credit, the bubble-economy collapsed, and the mighty locomotive for growth, the American consumer, hobbled into the Great Depression. Tariffs were thrown up, foreigners stopped buying American goods; banks closed, business went bust, and unemployment skyrocketed. Tens years later the country was still reeling from the implosion. Now, 77 years later, Greenspan has led us sheep-like to the same precipice. The economic dilemma we're facing could have been avoided if the expansion of personal credit had been curtailed by prudent monetary policy at the Federal Reserve and if wealth was more evenly distributed as it was in the '60s and '70s. But that's not the case; so we're headed for hard times. Mike Whitney the second Great Depression

Bush saying Obama should not be padding the economy is hypocritical, this is his mess. Him and Rove should not be giving advice period.


James Joiner
Gardner Ma
http://amaveragemericanpatriot.blogspot.com

First a reminder from 2 years ago that Greenspan set this crash up! Now it's too late but theyre Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy

02/21/07 "ICH" -- -- This week’s data on the sagging real estate market leaves no doubt that the housing bubble is quickly crashing to earth and that hard times are on the way. “The slump in home prices from the end of 2005 to the end of 2006 was the biggest year over year drop since the National Association of Realtors started keeping track in 1982.” (New York Times) The Commerce Dept announced that the construction of new homes fell in January by a whopping 14.3%. Prices fell in half of the nation’s major markets and “existing home sales declined in 40 states”. Arizona, Florida, California, and Virginia have seen precipitous drops in sales. The Commerce Department also reported that “the number of vacant homes increased by 34% in 2006 to 2.1 million at the end of the year, nearly double the long-term vacancy rate.” (Marketwatch)

The bottom line is that inventories are up, sales are down, profits are eroding, and the building industry is facing a steady downturn well into the foreseeable future. The ripple effects of the housing crash will be felt throughout the overall economy; shrinking GDP, slowing consumer spending and putting more workers in the growing unemployment lines. Congress is now looking into the shabby lending practices that shoehorned millions of people into homes that they clearly cannot afford. But their efforts will have no affect on the loans that are already in place. $1 trillion in ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) are due to reset in 2007 which guarantees that millions of over-leveraged homeowners will default on their mortgages putting pressure on the banks and sending the economy into a tailspin. We are at the beginning of a major shake-up and there’s going to be a lot more blood on the tracks before things settle down. The banks and mortgage lenders are scrambling for creative ways to keep people in their homes but the subprime market is already teetering and foreclosures are on the rise.

There’s no doubt now, that Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s plan to pump zillions of dollars into the system via “low interest rates” has created the biggest monster-bubble of all time and set the stage for a deep economic retrenchment. Greenspan’s inflationary policies were designed to expand the “wealth gap” and create greater economic polarization between the classes. By the time the housing bubble deflates, millions of working class Americans will be left to pay off loans that are considerably higher than the current value of their home. This will inevitably create deeper societal divisions and, very likely, a ">permanent underclass of mortgage-slaves. A shrewd economist and student of history like Greenspan knew exactly what the consequences of his low interest rates would be. The trap was set to lure in unsuspecting borrowers who felt they could augment their stagnant wages by joining the housing gold rush. It was a great way to mask a deteriorating economy by expanding personal debt. The meltdown in housing will soon be felt in the stock market which appears to be lagging the real estate market by about 6 months. Soon, reality will set in on Wall Street just as it has in the housing sector and the “loose money” that Greenspan generated with his mighty printing press will flee to foreign shores. It looks as though this may already be happening even though the stock market is still flying high. On Friday, the government reported that net capital inflows reversed from the requisite $70 billion to AN OUTFLOW OF $11 BILLION! Michael Whitney "The Second Great Depression

Now that it's too late they are Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy: Many of you know I was waiting for this Coolapse. It hurt to watch this set up for years! Remember what the double speak idiot said? “Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.” — Alan Greenspan in 2004! George Soros, the prominent financier, avoids using the financial contracts known as derivatives “because we don’t really understand how they work.” Felix G. Rohatyn, the investment banker who saved New York from financial catastrophe in the 1970s, described derivatives as potential “hydrogen bombs.” And Warren E. Buffett presciently observed five years ago that derivatives were “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”
One prominent financial figure, however, has long thought otherwise. And his views held the greatest sway in debates about the regulation and use of derivatives — exotic contracts that promised to protect investors from losses, thereby stimulating riskier practices that led to the financial crisis. For more than a decade, the former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has fiercely objected whenever derivatives have come under scrutiny in Congress or on Wall Street. “What we have found over the years in the marketplace is that derivatives have been an extraordinarily useful vehicle to transfer risk from those who shouldn’t be taking it to those who are willing to and are capable of doing so,” Mr. Greenspan told the Senate Banking Committee in 2003. “We think it would be a mistake” to more deeply regulate the contracts, he added.

Today, with the world caught in an economic tempest that Mr. Greenspan recently described as “the type of wrenching financial crisis that comes along only once in a century,” his faith in derivatives remains unshaken. Too late but they are taking a hard look at a Greenspan Legacy

* I have been saying for years now that this manufactured perfect storm will dwarf WW2 abd the Great Depression combined. It is just starting! The bankrupting of America is only one part of it. If this election cannot be stolen for McCain Bush has till January 20th to do his worst damage to our Democracy yet! Anywar two years ago I said the Dow has to get back to where it was before Bush and Greenspan inflated it with their lies of harmful Bravedo then it will go down from there! This is serving two purpposes! It is giving Bush more control over our America and us and at the same time The financial crisis could yield a bumper crop of U.S. military recruits if the recent plunge in stocks translates into job losses and an even weaker economy, defense officials said on Friday.

"We do benefit when things look less positive in civil society," said David Chu, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "That is a situation where more people are willing to give us a chance. I think that's the big difference: people are willing to listen to us." Chu was speaking to Pentagon reporters after announcing that all four branches of the U.S. armed forces -- Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force -- met their respective recruiting goals for the federal fiscal year that ended on September 30. All told, 185,000 men and women entered active-duty military service, the highest number since 2003, according to Pentagon statistics. Another 140,000 signed up for duty in the National Guard and reserve.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon in recent years has been under pressure to expand recruitment to alleviate strains on the military structure and increase the size of the Army and Marines. What a set up

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com